Clio Cloud 2016: Changing Law for Thinking Machines

With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation some attorneys are concerned that these improvements will negatively affect their livelihoods and the necessity for lawyers in society. However, the question of how these new technologies will be governed by the law and if our current laws can sufficiently do that is often overlooked. In this report from On The Road, host Victor Li chats with Fastcase CEO Ed Walters about the “robot revolution” and how the law might have to change to handle machines.

Ed Walters is the CEO and co-founder of Fastcase, an online legal research software company based in Washington, D.C. Under Ed’s leadership, Fastcase has grown into one of the world’s largest legal publishers, currently serving more than 800,000 subscribers from around the world.

Before founding Fastcase, Ed worked at Covington & Burling in Washington D.C. and Brussels, where he advised clients such as Microsoft, Merck, SmithKline, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. His practice focused on corporate advisory work for software companies and sports leagues, and intellectual property litigation. Ed worked in the White House from 1991-1993, first in the Office of Media Affairs and then in the Office of Presidential Speechwriting.

Ed graduated from Georgetown University and the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of The University of Chicago Law Review, and he clerked for the Hon. Emilio M. Garza on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Fourth and Fifth Circuits. He serves on the boards of Pro Bono Net, Public.Resource.org, Friends of Telecom Without Borders, and Salsa Labs. He teaches Law of Robots, a class about the frontiers of law and technology, at Georgetown University Law Center.