Time: 3:00 – 4:00 PM ET
Part of the webinar series AI, Access to Justice & UPL: Shaping the Future of Legal Services.
Explore the intersection of Access to Justice (A2J), direct-to-consumer legal innovation, and the evolving landscape of unauthorized practice of law (UPL). Topics will include understanding the underserved legal market between pro bono services and traditional legal representation, approaches to bridging access gaps using AI including live demonstrations of cutting-edge legal services technologies, balancing innovation with consumer protection, and stakeholder perspectives on how UPL regulations affect market development.
Speakers:
Sonja Ebron, Co-Founder, Courtroom5
Sonja Ebron is a PhD electrical engineer and former college professor with a background in utilities and artificial intelligence. She has represented herself in court numerous times. As CEO at Courtroom5, Sonja has made it her personal mission to empower people to represent themselves effectively in court. She serves on the Leaders Council of the Legal Services Corporation, the nation's primary funding source for legal aid programs. She is a founding member of the Justice Technology Association, a trade organization for direct-to-consumer legal tech companies and nonprofits. Sonja and cofounder Debra Slone were named "Legal Rebels" by the American Bar Association in 2023.
Andrew Perlman, Dean, Suffolk Law; Vice President for Academic Innovation, Suffolk University
Andrew Perlman has served as the dean of Suffolk Law since 2015 and was recently appointed as Suffolk University’s first Vice President for Academic Innovation. Outside of Suffolk, Andy has served in a number of leadership roles relating to innovation, including as an Advisory Council member of the American Bar Association Task Force on the Law and Artificial Intelligence; the inaugural chair of the governing council of the ABA's Center for Innovation; the vice chair of the ABA Commission on the Future of Legal Services; and the chief reporter of the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20. Dean Perlman has served as a presenter or panelist at more than 100 academic, judicial, and other professional programs in more than 20 U.S. jurisdictions, three continents, and six countries, and in 2024, National Jurist named Dean Perlman as one of the top-20 most influential people in legal education.
Scheree Gilchrist, Chief Innovation Officer, Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC)
Scheree Gilchrist is the Chief Innovation Officer at Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC). In this position, she oversees the development of a sustainable, strategic plan for innovation that will improve access to justice for clients and improve the way staff works to deliver services. She is also the director of the Legal Aid of North Carolina Innovation Lab, the first of its kind in a Legal Aid program nationwide, where she oversees an interdisciplinary team in their mission to collaborate, develop, and implement ideas that allow legal services to be delivered more efficiently to North Carolinians.
Moderator:
Jeff Ward, Director, Duke Center on Law & Tech
Jeff Ward teaches Contracts as well as courses at the intersection of law, emerging tech, and ethics such as Frontier A.I. & Robotics: Law & Ethics and Future of Contracts at Duke Law. In his role as Director of the Duke Center on Law & Tech, he oversees programs that include the Duke Law Tech Lab, a pre-accelerator program for early-stage legal tech companies; Duke Law By Design, which uses design methodologies to help ensure that new technologies ultimately empower and ennoble all people and expand access to quality legal services; and RAILS, a network dedicated to Responsible AI in Legal Services. He is a Faculty Affiliate at both the Initiative for Science & Society and the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke, where he teaches Legal, Ethical, and Societal Implications of Artificial Intelligence and other courses.