Featured Speakers

Sonja Carlson

Senior Corporate Counsel, Microsoft

Sonja Carlson is Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft and Vice Chair of the Culture & Inclusion Council for the legal department. She leads support of the multi-billion-dollar Dynamics 365 business—an AI-first product portfolio driven by autonomous AI agents integrated with communication services. These cutting-edge technologies require Carlson to advise on a range of issues, including AI, data use and privacy, biometrics, telecommunications, and intellectual property.

Previously, Carlson supported Microsoft’s global sales group on complex strategic deals and was an associate at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP, focused on mergers and acquisitions. She received her BA in Economics from Columbia University and graduated summa cum laude from Seattle University School of Law where she served as Editor in Chief of the Seattle Journal for Social Justice.

Michele Carney

Partner, Carney & Marchi, P.S.

Michele Carney is an attorney in Seattle, Washington, with a focus on preventative ethics, immigration and passion for legal technology. Carney is the incoming chair for the Committee for Professional Ethics, Adjunct Disciplinary Counsel and has been a past member of the Practice of Law and Character & Fitness Boards, Legal Technology Task Force and Ad Hoc member of the Well Being Task Force for the Washington State Bar Association.  

She is also currently a member of the AILA National Law Journal, AILA Task Force – Future of Practicing Immigration Law and Ethics Committee (as well as past chair) and also was a past chair and member of the Innovation and Technology Committee. Carney is also on the AILA Washington chapter Wellness Committee. In addition, she is also on the ABA Leadership Board/Committees of Ethics & Professionalism and Legal Technology Resource Center. 

Mark Chinen

Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law

Mark Chinen is Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. He was educated at Pomona College and Yale Divinity School before receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School. Before he began law teaching, Professor Chinen practiced in the areas of international trade, banking and corporate and securities law in Washington D.C. with the firm Covington & Burling.

Professor Chinen teaches contracts and courses in international law and writes on various aspects of international law, particularly international governance, theology and international law, and the relationship between domestic and international law. More recently, he has written on artificial intelligence and legal responsibility and on the international governance of artificial intelligence.

Professor Chinen is a commissioner on the Washington State Minority and Justice Commission. He was the inaugural William C. Oltman Professor of Teaching Excellence from 2007 to 2010.

Margaret Chon

Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law

Margaret Chon is faculty director of the Technology, Innovation Law, and Ethics (TILE) Institute and the Donald & Lynda Horowitz Endowed Chair for the Pursuit of Justice at Seattle University School of Law where she teaches intellectual property law. Author of numerous articles, book chapters and review essays on knowledge governance through intellectual property, she focuses mainly on the role of global intellectual property systems in promoting human flourishing and sustainable development.

The recipient of a 2026 Bellagio Center Residency from the Rockefeller Foundation and a 2010-11 Jean Monnet Fellowship from the Center for International Economic Law and Justice at New York University School of Law for her intellectual property law research, she has also received grants, taught, and published on topics in race and law, including a co-authored book on the Japanese American incarceration, legal reparations, and national security. An alumna of the University of Michigan (M.H.S.A. and J.D.) and Cornell University (A.B.), she is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the American Bar Foundation.

Jens Frankenreiter

Treimen Professor of Law, WashU Law

Jens Frankenreiter‘s research and teaching interests lie at the intersection of business law, contract law, and comparative law. His work draws on methods from economics, statistics, and data science to improve our understanding of contracting, private and public lawmaking, and legal institutions. A particular focus of his work is on the use of large amounts of texts and other forms of big data. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in leading academic journals, among them the Journal of Legal Studies and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.

Professor Frankenreiter holds a Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. Before coming to WashU, he was a Senior Research Fellow at Max Planck Bonn, a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, and a postdoctoral fellow at the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership.

Sital Kalantry

Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law

Sital Kalantry is a law professor and founder and director of the Roundglass India Center at Seattle University. She has written two books (Women’s Human Rights and Court on Trial) and published over 40 articles in major legal journals such as the Cornell Law Review and the Stanford International Law Journal as well as peer-reviewed social sciences journals. 

Her opinion pieces have been published by the New York Times, Slate, and the Hill (among others). She is a regular media commentator on reproductive rights, law in India, and human rights issues. Her writing has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and Indian Supreme Court. She teaches contract law, comparative constitutional law, and business and human rights. Professor Kalantry has degrees from Cornell University (A.B.), the London School of Economics (MsC), and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (J.D).

Nancy Kim

Professor of Law Emerita, Chicago-Kent College of Law

Nancy S. Kim is the inaugural Michael Paul Galvin Chair in Entrepreneurship and Applied Legal Technology and Law Professor Emerita at Chicago-Kent College of Law. Professor Kim is an expert on contracts and emerging legal issues created by technology and she has written extensively on these topics. She is the author of the books Consentability: Consent and Its Limits (Cambridge University Press, 2019); The Fundamentals of Contract Law and Clauses (Edward Elgar, 2016); and Wrap Contracts (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Her latest book, Death by a Thousand Clicks: How Terms of Service Reshaped Society, the Economy, and Our Future, will be published by Cambridge University Press in February 2027. She has been cited by federal courts, legal treatises, and in media outlets such as the New York Times, NPR, the Los Angeles Times, and Popular Mechanics.

Laura Lemire

Attorney, Laura Lemire Law PLLC, and Seattle U Law Alum ‘09

Laura Lemire is a technology attorney and the founder of Laura Lemire Law PLLC. She helps clients succeed in a high-stakes digital economy, drawing on extensive experience both in-house at Big Tech companies and in private practice.

Lemire advises clients across the corporate spectrum—from emerging startups to industry leaders—on data privacy, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, intellectual property, and accessibility. She guides organizations as they launch new products, negotiate complex tech transactions, and navigate an evolving regulatory landscape. Known for her practical judgment and collaborative approach, Lemire translates complex legal frameworks into clear, business-minded solutions. 

Tyler McAllister

Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton

Tyler McAllister focuses his practice on patent preparation and prosecution, patent clearance and opinions, patent licensing, patent litigation, post-grant review, and related business and intellectual property counseling. He helps startups, along with established corporations, bring new products and services to market in a wide range of technologies including computer software and hardware, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, virtual assistants, electronics, robotics, graphical user interfaces, content delivery networks, telecommunications, health IT, medical record management, implantable medical devices, robotic surgical devices, wearable medical and consumer devices, insect rearing and release systems, warehouse automation and material handling, sporting goods, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Prior to joining the firm, McAllister gained experience working as a full-time extern to the Honorable Chief Judge Randall R. Rader of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. During law school, he worked as a law clerk in the Spokane, Washington office of a national law firm and also served as the business editor of the Gonzaga Law Review. Prior to his legal career, Tyler worked as a junior associate engineer at Nolte Associates, Inc. in Cedar City, Utah.

McAllister was recognized in 2025 as one of the "Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch" for Patent Law by The Best Lawyers in America®. He was recognized in 2025 and the six years immediately preceding as a Washington “Rising Star” for Intellectual Property by Super Lawyers magazine.

Judge Margaret McKeown

Senior Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Judge M. Margaret McKeown is a Senior Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to joining the court in 1998, she was the first female partner at Perkins Coie in Seattle and Washington, DC, where her practice focused on intellectual property, antitrust, and complex litigation.

Judge McKeown is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and served as a Japan Society Fellow and a White House Fellow. Chief Justice Roberts appointed her as chair of the Judicial Conference Codes of Conduct Committee (ethics) and as a member of the Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee. She is on the boards of the World Justice Project and the ABA Rule of Law Initiative (Chair and Vice Chair), the Council of the American Law Institute, and the Judicial Advisory Board of the American Society of International Law.

Judge McKeown has published and lectured widely on intellectual property, constitutional law, and rule of law issues. She is the recipient of the American Inns of Court Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Ethics and Professionalism Award, the ABA Margaret Brent Women of Achievement Award, the California Bar IP Vanguard Award, the California Bar Warren Christopher Award for International Law, and the William H. Webster Profiles in Leadership Award, among others.

Judge McKeown is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Instituto de Empresa (IE) in Madrid and is Jurist-in-Residence at the University of San Diego School of Law. She holds a JD and honorary doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center. Judge McKeown is the author of Citizen Justice: The Environmental Legacy of William O. Douglas—Public Advocate and Conservation Champion (2022).

Judge Sean O'Donnell

Judge, King County Superior Court and Seattle U Law Alum '01

Sean P. O’Donnell is a King County Superior Court Judge and former President of the Washington Superior Court Judges’ Association. He currently serves as lead judge of King County’s Involuntary Treatment Act Court at Harborview Medical Center.

A Georgetown University and Seattle University School of Law graduate, Judge O’Donnell served 12 years as a senior deputy prosecutor, handling Washington’s first human trafficking and commercial sexual abuse of a minor cases. He also served on the Green River Task Force investigating and prosecuting serial murderer Gary Ridgway, the “Green River Killer,” and has trained lawyers and police internationally on human trafficking prosecutions.

Since joining the bench in 2013, Judge O’Donnell has served in family law, civil and criminal assignments, including Chief Criminal Judge and Chief Family Law Judge. He helped lead King County’s virtual jury and trial initiatives during the pandemic and establish its Protection Order Court pilot. He is also interested in AI’s impact on the legal profession.

He has led statewide task forces on courthouse security, pretrial release reform, and court interpreter funding, and serves as legislative co-chair of the Superior Court Judges’ Association.

His honors include the King County Bar Association’s 2004 Outstanding Lawyer of the Year award and the 2018 Judge of the Year award from the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is a Trustee of Lakeside School and serves on the Rainier Scholars Resource Council. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two children. 

Dyane O'Leary

Professor of Law, Suffolk University Law School

Professor Dyane O'Leary is a national leader at the intersection of legal writing and legal technology. She directs Suffolk's #1 nationally ranked LIT Center as well as the law school's LIT Concentration for JD students, which was included in Bloomberg's top 10 law school innovators list in 2023. She also serves as Suffolk Law’s Assistant Dean for Distance Education, overseeing the law school’s new Advanced Professional Online JD program.

Professor O'Leary is the author of the first student-centered coursebook on innovation and technology practical skills for lawyers. Her scholarship and speaking engagements focus on technology competence in legal practice and the law school curriculum. She has published and presented on topics such as Generative AI for lawyers, human connection as a lawyering skill amid technological change, and cybersecurity basics for lawyers.

At Suffolk Law, Professor O'Leary teaches the 1L Legal Practice Skills class, co-designed and taught the first course on Generative AI, and designed a new course called Modern Legal Practice Innovation & Tech. She is former chair of the AALS Section on Technology, Law & Legal Education, a Fastcase 50 honoree, a member of the Hotshot Legal AI Advisory Board, and a past recipient of the ABA’s Women of Legal Tech distinction.

Dave Platz

Adjunct Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law
Associate General Counsel, Amazon

Dave Platz is Associate General Counsel of IP at Amazon, where he leads a team of IP professionals providing counseling across Amazon's businesses. He has roughly 20 years of experience practicing intellectual property law, focusing on technology law and the emerging legal questions raised by generative AI. Platz holds a J.D. cum laude from Seattle University School of Law and a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University.

Amy Schmitz

John Deaver Drinko-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law
Director, JusticeTech

Professor Amy J. Schmitz is a full professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she serves as the John Deaver Drinko-Baker & Hostetler Endowed Chair in Law, Director of JusticeTech, and is affiliated with the Program on Data Governance and Divided Community Project.

Previously, she taught at the University of Missouri School of Law and University of Colorado School of Law. She also practiced with major law firms in Seattle and Minneapolis and clerked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Her teaching and research focus on arbitration, online dispute resolution (ODR), legal technology, AI, contracts, and access to justice. She is a Fellow of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, serves in leadership roles with the AAA-ICDR and International Council on Online Dispute Resolution, and is an elected member of the American Law Institute.

Professor Schmitz has delivered more than 200 presentations and published over 95 articles and books. She hosts The Arbitration Conversation and MedAItion, and has authored or co-authored several leading books on arbitration, ODR, digital dispute system design, and AI. Her honors include the AALS Technology, Law and Legal Education Award (2023), ABA Dispute Resolution Scholarly Achievement Award (2025), and CPR Book Awards (2023 and 2025). She has also served as an expert consultant on USAID and Fulbright projects and regularly teaches and presents internationally.

Daniel Schwarcz

Fredrikson & Byron Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School

Professor Daniel Schwarcz is the Fredrikson & Byron Professor of Law and a Distinguished University Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. His recent scholarship focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence on legal practice and legal education, including empirical studies of how generative AI affects lawyers’ productivity, legal reasoning, and learning. His work has appeared in many of the nation’s leading law reviews and peer-reviewed journals, and he has presented his research on AI and law to academic, judicial, and professional audiences around the world.

Schwarcz is also an award-winning teacher who has received the University of Minnesota Law School’s Teacher of the Year Award three times and the University’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education. 

Drew Simshaw

Professor of Law, UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law

Professor Drew Simshaw is a Professor of Law at the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law. His scholarship examines the legal and ethical implications of emerging technologies, with a particular focus on artificial intelligence, legal ethics, access to justice, and the future of legal services. He recently published "Legal Ethics of AI Snake Oil: Navigating the Hype, Harm, and Hope of Legal AI" in the Michigan Law Review book review issue.

Before joining UNLV, Professor Simshaw spent six years on the faculty at Gonzaga University School of Law and served on the Washington Practice of Law Board, the Disciplinary Advisory Round Table, and the Washington State Bar Association Legal Technology Task Force. He continues to write and speak nationally on AI, legal ethics, legal education, and the regulation of legal technology.

LeighAnne Thompson

Associate Director for Digital Innovation in the Law Library, Seattle University School of Law

LeighAnne Thompson is the Associate Director, Law Library Digital Innovation at Seattle University School of Law. Her work sits at the intersection of library services, legal education, and emerging technology, with a particular focus on AI’s role in legal practice and access to justice. She also served ex officio on the WSBA Legal Technology Taskforce. Before joining the faculty at Seattle University School of Law, Professor Thompson practiced ERISA and Employee Benefits law most recently at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP.

Mark Verstraete

Assistant Professor of Law and Associate Director of TILE, Seattle University School of Law

Mark Verstraete's undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Georgia lines up well with his legal work. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he worked as a research associate at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law and the University of California, Los Angeles' Institute for Technology, Law, and Policy, where his research used philosophical methods to examine how personal data should be regulated, as well as other emerging topics in privacy law.

In addition to his academic work, Verstraete practiced civil rights law with the firm Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt in Atlanta. He represented clients who had been wrongfully arrested or subjected to excessive force by police officers.

Verstraete is currently interested in the ancillary effects of privacy law, including how privacy law facilitates or undermines trust in commercial and interpersonal relationships, how privacy law facilitates the construction of training data for AI development, and how privacy rights support or undermine collective governance of data in the information economy.

His previous work has been published or is forthcoming in the North Carolina Law Review, Iowa Law Review, U.C. Davis Law Review, and others.

Miguel Willis

Lecturer in Law, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and Seattle U Law Alum ‘17

Miguel Willis is the founder of the Access to Justice Tech Fellows (A2J Tech Fellows), a national nonprofit organization that develops summer fellowships for law students seeking to leverage technology to create equitable legal access for low-income and marginalized populations. Immediately prior to joining FPI, Willis served as the Law School Admissions Council’s (LSAC) inaugural Presidential Innovation Fellow.

Willis earned a degree in Political Science from Howard University. While completing his undergraduate degree, he worked with the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation. He is a 2017 graduate of Seattle University School of Law.

Willis has been recognized by the American Bar Association as a 2018 "Legal Rebel" and "2019 Fastcase 50" honoree. He currently serves on the advisory board of the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law’s Innovation for Justice (i4J) program and serves on The Legal Services Corporation’s Emerging Leaders Council.