Legal Rebels Profiles

Charging Forward: April Dawson is preparing her students to use AI to help them practice law

April Dawson isn’t going to wait. The associate dean of technology and innovation and law professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law doesn’t idly stand by looking for permission to chart the course at the intersection of law, technology and legal education.

Jan 1, 2026 12:51 PM CST

Clearing a Path: Justice Gordon MacDonald leads reforms for legal education, admissions

Gordon J. MacDonald believes the justice system fails the people it serves. Day after day, the New Hampshire Supreme Court chief justice says he, like many working in state courts, sees that more than 90% of those in court for issues like domestic violence, small claims and divorce do not have lawyers.

Jan 1, 2026 12:37 PM CST

Navigating Justice: Zachary Zarnow has made a career of trying to make the legal system more accessible

According to Zachary Zarnow, the legal system isn’t working for everyday people. When nonlawyers encounter a law-related issue, such as fighting eviction or pursuing an employer for wage theft, they find the court system unnavigable, he says.

Jan 1, 2026 10:15 AM CST

Building Blocks: Keith Porcaro teaches his students about tech by breaking it down

Can you objectively and accurately describe a sandwich?

Students attending Keith Porcaro’s Readings in Algorithms and the Law at Duke University School of Law learn to think about how algorithms work by first building their own. In addition to creating an algorithm to describe a sandwich, students are tasked with other hands-on challenges, such as translating an expungement statute into a simple logical expression.

Jan 1, 2026 10:07 AM CST

Bar None: When it comes to reforming the bar exam, Judith Gundersen is leading the way

Most lawyers dislike two things: the bar exam and change. Those two things are about to collide as the Uniform Bar Exam sunsets in 2028 and the NextGen UBE begins its rollout in July. Leading the charge is Judith Gundersen.

Jan 1, 2026 9:57 AM CST

Judging Judges: Aliza Shatzman brings more accountability to judicial clerkships

Before June 2022, law clerks had few opportunities to judge their judges. Enter the Legal Accountability Project, which Aliza Shatzman launched to increase transparency and accountability in judicial clerkships and the judiciary. A hallmark of the nonprofit organization is a centralized clerkships database that Shatzman describes as “basically Glassdoor for judges,” referencing the popular company review site.

Jan 1, 2026 9:55 AM CST

AI for All: Tanguy Chau aims to do things differently with an all-in-one legal assistant

Tanguy Chau, an engineer with a master’s degree, PhD and MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was an entrepreneur and venture capitalist early in his career. In looking for interesting investment opportunities, Chau zeroed in on legal technology.

Jan 1, 2026 9:51 AM CST

Scholarly Works: How Rebecca Sandefur turned access-to-justice crisis research into action

Rebecca Sandefur traces her interest in access to justice back to the University of Chicago, where she wrote her dissertation on the social organization of legal careers.

Jan 1, 2026 9:44 AM CST

Change-Maker: Rodrigo Camarena is building tools to help immigrants become citizens and combat wage theft

Rodrigo Camarena has been advocating for immigrants since he was a child. By the time he was 8, this son of an electrical engineer father and an attorney mother was the family's translator, navigating the bureaucracy when they immigrated to northern Virginia from Mexico City via a work visa.

Feb 1, 2025 12:35 AM CST