Sub-Pages
Team Members

Projects of Worth

Students from different schools are teamed up and assigned a controversial or unsettled topic in legal education or practice. Their ultimate goal is to develop a Project of Worth (a business plan for a company, service, or product) that they will present at the end of the semester to a wide audience including venture capitalists. To reach this goal, student teams: 1) read relevant scholarship, connect with mentors and subject experts, and interview professionals immersed in the relevant field(s) in order to build a core knowledge base; 2) identify one narrow problem within their broad topic; 3) brainstorm with their mentors to find a creative and practical solution to the identified problem; 4) create an action plan to develop their solution into a Project of Worth; 5) collaborate with a leading academic or practitioner to present their Project of Worth in a dynamic, comprehensive fashion at the culminating ConPosium.

The Project of Worth could take many forms. It could be a website, a computer program or application, a three dimensional architectural model, a new educational course or degree, an NGO, or a consultancy. The possibilities are endless.  The Project of Worths' goals could range from increasing access to justice to providing more cost-effective education to maximizing profit.

So for example, one pair of students may be assigned the topic: Third Party Litigation Funding: Friend or Foe? After developing a knowledge base, the pair might idenfity the following problem: third party financiers can't access enough information to make well informed investment decisions because of the myriad ethical rules across jurisdictions. Their solution might be to develop an on-line manual containing advice on current ethics issues and a virtual space that enables investors to collaborate on ethical rule reforms to facilitate third party financing.

Below are a description of our students' incredible Projects of Worth from our first two years.

2012 Projects of Worth

  • Topic: Trickle Down Justice? Access to Justice for Vulnerable Client Populations
  • Project of Worth: Founded a global NGO featuring a social-network like website specifically designed to unite and connect legal, political, and community advocates around the world who fight against human trafficking. 
  • Creators: Ashley Matthews (Miami), Margaret Hagan (Stanford), Iqra Musaddaq (UCL)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Jacqui Kinghan, Practitioner Mentor: Marcia Narine, Alumni Advisor: Mike Rozensher, Subject Expert Advisor: Roxie Bacon, Entrepreneur Advisor: Monica Goyal
  • Topic: Marketing Law Schools: Truth in Advertising or Bait and Switch? 
  • Project of Worth: Designed a web-based business that connects undergrads intending to go to law school with well-educated advisors who can help them make wise and educated choices regarding their law school of choice.
  • Creators: Mike Williams (Sydney), Joel McNabney (Miami)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: John Coates , Practitioner Mentor: Hugh Totten, Alumni Advisor: Amanda Willis, Subject Expert Advisor: Kevin Doolan, Entrepreneur Advisor: Phyllis Weiss Haserot
  • Topic: International Arbitration: What’s Under the Invisibility Cloak? 
  • Project of Worth: Created a website that, using a "bottom up" approach, allows individuals to share and allow others to learn from their experiences with consumer arbitration when a contractual agreement with an international entity has gone awry.
  • Creators: Li Longfei (STL), Erika Pagano (Miami), Naomi Waibel (NYLS)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Rob Rosen, Practitioner Mentor: Deborah Enix-Ross, Alumni Advisor: Liz Rieser-Murphy, Subject Expert Advisor: Steven Bennett, Entrepreneur Advisor: David Schnurman
  • Topic:  Lawyers and Law Students: Managing Time and Stress 
  • Project of Worth: Developed a smartphone app featuring a dynamic, all-knowing female avatar who guides law students 24/7/365 through the multiple and complex challenges of their legal education.
  • Creators: Victoria Broomfield (Sydney), Lisa Fahey (Indiana)
  • Mentors:  Academic Mentor: Bruce Green, Practitioner Mentor: Scott Rogers, Alumni Advisor: Chris Callahan, Subject Expert Advisor: Scott Westfahl, Entrepreneur Advisor: Bryan Treglia
  • Topic: Global Legal Service Firms: Is it Possible to Marry Cultures? 
  • Project of Worth: Created a diverse consultancy featuring experts from multiple countries and cultures that comprehensively trains individuals who require cultural competencies in a new country in order to thrive profesionally.
  • Creators: Sun Lan (STL), Katie Wang (Fordham), Steve Mehr (Indiana)
  • Mentors:  Academic Mentor: John Varghese, Practitioner Mentor: Peter Lederer, Alumni Advisor: Zhang Lining, Subject Expert Advisor: William Twining, Entrepreneur Advisor: David Gold
  • Topic: Law School Debt: Students Beware or Law Schools Take Action? 
  • Project of Worth: Created a low-cost website using widely available web tools that crunches data and produces invaluable data to prospective law students who are unsure whether taking on the debt of attending a particular law school is a wise financial decision considering the recent job/salary prospects for recent graduates of that law school.
  • Creators: Neil Devani (Stanford), Sean Koehler (Fordham), Katie Leah (UCL)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Trish White, Practitioner Mentor: Coraline Haitjema, Alumni Advisor: Nawal Hssinou, Subject Expert Advisor: Laurel Terry, Entrepreneur Advisor: David Elkins
  • Topic:  Law School Career Services: The Next Generation 
  • Project of Worth: Developed a website targeted to law school career services office that allows schools to much better serve the career search needs of their students by providing online tools and resources that are unavailable through more traditional delivery methods.
  • Creators: Anjali Deshmukh (Stanford), Eugenia Schraa (Fordham)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Joe Hoffmann, Practitioner Mentor: Cheryl Zuckerman, Alumni Advisor: Kirsten Heenan, Subject Expert Advisor: Marti Candiello, Entrepreneur Advisor: Moray McLaren
  • Topic: Women in the Law: Is the Glass Ceiling Cracked, Smashed, or Unbreakable? 
  • Project of Worth: Designed a smartphone app specifically for female lawyers that connects users with other female lawyers to form an online community while also offering a variety of services, functions, and resources.
  • Creators: Tao Xu (STL), Lynnett Brooks (NYLS), Lauren Quattromani (Miami)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Renee Newman Knake, Practitioner Mentor: Ida Abbott, Alumni Advisor: Wu Dan , Subject Expert Advisor: Annette Torres, Entrepreneur Advisor: Mae O'Malley  
  • Topic: Virtual Legal Education: Can Law Schools Span the Distance? 
  • Project of Worth: Designed an all-encompassing, powerful piece of software that puts together a number of the very best features of software products often used in online education to create a one-stop-shop software solution for law schools looking to do virtual education right.
  • Creators:  Jason Machowsky (NYLS), Rico Williams (Miami), Nicolas Jacquemart (St. Gallen)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Juan Francisco Ortega Díaz, Practitioner Mentor: Tahlia Gordon, Alumni Advisor: Casey Dieck, Subject Expert Advisor: Andrea Johnson, Entrepreneur Advisor: Jack Newton
  • Topic: Alternative Courts on the Brain: Psychologically Based, but Are They Sound? 
  • Project of Worth: Using current psychological and neuroscientific research, created a web-based plug-in for social networking sites like Facebook and Google+ that teaches responsibilioty and encourages moral decison-making by using cookies and custom-crafted algorithms to inform users when they are making poor posting choices and provide them the opportunity to make a better decision.
  • Creators: Andrés Díaz (Los Andes), Preetha Chakrabarti (Fordham)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Rita Shackel, Practitioner Mentor: Brian Harel, Alumni Advisor: Christine Garg, Subject Expert Advisor: Amanda Pustilnik, Entrepreneur Advisor: Mike Greenberg
  • Topic: Lawyers Acting as Non-Lawyers and Non-Lawyers Acting as Lawyers: What Should be Considered the Unauthorized Practice of Law?
  • Project of Worth: Developed a web-based profesionall match-making service that connects start-up companies looking for talented professionals to help build the business with recently graduated, entrepreneurially-minded lawyers who are pursuing a non-traditional career.
  • Creators:  Wang Qiongyue (STL), Kushal Malhotra (IE), Diana Peñaloza (Los Andes)
  • Mentors:  Academic Mentor: Elizabeth Chambliss, Practitioner Mentor: David Chameli, Alumni Advisor: Adam Enjoy, Subject Expert Advisor: Jordan Furlong, Entrepreneur Advisor: Chrissie Lightfoot
  • Topic: The Disaggregation of Legal Services: A Service or Disservice to Clients 
  • Project of Worth: Built an aggregating website that serves as a one-stop-shop for customers looking for online legal services, allowing them to easily search for a solution across multiple online legal service providers to find the best fit and solution.
  • Creators: Matt Walsh (Harvard), Geoffrey Weg (NYLS), Sophie Howard (UCL)
  • Mentors: Academic Mentor: Ray Campbell, Practitioner Mentor: Liz Lamar, Alumni Advisor: Indira Murthy, Subject Expert Advisor: James Peters, Entrepreneur Advisor: Stephanie Kimbro

 

2011 Projects of Worth

  • Topic: The Outsourcing of Legal Services: The Struggle Between Ethics and Efficiency
  • Project of Worth: Conceptualized a new masters degree program for students who want to enter the Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) field
  • Creators: Kara Romagnino, Miami Law and Christine Garg, New York Law School
  • Mentors: Rob Rosen and Peter Lederer
  • Topic: Conflicting Global Cultures: Bridging the Gap in Legal Education and Practice
  • Project of Worth: Created an action plan to make Shari’ah-compliant finance more accessible in the U.S.
  • Creators: Casey Dieck, Miami Law and Amanda Willis, New York Law School
  • Mentors: Elizabeth Chambliss and Marcia Narine
  • Topic: Lawyers' WorkSpace in the Digital Age: Its Architecture, Design, and Aesthetic Impact 
  • Project of Worth: An Aesthetic Consultancy that designs beautiful space to enable people to access law’s power, efficiently harness its potential, and therefore maximize its impact on institutions and society
  • Creators: Julie Dahlgard, Miami Law, Kyle Marshall, Miami Law, and Thomas Dance, UCL Laws
  • Mentors: Jacqui Kinghan and Coraline Haitjema
  • Topic: The Business of Legal Education: Teaching Law Students Real Business Skills 
  • Project of Worth: Conceived a multi-level video game simulation designed to teach law students financial analysis and case recovery calculation skills
  • Creators: Chris Callahan, Miami Law and Indira Murthy, UCL Laws
  • Mentors: Michele DeStefano Beardslee and Ida Abbott 
  • Topic: Third Party Litigation Funding: Friend or Foe?
  • Project of Worth: Created a business plan for an online community to provide consumer protection information and risk calculation tools for both consumer-plaintiffs and lawyers who are considering using third parties to fund litigation
  • Creators: Mari Byrne, Fordham Law and Mike Rozensher, Harvard Law School
  • Mentors: Ray Campbell and Steven C. Bennett
  • Topic: Fallout from the Legal Services Act: Publicly Held Law Firms and Other New Models of Law Firm Structure and Ownership  
  • Project of Worth: Designed an online resource to the Legal Services Act 2007 that provides information on the LSA, offers an external finance matrix for prospective law firm investment, and connects the LSA community by providing a blog and forum for discussion
  • Creators: Kirsten Heenan, Harvard Law School and Anna Pope, UCL Laws
  • Mentors: David Wilkins and Michael Greenberg
  • Topic: Finding Common Ground: Regulatory Issues Across International Borders 
  • Project of Worth: Conceptualized a global association for legal services regulators and developed an online forum through which national and subnational lawyer regulators could connect, share learnings, and cooperate with respect to lawyer licensing and discipline
  • Creators: Wu Dan, Peking University STL and Liz Rieser-Murphy, Miami Law
  • Mentors: Trish White and Larry W. Newman
  • Topic: Judging 2.0: Embracing the Challenges and Benefits of Globalization and Technological Advances in the Courtroom
  • Project of Worth: Created a multimedia website to provide information, resources, and tools to help pro se clients better present at trial
  • Creators: Nawal Hssinou, UCL Laws and Marc Sittenreich, Fordham Law
  • Mentors: John Flood and Cheryl Zuckerman
  • Topic: Redefining the Smart Lawyer: Professional and Emotional Intelligence Training
  • Project of Worth: Conceptualized an Emotional Intelligence in Legal Practice Test for law students and practitioners, a stand alone course on emotional intelligence for law school professors, and a Post J.D. Certificate in Emotional Intelligence for law schools
  • Creators: Mara Slakas, New York Law School and Adam Enjoy, Peking University STL
  • Mentors: Renee Knake and Scott Rogers
  • Topic: Rethinking Value: Alternative Strategies to the Billable Hour
  • Project of Worth: Created a website designed to match individuals looking to buy or sell residential real estate in New York City with lawyers who offer a non-traditional billing structure and who are willing to allow for consumers to bid on their services
  • Creators: Corey Gaul, New York Law School and Fu Chenyuan, Peking University STL
  • Mentors: Bruce Green and Hugh Totten
  • Topic: Technology Boom or Bust: Law Firms Reinvented or the End of Law Firms?
  • Project of Worth: Developed a business model that would help Chinese law firms embrace technology to increase efficiency, productivity, and the quality of legal services
  • Creator: Zhang Lining, Peking University STL
  • Mentors: John Coates and Bryan Treglia