Dan Jansen is the CEO of Nextlaw Labs and Nextlaw Ventures. He has a rare combination of entrepreneurial and professional services experience. As a serial entrepreneur Dan has helped to conceive, fund, grow/or sell disruptive businesses in many diverse sectors, including legal, social media, financial services, and online recruiting. Dan has almost twenty years of professional services experience including roles leading the Global Media Practice for the Boston Consulting Group and Arthur Young & Company advising startups.

With more than 13 years of executive experience, John has earned a reputation as a strategic thinker and creative problem solver. As Global Chief Innovation Officer and Partner at Dentons, John works closely with the Firm’s lawyers and professionals to identify and deploy client service solutions that fully capitalize on the Firm’s diverse legal expertise, industry thought leadership, global footprint and entrepreneurial spirit. Prior to joining the Firm, he served as President Barack Obama’s Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. During his tenure, he launched new coordinated federal initiatives to accelerate innovation-based growth strategies, including the “i6 Challenge” and the “Jobs and Innovation Accelerator Challenge.” In his capacity as our Global Chair, John will work to ensure that the full experience and capabilities of Dentons are brought to bear on opportunities being developed at Nextlaw Labs.

Before entering the legal tech industry in 2006, Maya worked as a change management consultant and civil litigator, and since then has honed her skills as a subject matter expert at the intersection of law and technology.

Maya currently leads the definition, development, launch and adoption of early-stage legal tech for Nextlaw Labs. She delivers next-generation technology, process, client and business growth services across the globe for the Dentons ecosystem, including acceleration of legal tech startups in the Nextlaw Ventures portfolio. Collaborating with legal tech communities and experts worldwide, she continually evolves Nextlaw Labs’ partnership and investment strategies. A thought leader in the legal innovation space, she was named one of ABA Legal Technology Resource Center’s  “Women of Legal Tech 2018.”

Keith Austin is the Senior Vice President and Head of Legal for the UKIEMEA (UK & Ireland , Russia and CIS, Middle East and Africa) region of the largest logistics company in the world, DP DHL. He is an innovator in the area of transforming legal operations and is based in the United Kingdom.

Gastón Bilder is a Senior Legal Counsel for one of the largest energy companies in the world, Total. He has a wealth of experience in M&A and in legal tech, both as an entrepreneur and an investor, and is based in Belgium.

Casey Flaherty is the founder of Procertas, a legal technology consultancy. He is the creator and pioneer of the Legal Technology Assessment, which tests and trains legal timekeepers and staff on the use of basic technology, such as word processing and spreadsheets, to complete commonly encountered legal tasks. His novel approach has been profiled in the Washington Post and Casey has been celebrated as a “Legal Rebel” and labeled an innovator by prominent legal trade publications. He began his legal career as an associate at Holland & Knight LLP and later served in the general counsel’s office at Kia Motors America.

Bill Henderson is a member of our advisory board and founder of Lawyer Metrics, LLC, a research company specializing in the use of data in law firm strategy, as well as a professor of law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law. His incisive analysis of the structural changes occurring in the legal profession has prompted numerous accolades, including being named to the National Law Journal’s list of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” and the “Fastcase 50” for innovation within the legal industry. In 2015, The National Jurist identified him as the “Most Influential Person in Legal Education.”

Daniel Martin Katz is a member of our advisory board and is a technologist, scientist and law professor, blending education and thought leadership with quantitative analyses of law and society. Professor Katz teaches at IIT – Chicago Kent, is the author of the “MIT School of Law” and is an editor for a number of academic and industrial journals. Dan’s forward-thinking ideas helped to earn him acknowledgement as a “Legal Rebel” by the ABA Journal and as a member of “Fastcase 50.” In addition to his academic work, Dan is the Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of the consulting group LexPredict.