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As the erstwhile “Monday blogger” for the BLPB, I have written Labor Day posts over the years on a variety of Labor Day topics–from the history surrounding the holiday, to the labor of law teaching. Last year, I wrote about gratitude on Labor Day. This year, I carry that gratitude theme forward in a specific context: appreciation for lawyers and for being a lawyer.

I know that the holiday is not generally seen as a moment in the calendar year in which we step back to honor service professionals. As I have noted in prior Labor Day posts, the workers intended to be honored are those who made our country prosperous in and around the time of the Industrial Revolution–working long, hard hours for low pay. The Department of Labor’s website offers a summary description.

Labor Day is an annual celebration of the social and economic achievements of American workers. The holiday is rooted in the late nineteenth century, when labor activists pushed for a federal holiday to recognize the many contributions workers have made to America’s strength, prosperity, and well-being.

I mean no disrespect to that original intention by focusing on lawyers here. I continue to believe that…

Friends keep sending me contracts they created with ChatGPT or Claude.

They read well. The formatting is clean.

But essential clauses are often missing—or the terms don’t reflect the actual business deal.

Sometimes I revise heavily. Sometimes I start over.

This post isn’t about whether AI is capable.

It’s about whether the person prompting knows how contracts actually work in business.

A contract isn’t a CYA document like my friends think. It reflects how the parties have chosen to allocate risk, reflect their priorities, and protect relationships and business interests.

AI can assist with drafting. I use it. I teach it. But without commercial judgment, even the best prompt won’t protect the business.

We’re need to train future lawyers and all workers not to rely on AI but to partner with it.

At University of Miami School of Law, we’re preparing students to step into the real world—with both digital and business acumen.

In our Transactional Skills Program, students don’t learn theory.

They negotiate, redline, bill, meet with simulated clients, and use AI responsibly. They also work with real-world agreements—documents they’ll see in practice:

✅ NDAs, employment, and contractor agreements

✅ SaaS, MSAs, and licensing deals

✅ Escrow, loan…

This year’s symposium, titled Navigating the Relationship Between the Administrative State and Emerging Technology, will focus on the evolving regulatory frameworks around emerging technologies like digital assets and artificial intelligence (AI). These technologies are rapidly transforming the way individuals and businesses engage in commerce, interact socially, and innovate. These advancements, however, raise profound questions about the applicability of existing regulatory structures. The symposium will bring together leading experts to discuss how the administrative state can balance the protection of innovation with the mitigation of risks associated with these technologies, while ensuring that laws evolve to meet the challenges of the future.

We are thrilled to welcome Michele Korver, Head of Regulatory & Operating Partner at a16z crypto, to deliver the opening keynote. Michele’s wealth of experience in both the public and private sectors will provide invaluable insights into the state of digital asset regulation. The event will conclude with a thought-provoking closing address, offering reflections on the key discussions of the day.

Welcome and Opening Remarks (1:15 PM – 1:25 PM)

The symposium will begin with brief welcoming remarks, setting the stage for an afternoon of in-depth discussions and exploring the complexities surrounding the intersection of technology, law, and…

I managed to hold off for a few weeks–and then for the past 24-48 hours (or so)–in reporting back on the current state of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). But the U.S. Supreme Court has again spoken, and so it is time to do an update (since little more is likely to happen over the weekend). FinCEN, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, summarizes the current state of play, an update from my post earlier this month.

On January 23, 2025, the Supreme Court granted the government’s motion to stay a nationwide injunction issued by a federal judge in Texas (Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. McHenry—formerly, Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland). As a separate nationwide order issued by a different federal judge in Texas (Smith v. U.S. Department of the Treasury) still remains in place, reporting companies are not currently required to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN despite the Supreme Court’s action in Texas Top Cop Shop. Reporting companies also are not subject to liability if they fail to file this information while the Smith order remains in force. However, reporting companies may continue to voluntarily submit beneficial ownership information reports.

And so it…

…

I was quoted earlier this week (Monday) in a Business Insider article, “Elon Musk has a lot to gain if Trump wins. A Harris presidency is more uncertain.” The article is behind a paywall (sorry!), but at the time this is being posted, an aol.com version is available. In any event, this post offers my two quotes with some context.

On the potential for bias against Elon Musk in a Harris administration:

“One would hope that governmental units would be immune to political pressures,” Joan MacLeod Heminway, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, told BI. “But people in those units are humans and may inadvertently scrutinize proposals coming from entities owned or controlled by Elon Musk.”

In response to a question about the inclusion of Elon Musk in a Trump administration:

“There are ethical rules mandating compliance with various types of obligations, including conflict-of-interest reporting, for certain types of government positions,” Heminway said. “Elon Musk may not want to take on these obligations.”

Now, we will wait and see what actually transpires. The article notes that “Trump has already incorporated some of Musk’s policy proposals into his campaign, with plans to establish a government efficiency commission…

A law firm recently reached out to me to conduct a CLE on Mental Health Challenges in the Age of AI. It was an interesting request. I’ve spoken about AI issues on panels, as a keynote speaker, and in the classroom, and I wrote about it for Tennessee Journal of Business Law. I also conduct workshops and CLEs on mental health in the profession. But I’ve never been asked to combine the topics. 

Before I discussed issues related to anxiety about job disruption and how cognitive overload affects the brain, I spent time talking about the various tools that are out there and how much our profession will transform in the very near future.

If you’re like many lawyers I know, you think that AI is more hype than substance. So I’ll share the information I shared with the law firm.

According to a  2024 Bloomberg survey on AI and the legal profession, 69% of Bloomberg survey respondents believe generative AI can be used ethically in legal practice. But they harbor “extreme” or “moderate” concerns about deep fakes (e.g., human impersonations, hallucinations and accuracy of AI-generated text,  privacy, algorithmic bias, IP, and of course, job displacement.

Those are all legitimate…

I’m super excited to attend and moderate a panel on How to Improve Your Contract Skills with Gen AI Tools and Products at the ContractsCon in Las Vegas from January 22-23, 2025. As the GC for a startup and a nonprofit, and someone who directs the Transactional Skills Program for a law school, I have to stay up to date on the future of contracts for my clients and to prepare our students for a world that will be completely different from the one they expected.

This is not the typical boring CLE. How to Contract Founder, Laura Frederick describes it as “practical training for the work you do all the time.For every mega M&A transaction or financing, there are thousands of regular contracts that companies handle day-in and day-out. This training helps you learn how to do those BETTER with strategies based on best practices used by top lawyers with solid real-world in-house experience. Have a ton of experience already? This event is perfect for lawyers and professionals with 10+ years of contract experience too. We’ve added a whole day of training built to teach advanced contract skills. Plus you can connect with your peers and help out…

I didn’t really think it through. I actually thought that teaching Business Associations (BA) online, would mean that I would have fewer students. I’m teaching online because I have two immunocompromised parents and I don’t want to take any risks. But alas, I have 90 students this semester.

Not to brag, but I’m pretty good at teaching online. I haves some students who have taken three or four classes with me online and none of them are required. But I have never taught ninety online. That number is completely contrary to best practices for online teaching and learning. 

I even tried to scare some students away. Before every semester, I ask all students to complete a Google form that helps me understand them a bit better. This lets me know how to pronounce their names, what experience they have in business, where they have worked, what classes they are taking, and what they are most interested in learning about. This survey helped me understand how many of them were taking BA and Evidence at the same time. Some masochists are taking BA, Evidence, and our Transactional Skills I course, which is incredibly time consuming. But alas, only two dropped.…