Damien Riehl is a lawyer and technologist with experience in complex litigation, digital forensics, and software development. A lawyer since 2002 and a coder since 1985, he has spent his career where the law meets hard technical problems.
Judicial Clerkships
Damien clerked for the chief judges of state and federal courts — learning, from the bench, how cases are actually decided and where the system serves people well and where it can be improved.
Complex litigation
He then spent ~15 years in legal practice and complex litigation — in law departments, small and medium firms, state and federal courts, and for a decade at Robins Kaplan. That work spanned the full arc of high-stakes disputes — pleadings, motion practice, evidence, and trial.
Cybersecurity & digital forensics
Damien has led teams of cybersecurity and world-spanning digital forensics investigations — coordinating technical and legal experts across jurisdictions to find, preserve, and make sense of electronic evidence.
The same instinct runs through all of it: use technical rigor to make the law work better — and to make it reach further.
Access to justice
The through-line from this career arc is access to justice. The questions that animated Damien’s litigation practice — who can afford good representation, who gets heard, who is left behind — now drive his work building AI that can help courts, legal aid, and everyday people. (More on that under Technologist.)
Access to justice
From the bench and the bar to the AI age: Damien works with courts, legal aid, and an AI Sandbox built to put real legal help within reach of the people who need it most.
Authorship
Damien is also an author of trial-practice books for litigators — see Books.