CORAL GABLES, Fla. (January 19, 2022) – What are the legal effects of technology companies' movement away from Silicon Valley and into cities like Miami, and what role will attorneys play in shaping the regulatory landscape governing this rapidly growing industry?
Miami, as an emerging tech hub, will be the focus of The University of Miami Law Review 2022 symposium "Beyond the Valley: The Laws Role in the Exodus of Tech from Silicon Valley" that will take place virtually Friday, February 4 and Saturday, February 5.
The symposium will focus on the substantive legal and regulatory issues and discuss the positive and negative effects the new industry may have on local communities. Panelists will address a variety of themes including, how new cities like Miami can avoid the adverse impact tech has had in Silicon Valley on already marginalized communities, the relationship between venture capital investment and tech startup, the role of anti-trust regulation, and cryptocurrencies and blockchain. The Law Review is looking forward to structuring the 2022 symposium as an interdisciplinary event, where experts from the University of Miami, the Greater Miami area, and the country will provide practical insights into a broad range of issues.
Leigh-Ann Buchanan, J.D. '09, is the opening keynote speaker and is the founding executive director of Venture Café Miami. In this role, she works to facilitate sustainable growth, increased diversity and inclusion, and more excellent connectivity within Miami's innovation and startup community.
Buchanan previously served as legal counsel to entrepreneurs, startups, and multinational corporations in a wide variety of complex business litigation matters and commercial disputes. She is also the founder of the Nyah Project, a program that develops diverse youth leaders through transformative experiences abroad focused on social entrepreneurship and innovative community building.
Felice Gorordo will deliver the closing keynote. He is CEO of eMerge Americas, LLC, a venture-backed platform focused on transforming Miami into the tech hub of the Americas and the most significant tech event connecting the Americas held annually in Miami. He is also a venture partner at the private equity fund I Squared Capital and advisor at REEF Technology.
President Barack Obama appointed Gorodo as one of fifteen 2011-2012 White House Fellows. He served in the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, working on Latino, immigration, and business outreach.
He also co-founded and leads Roots of Hope, Inc., a non-profit focused on youth empowerment in Cuba through technology and entrepreneurship, working 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.
Four panel discussions – "Crypto, Blockchain, and the Future of the Regulatory Landscape," "Big Tech and Antitrust," "Tech and Venture Capital Investment," and "The Role of Criminal Punishment in Tech Regulation" – with leading experts in their fields are feature predominantly throughout the two-day event.
The symposium will end with a "fireside chat," "The Pros and Cons of the Technology Sector on Local Communities," looking at the pitfalls previous tech cities, like Silicon Valley, fell into and how new tech cities, like Miami, can avoid them. Buchanan, Gorordo, and moderated by Marcia Weldon, director of the transactional skills program and faculty coordinator of the Business Compliance & Sustainability Concentration, will discuss issues such as housing inflation, gentrification, and homelessness caused by the success of a growing tech industry and what regulations or changes Miami can implement to avoid them.
Florida Bar credits: 1.0 Ethics, 11.0 Technology, and 11.0 General.
