Lawyer Ex Machina

Lawyer Ex Machina #16: that crisp fall air

October 12, 2022

Two items from Bloomberg Law: Victims of crypto and NFT fraud can take theft loss deductions [$]Why lawyers reject non-attorney firm ownership [$] Do you do...

Lawyer Ex Machina #15: Away

October 5, 2022

A new study estimates that Bitcoin mining causes climate damage to a similar degree as gasoline consumption and beef production. From the ACLU: Algorithmic...

Lawyer Ex Machina #14: Happy Silent Movie Day

September 29, 2022

LawPath, an Australian legal document and contract management company that focuses on small businesses, is now courting small businesses in the US. An op-ed...

Lawyer Ex Machina #13: A Very Lucky Number

September 22, 2022

Over the weekend, Gov. Newsom signed the State Bar association funding bill, one provision of which restricts the State Bar from spending funds on efforts to...

Lawyer Ex Machina #12: Pumpkin Spice Season

September 15, 2022

Thomsom Reuters is unveiling a new upgrade of its core legal research product, called Westlaw Precision. Features include enhancements to KeyCite, graphical...

Lawyer Ex Machina #12: long live the King

September 8, 2022

An opinion from Law360: ABA Stance On Role Of Nonlawyers Is Too Black And White [$] What is a data sanctuary and how might California be poised to become one...

Lawyer Ex Machina #11: a "general holiday for the laboring classes"

September 1, 2022

"More Than $100 Million Worth of NFTs Have Been Stolen This Year, a New Report Finds." A acquaintance/colleague of mine has written a short piece on what...

Lawyer Ex Machina #10: the NY Times Pitchbot edition

August 25, 2022

There doesn't seem to be a lot of good news coming out of El Salvador regarding its adoption of bitcoin as legal tender, but one fintech firm seems to be...

Lawyer Ex Machina #9: Feel the Heat

August 17, 2022

[Editor's note: starting next week, the newsletter will be sent out on Thursdays, except for holidays.] A bill in the California Legislature that would have...

Lawyer Ex Machina #8: the calm before the 1Ls

August 10, 2022

So. Much. About. Legal. Services. Profs. Nora Ingstrom and Scott Cummings have written an op-ed for Bloomberg Law calling for amending the current bill in...

Lawyer Ex Machina #7: extra long edition

August 3, 2022

It appears likely that consideration of a bill to regulate what's known as stablecoins (cryptocurrency that's backed by a fiat one) will be delayed until...

Lawyer Ex Machina #6: The Dog Days of Summer

July 27, 2022

A fairly new paper on SSRN by Frank Pasquale and Gianclaudio Malgieri "proposes a system of 'unlawfulness by default' for AI systems," where the burden of...

Lawyer Ex Machina #5:

July 20, 2022

Have you been told to use a VPN to protect your privacy while online? U.S. Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) have sent a letter to the...

Lawyer Ex Machina #4:

July 13, 2022

A semi-popular Twitter thread: Microsoft Excel is used by 99.99% of the world’s businesses, and most people still don't know how to use it.Here are 10 basics...

Lawyer Ex Machina #3: the last of the fireworks

July 6, 2022

(Editorial note: I worked with Eric Goldman at SCU and I am admittedly biased due to his scholarship, the passion he brings to the issues of Internet law and...

Lawyers Ex Machina #2: [insert funny but harmless phrase here]

June 29, 2022

Meta (FKA Facebook) is facing eight lawsuits in different jurisdictions on the same subject - whether the algorithms on FB and Instagram causes addictive...

Inaugural newsletter

June 22, 2022

Hello and welcome to Lawyer Ex Machina! Lawyers are optimistic about legal technology in general, but may not like the tech tools they've been given to use....