Get to know us

Tal Niv joined UC Law SF in 2024 as the Director of Applied Innovation, where she is responsible for advancing the law school’s ambition to be a premier educational hub for the next generation of technology lawyers.

Before joining UC Law SF, Tal held significant roles such as General Counsel, Vice President of Law and Policy, and Deputy General Counsel at prominent organizations including GitHub, PlanetScale, and Creative Commons. Her previous experience also includes working as a technologist in various tech startups. In these capacities, Tal explored pivotal Law & Technology issues, providing expert insights and contributing to academic and policy discussions in both the US and EU. This deep engagement has equipped her with a profound understanding of the legal environment’s impact on innovation and creativity, and a strong drive to develop legal and regulatory frameworks optimized for technological advancements.

Furthermore, she has cultivated a nuanced understanding of delivering legal services to innovators in uncertain regulatory landscapes. Tal has effectively leveraged this expertise in her Internet and Artificial Intelligence courses at UC Law SF over the past few years.

Tal is enthusiastic about training the best technology lawyers to serve innovative tech companies and is passionate about the center’s vital role in the Bay Area’s law and technology community. She takes pride in her contributions to thought leadership on tech law and policy, the adaptation of legal frameworks to meet emerging technology challenges, and shaping the future of legal education and the legal profession.

Drew Amerson has been at UC Law SF since 2015. Before joining LexLab, Drew was a Visiting Assistant Professor, teaching courses in intellectual property and entrepreneurship. He also managed the Startup Legal Garage.

Drew is committed to improving access to justice through legal technology. He established LexLab's internationally acclaimed Justice Technology Accelerator program and teaches "Justice Tech: Building a Startup," "Legal Operations for Lawyers," and "In-House Counsel Toolkit: Skills & Strategies."

His early career included years at Sidley Austin, Taylor & Company, and clerking in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. A pioneer in legal innovation, Drew founded a startup in 2011 that created an online community to connect law firms and companies with highly skilled freelance attorneys.

Drew is a graduate of Columbia Law School and has a B.A. in Philosophy from Carleton College.

Alisa is the open-source licensing & AI attorney, with 15 years of experience in software licensing, open source compliance, and contract review, supporting global product teams at Wind River Systems, a leader in embedded software. Alisa serves as a senior member of the Open Source Program Office, advising on IP policy, reviewing third-party components across complex platforms like VxWorks and embedded Linux, and clearing open source contributions. Alisa holds an LLM in Science, IP & Technology from UC Law San Francisco, and co-hosts a LinkedIn Live series on AI regulation.

In life, they say timing is everything. If that’s true, TechLawStudent Fellow Johnny Law is a reflection of that idea.

Johnny comes to UC Law San Francisco at a moment when lawand technology are being reshaped by artificial intelligence. His path to law was built through lived experience rather than a straight line. After earning a degree in Management Information Systems with a Computer Engineering track from Virginia Tech, he spent over twenty years in medical device technology sales and account management, working within highly regulated environments where systems, compliance, and human impact are inseparable. He later founded and operated two businesses — a health and wellness center and an event-based marketing company — experiences that continue to shape how he approaches legal innovation, collaboration, and systems design.

At the wellness center, Johnny applied Six Sigma process improvement methodology to analyze inputs, outputs, and decision points across the client intake experience. By redesigning the system rather than the sales pitch, he increased first-visit conversion rates from an industry norm of roughly 11% to 67%, demonstrating how disciplined systems analysis, clarity, and trust can materially change outcomes. His event-based marketing work further immersed him in the challenges faced by small business owners seeking to attract customers and remain competitive, reinforcing a practical, experience-driven approach to engagement grounded in real-world constraints.

Raised with a blue-collar work ethic and guided by systems thinking, Johnny is driven by a desire to understand how systems work — and how poorly designed systems exclude people. This perspective underlies his commitment to access to justice and his conviction that JusticeTech and AI-enabled legal tools can responsibly help close the gap for the many disputes that never receive legal counsel. He is particularly focused on ensuring these tools provide accurate, safe, and legally sound information that demystifies the legal process and empowers individuals rather than overwhelming them.

At LexLab, Johnny contributes as a collaborator and connector within the Technology Law Hub. He brings a people-first, systems-oriented approach to supporting LexLab’s mission and strengthening engagement across initiatives such as TechLawTable Talk, Teach Law Teatime, and LexLab’s Law & AI Certificate and AI Bootcamp programs. Drawing on his background in systems analysis and experience design, Johnnysupports LexLab’s work by helping frame and promote its initiatives in ways that encourage participation, sustain engagement, and connect people to the expertise within the Hub.

Johnny’s long-term goal is to help build responsible JusticeTech frameworks that promote fairness, accountability, and ethical innovation, while supporting the communities, startups, and institutions navigating the future of law.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnylaw