The Vanderbilt Law School Program on Law & Innovation (PoLI) officially announced it will host the Summit on Law & Innovation (SoLI) conference on April 30th on Vanderbilt’s Nashville campus. Entitled “Building Connections, Breaking Down Silos”, SoLI will bring together distinguished thought leaders including practicing lawyers, legal technologists, legal academics and legal design experts for a full day of dynamic education and discussion. SoLI’s mission is to ignite innovation and collaboration across all aspects of the legal field, and to finish with a concrete action plan to further these goals.
The ambitious SoLI agenda will feature 3 keynote “Primer Talks”, several TED-style Igniter talks, and an interactive Legal Design Bootcamp exercise co-led by SoLI co-creator Cat Moon, an adjunct Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law. The day’s schedule will include abundant time for attendees to ask questions, share knowledge, present alternatives, and cross-pollinate ideas.
Moon is co-producing SoLI with her Vanderbilt Law colleague Larry Bridgesmith, also an adjunct professor and co-founder of the school’s Program on Law & Innovation. According to Moon: “As law school educators, Larry and I believe passionately we can serve students best by boldly introducing new methods and perspectives to legal education, including content focused on technology and innovation.” Bridgesmith says: “SoLI is designed to bring people together such that every attendee is a presenter, in addition to our amazing slate of speakers. Our intention is to have an action plan at the end of SoLI, outlining projects that will continue long after people have left the conference.”
Keynote “Primer Talk” speakers at SoLI will include Lawton Penn, Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine and head of DWT De Novo; Co-Founders and Leaders of IBM Cognitive Legal Practice Shawnna Hoffman and Brian Kuhn, Esq.; and Chris Guthrie, Dean and John Wade-Kent Syverud Professor of Law at Vanderbilt Law School.
Penn says: “We get so excited talking about the law firms of the future, but there must be a pipeline of emerging and established legal professionals who are prepared to make innovation a reality. Diversity and creativity in legal education are key, and not just at the law school level but for practicing attorneys, too. It’s time to include more people around the table to discuss how we can work together effectively to create a more holistic solution, and SoLI will accomplish that very effectively.”
Penn, Moon and Bridgesmith recently shared their perspectives on legal innovation in a recorded webinar, sneak previewing some content that will be covered at SoLI.
Kuhn and Hoffman co-lead the Cognitive Legal Practice at IBM which is comprised of diverse individuals. They believe diversity is crucial to the success and well-being of their team, stating, “IBM thinks about diversity the way we think about innovation – both are essential to success. We are proud to be part of SoLI at Vanderbilt Law, a conference that is intentionally diverse. Even though women only comprise 1.7% of legal tech roles, the SoLI organizers have found many quality female luminaries to present, and other diverse speakers, too. SoLI has an inclusionary top-notch list of speakers and we are proud to be listed among them.”
Tickets to SoLI are $250 which includes all sessions, continental breakfast, lunch and a cocktail reception. To read more about SoLI speakers and agenda, to register, or to become a sponsor, visit www.solivanderbilt.org.
SoLI is made possible by support from many distinguished sponsors including Vanderbilt Law School, Revolutionary sponsor dealWIP, Evolutionary Sponsors ROSS Intelligence and The Accord Project, and Media Sponsor Above the Law.
