Three Texas attorneys were included on the annual Fastcase 50 list, which honors top innovators in the legal field.
Cameron Vann, senior staff attorney for the Texas Lawyers’ Assistance Program; Cisselon Nichols Hurd, senior counsel to Shell Oil; and T. Jason Smith, senior director and legal counsel to software company Apttus, received the honor alongside attorneys, professors, and technology entrepreneurs from across the country.
Fastcase in its announcement praised Vann—who came out of retirement in 2008 following a successful career in probate and elder law—for her work over the past nine years with TLAP, which provides confidential help to lawyers, law students, and judges facing mental health and substance abuse issues.
Hurd, a co-founder of the University of Texas School of Law’s Center for Women in Law, was honored for “her outstanding work on behalf of women and minorities,” which “helps to remove roadblocks and make the path to success easier for everyone.”
Smith, secretary of the State Bar of Texas Corporate Counsel Section and a past chair of the Computer & Technology Section, was applauded for his work specializing in contract management software that tracks deals using machine learning and natural language processing for corporate legal departments to track trends and design templates for their non-legal colleagues.
“Every part of the legal market is changing right now—from law school through every part of the practice,” Fastcase Chief Executive Officer Ed Walters said on the company’s website announcing the list. “That change can be daunting or discouraging to many people. And that’s one reason that our team enjoys celebrating the accomplishments of the Fastcase 50. These are people who inspire us by their intelligence, creativity, and leadership. We hope they will inspire others as well, especially during a time of great change for the profession.”
This post was updated July 11, 2017, at 10:45 a.m.