UCLA School of Law has launched the UCLA Tech Law Network, an alliance of law firms, legal technology and content companies, and practitioners that will connect the law school with leaders in law and innovation across Southern California’s technology law ecosystem.

Dean Michael Waterstone announced the network on Sept. 22 at Careers in Tech Law 2026, the annual forum co-sponsored by the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy (ITLP) and the UCLA Journal of Law and Technology. ITLP, a joint initiative of the law school and the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering, is spearheading the network.

“As AI and other developments become more central to our daily experience, lawyers and lawyers-to-be will need to be ready to confront new challenges, guide their clients, and thrive in the new landscape,” Waterstone says. “We see the UCLA Tech Law Network as a vital alliance of thought-leaders navigating the future of legal practice and education.”

The network will convene expertise from across the region’s law and technology community, expand ITLP’s flagship events for students and practitioners, and create a mechanism for dynamic industry-academic exchange on pressing questions in AI, intellectual property, and technology law. It will be a key counterpart to UCLA Law’s new AI Taskforce, chaired by Andrew Verstein, the vice dean for curricular and academic affairs. New initiatives will serve students in the law school’s technology law, business law, and media, entertainment, technology, and sports law specializations, as well as practitioners, including with the launch of the Legal Tech Summit in Spring 2027.

The network’s founding patron is Sheppard. Founded in downtown Los Angeles in 1927 and approaching its centennial, Sheppard is an Am Law 50 firm with more than 1,200 lawyers serving clients across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Its ties to UCLA Law run deep. Since the firm’s available records began in 1960, 248 UCLA Law graduates have worked at Sheppard, and 95 are there today. In addition, 154 attorneys with UCLA undergraduate degrees have been part of the firm, and over 80 UCLA Law students have taken part in its summer associate program. Guy Halgren ’84, who chaired the firm for two decades, led the 2021 creation of the Sheppard Mullin Endowed Scholarship in Law, which supports talented students who have overcome significant personal, educational, or financial obstacles.

The network’s other founding members are Legora, the agentic operating system for legal work used by more than 100,000 legal professionals across over 50 markets; Harvey, the AI platform purpose-built for legal work, helping legal professionals research, analyze, and draft with greater speed and confidence; CEB, California’s trusted source for legal intelligence, combining authoritative legal content, practical guidance, and innovative technology; and Ashurst Perkins Coie, the global law firm for the future economy, with over 3,500 client-facing practitioners across 52 offices worldwide.

For decades, UCLA Law has been at the global leading-edge of legal innovation, with sustained and entrepreneurial support from Kevin Gerson, director of the law library, and Eli Edwards, a specialist in emerging technologies. This has involved ground-level access and active co-design in platforms from Bloomberg Law to CEB, to being one of the only three schools (alongside Stanford and the University of Texas) in both Harvey and Legora’s founding law school partnership cohorts.

Alongside the network, ITLP has established the ITLP Foresight Board, bringing together representatives of the network, affiliated faculty, and other notable leaders in law and technology. Board members include Judge M. Margaret McKeown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; Judge Raymond T. Chen of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; Angus M. MacDonald, who serves as the University of California’s deputy general counsel of business, transactions, and innovation; Alyssa Sones ’17, a knowledge and innovation attorney at Sheppard; Natasha Amlani ’18, counsel at Ashurst Perkins Coie; Kyle Poe, who is Legora’s vice president of legal innovation and strategy; John Crittenden ’81, an assistant adjunct professor at UCLA Law and former long-serving partner at Cooley; Brian Liu ’96, a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of LegalZoom; Alex Alben, a lecturer at UCLA Law and formerly Washington State’s first chief privacy officer; and Jennie Wang VonCannon, a partner at Crowell & Moring.

At Careers in Tech Law 2026, Julia Powles, who is ITLP’s executive director and the founding chair of the UCLA Tech Law Network, welcomed network and board members, as well as more than 140 UCLA Law students and leading attorneys working in public interest and government roles at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Just Futures Law, Free Press, California Department of Justice, and California Privacy Protection Agency.

Network patron Sheppard has a long history in law and technology. The firm uses a broad portfolio of AI-enabled solutions including Legora, CoCounsel, Relativity, and many others, in addition to its internally built secure AI assistant called Pantheon, and advises clients on AI-related issues with a global AI team of more than 100 attorneys. Under Kate Cain, Sheppard’s chief knowledge and innovation officer, a team of knowledge and innovation attorneys works directly with practice teams to engage with AI as a thought partner, rather than just as a search tool, to continuously improve the way they work.

“Artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are reshaping the legal profession, creating new opportunities for lawyers to deliver value, solve complex problems, and better serve their clients,” Cain says. “The UCLA Tech Law Network brings together legal, academic, and industry leaders to explore those changes and help prepare students for the future of legal practice. We are proud to support this important initiative and contribute our experience at the intersection of law, innovation, and technology.”