In January, Professor Sarah Hampson’s TPOLS 150 Introduction to the American Legal System was pleased to invite Mr. Sands McKinley, a local lawyer and entrepreneur, and founder of the local law firm McKinley Irvin, to speak with her class about the future of law school and the legal profession. As a special challenge for Professor Hampson’s students, McKinley created the 2015 UWT Innovate Law Challenge. This project asked Professor Hampson’s students to answer the question: “How Can the Legal Industry Improve the Delivery of Legal Services in the US?” with proposals that showed an entrepreneurial or innovative approach to the law.

Hampson’s students worked hard over five weeks to come up with proposals in response to this challenge. Each student’s entry can be viewed on Sands McKinley’s blog. This week, McKinley chose the challenge winners, and is presenting each student with a gift card to reward their efforts.

In his announcement to Hampson’s class, McKinley stated, “I have called a tie between Nickey Johnson’s (seated) submission regarding prosecutorial discretion and its potential for abuse, and Stefon Lyons and Arely Lopez’s (standing) team submission regarding the use of Big Data to predict legal outcomes.   Nickey identified a current systemic issue worthy of consideration for change and did an excellent job researching and presenting her case, which revealed her lawyerly skills. Stefon and Arely are thinking like technology futurists, which are urgently needed among legal professionals.”

Hampson is extremely proud of all of her students’ submissions, and looks forward to future opportunities for UW Tacoma to collaborate with Mr. McKinley.