This year’s symposium, entitled Beyond the Valley, will examine the legal effects of technology companies’ movement away from Silicon Valley and into cities like Miami. We will discuss what role attorneys will play in shaping the regulatory landscape governing this rapidly growing industry. The Symposium will not only focus on the substantive legal and regulatory issues but will also discuss the effects, positive and negative, the new industry may have on local communities. Panelists will address a variety of themes including, how new cities like Miami can avoid the negative effects tech has had in Silicon Valley on already marginalized communities, the relationship between venture capital investment and tech start-up, the role of anti-trust regulation, and cryptocurrencies and blockchain. The Law Review is looking forward to structuring the 2021 Symposium as an interdisciplinary event, where experts from the University of Miami, the greater Miami area, and across the country will provide practical insights into a broad range of issues.

Question Submission: Audience members can submit questions for the panelists here

Schedule of Events

Friday, February 4

Opening Keynote Address (1:30 – 2:30 PM)

Leigh-Ann Buchanan is a writer, strategist, and sought-after advisor on REDI (racial equity, diversity and inclusion) strategies for tech and innovation ecosystems and organizational culture. NY Times, Inc. Magazine, NPR, NBC, South Florida Times, Miami Herald, Al Jezeera, American Psychological Association, and the ABA Law Journal have featured her thoughts and contributions.

She focuses her energy on projects that bridge systemic access and opportunity gaps, with a concentration on tech, entrepreneurship and high impact leaders. As an advisor, she has supported innovation and technology leaders at Fortune 500 companies including Google, Facebook, Delta, P&G Ventures, AirBnB, HSBC and UBS. As a founder, she has launched ventures from concept to scale, raising over $4.5 million in equity free capital to scale numerous ventures.

Leigh-Ann has been recognized as one of the Most Influential Black Business Leaders in South Florida, a McClatchy Florida Influencer, one of Miami’s 50 Most Powerful and Influential Black Business Leaders, a Black Enterprise Magazine Tech Trailblazer and the American Bar Association Top 40 Young Lawyers.

She is the Founder of Nyah Project and currently serves as the President of the venture studio, aīre ventures. She co-hosts the Innovation City podcast and produces storytelling projects.

Panel I: Crypto, Blockchain, and the Future of the Regulatory Landscape (2:40 – 4:10 PM)

This panel will analyze the current regulation of crypto and blockchain technologies and discuss whether they are adequate in their present state or require adjustment. Panelists will discuss what role both lawyers and the tech industry will play in shaping this new landscape. The panel will bring together a prominent SEC commissioner, an attorney and author of “Digital Assets and Blockchain Technology: US Law and Regulation” a first of its kind text book for law and graduate students, the CEO of Luminous Group a blockchain technology, growth advisory, and risk management solutions company, and a University of Arkansas School of Law professor who has published three scholarly articles on cryptocurrency regulation and acted as faculty advisory for the Arkansas Law Review Symposium on crypto.

Panelists

Caroline Bradley, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for International and Graduate Programs at the University of Miami School of Law (Moderator)
Daniel Stabile, Partner at Shutts & Bowen LLP; Vice Chairperson of the Miami-Dade County Cryptocurrency Task Force; Adjunct Professor at the University of Miami School of Law
Carol Van Cleef, Chair of the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Blockchain and Digital Assets Practice; CEO of the Luminous Group
Carol Goforth, University Professor and the Clayton N. Little Professor of Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law
Hester Peirce, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner

Panel II: Big Tech and Antitrust (4:20 – 5:50 PM)

This panel will focus on the ongoing confrontation between big tech companies and antitrust regulators and what relationship they should have going forward as big tech companies move into smaller tech hubs such as Miami. The panel will feature individuals situated on both sides of the discussion, those who favor increased regulation as well as those who support a free-market approach. Panelists will include the vice-president of the American Antitrust Institute, a director of the Classical Liberal Institute and guest lecturer at the University of Chicago, as well as a professor of economics at the University of Utah, an empirical labor economist by training, and his research investigates the existence and implications of employer power in labor markets, with applications to antitrust.

Panelists

Hannibal Travis, Professor at the Florida International University School of Law (Moderator)
Marshall Steinbaum, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Utah; Senior Fellow in Higher Education Finance at Jain Family Institute
Laura Alexander, Vice President of Policy at the American Antitrust Institute
Sanjukta Paul, Assistant Professor of Law, Romano Stancroff Research Scholar at Wayne State University Law School
Wilfredo Fernandez

Panel III: Tech and Venture Capital Investment (6:00 – 7:30 PM)

This panel will look at the relationship between tech start-ups and VC investors, as well as the role lawyers play in supporting and shaping this industry. Panelists will discuss the role lawyers play currently and what they can do in the future to build a better environment not only for the incoming tech companies but for the new communities these companies are built in. Panelists will include a Greenberg Traurig co-managing partner who led the Miami office to become a leader in representing angel investors and technology companies, a partner at Morris Nichols focusing on corporate law and VC and guest lecturer on the topics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law on venture capital, as well as Duke Law’s director of law and entrepreneurship who has advised tech companies and other start-ups over the last thirteen years.

Panelists

William Bratton, de la Cruz/Mentschikoff Chair in Law and Economics and Senior Lecturer at the University of Miami School of Law; Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (Moderator)
Jaret Davis, Co-Managing Shareholder of the Miami office of Greenberg Traurig, P.A. and member of the firm’s global Executive Committee
Eric S. Klinger-Wilensky, Partner with Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell LLP; Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School
Erika J.S. Buell, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Program in Law & Entrepreneurship at Duke University School of Law

Saturday, February 5

Closing Keynote Address (9:30 – 10:30 AM)

Felice Gorordo is CEO of eMerge Americas, LLC, a venture-backed platform focused on transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas and organizing the largest tech event connecting the Americas held annually at the Miami Beach Convention Center. In 2019, eMerge’s sixth annual conference attracted more than 16,000 attendees and 3,900 unique companies from over 40 countries. Felice is also a venture partner at the private equity fund I Squared Capital, and advisor at REEF Technology.

Felice is a successful entrepreneur, investor, and advisor. Most recently, he was President & CEO of Clearpath, Inc., (acquired by L1BRE, LLC), a venture-backed tech company focused on revolutionizing the confusing, costly and paper-based immigration filing process – just as TurboTax transformed tax filing. Following the acquisition of Clearpath, Felice served as CEO of L1BRE, a venture-backed mobility tech company with operations in the U.S. and Mexico, and Global Director of StartUp Health, a digital health venture fund and accelerator investing in “health moonshots.”

Prior to that, Felice was appointed by President Barack Obama as one of fifteen 2011-2012 White House Fellows and served in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs working on Latino, immigration and business outreach. In this capacity, he organized the first-ever “White House Conference on Connecting the Americas,” which included the participation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, several cabinet secretaries and high-level business and government leaders from throughout the Americas in lead up to the 2012 Summit of the Americas.

Felice also co-founded and leads Roots of Hope, Inc., a non-profit focused on youth empowerment in Cuba through technology and entrepreneurship. Felice worked on the re-establishment of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties, and served as an advisor to Grammy-winner Juanes to help organize the historic Peace without Borders concert in Cuba, which resulted in 1.2 million in attendance in 2009.

In the Administration of President George W. Bush, Felice served in various positions at the U.S. Departments of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security, including as trade specialist managing a cross-sector portfolio valued at $1.5 billion in export content.

Previously, Felice served as senior fellow at the Georgetown University Beeck Center on Social Impact and Innovation, chair-level Member of the Finance Committee for the 59th Presidential Inaugural Committee, and advisor to President Joe Biden’s Cancer Initiative.

PODER Magazine has named Felice one of the “100 Poderosos” Most Influential Hispanics in the U.S. and he has appeared as a guest commentator on CNN, CNN en Español, BBC, NPR, CNBC, NBC Nightly News, Univision, and Telemundo. His views and articles have also been published in Forbes, The Economist, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Miami Herald and el Nuevo Herald.

Felice serves as a Lifetime Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the Latino Victory Fund National Committee, and the boards of the American Business Immigration Coalition and the Immigration Partnership and Coalition Fund.

Felice is a graduate of Georgetown University and started his career working in President Bush’s White House Office of Political Affairs.

Fireside Chat: The Pros and Cons of the Technology Sector on Local Communities (10:45 – 11:45 AM)

This fireside chat will look at the pitfalls previous tech cities, like Silicon Valley, fell into and how new tech cities, like Miami, can avoid them. The roundtable participants will discuss issues such as housing inflation, gentrification, and homelessness caused by the success of a growing tech industry and what regulations, or changes can be implemented to avoid them in Miami

Panelists

Marcia Weldon, Director of the Transactional Skills Program, Faculty Coordinator of the Business Compliance & Sustainability Concentration, and Lecturer in Law at the University of Miami School of Law (Moderator)
Leigh-Ann Buchanan, Founding Executive Director of aīre ventures; Founder of the Nyah Project
Felice Gorordo, CEO of eMerge Americas, LLC

Panel IV: Role of Criminal Punishment in Tech Regulation (12:00 – 1:30 PM)

This panel will look at the role criminal punishment plays in preventing harmful actions from tech companies and what new approaches could be taken to have a more effective role in regulation. For larger tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, or Google criminal punishments, while relevant, are a mere drop in the bucket when compared to the annual revenue they generate. Comparatively, start-ups are less likely to be able to afford any such penalty. Thus, a key question to discuss is whether the current regulatory framework disproportionately stifles new entrants into the market, creating a barrier to entry, which effectively allows larger companies to protect a growing monopoly. Panelists will include an adjunct professor at the University of Miami School of Law teaching white collar crime, as well as a federal prosecutor.

Panelists

Tamara Lave, Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law (Moderator)
Sajjad Matin, Assistant United State Attorney
Kendall Coffey, Partner, Coffey Burlington

2022 Symposium

The Symposium will take place on the following dates:

REGISTRATION:

For CLE registration, click here
For non-CLE and student registrations, click here

FLORIDA BAR CLE CREDITS AVAILABLE:
1.0 Ethics
11.0 Technology
11.0 General

UMLR NEWS

CURRENT ISSUE

Volume 78, Issue 4

The Symposium will take place on the following dates:

REGISTRATION:

For CLE registration, click hereFor non-CLE and student registrations, click here

FLORIDA BAR CLE CREDITS AVAILABLE: 1.0 Ethics11.0 Technology11.0 General

UMLR NEWS

CURRENT ISSUE

Volume 78, Issue 4

STAY CONNECTED

For CLE registration, click here
For non-CLE and student registrations, click here

FLORIDA BAR CLE CREDITS AVAILABLE:
1.0 Ethics
11.0 Technology
11.0 General