An inspirational and passionate law graduate starts a ripple effect, with Miguel Willis, founder of Access to Justice Tech Fellows

In this episode no. 16 I interview Miguel Willis, a 2017 graduate from Seattle University School of Law and currently the inaugural Presidential Innovation Fellow at Law School Admission Council, where he oversees the Access to Justice Tech Fellows Program which is a program that pairs law students with legal services organizations to develop projects that support the use of technology, data, and design-thinking to bridge the justice gap in America.

Miguel is committed to leveraging his law degree in a non-traditional way to solve seemingly intractable problems and in this episode you will hear examples of how he does just that.

Miguel shares with me the personal reasons that led him to set up this innovative program, and how he is aiming to fill a gap in traditional legal education. We cover how he went about doing so, the types of organisations involved and the interesting projects they work on and how it leads to opportunities for students. We also cover how, funnily enough, Miguel ended up being a fellow in his own program.

In this episode you will hear how one person turned a good idea into action, the benefits and challenges of hackathons, the key to partnerships that have real impact, and actions we can take to improve diversity in the profession.

You will especially enjoy this episode if you are interested in the entrepreneurs' journey including how to overcome issues of program sustainability; and creative models for new legal education and justice solutions.

Links:

• ATJ Tech Fellows
• Justice Innovation Challenge
• Legal Services National Technology Assitance Project
• Internet bar organisation
• Innovation in Legal Practice Summit

Andrea Perry-Petersen – LinkedIn - Twitter @winkiepp – andreaperrypetersen.com.au

Twitter - @ReimaginingJ

Facebook – Reimagining Justice group