ISSUE 001 — DISPATCH FROM THE MARGINS

NOW IS THE
MOMENT
TO REBUILD.

Technology. Community. Governance. The legal infrastructure of the digital age is being written right now—in real time, in public, by people who aren't waiting for permission.

01

The rules are being written in real time. Pay attention.

02

Institutions feel strained because they are strained.

03

The optimists are building. Are you watching?

REBUILDING LAW

Over the past several months, I've found myself in a steady stream of conversations with founders, established business owners, lawyers, technologists, creatives, friends and family, and often my kids. The topics vary, but certain themes keep resurfacing.

THE LAW COMES UP. AI COMES UP. COMMUNITY COMES UP.

Many of these conversations bring a sense of uncertainty about where things are headed. The pace of technological change can feel disorienting. Institutions feel strained. There is no shortage of commentary predicting disruption, displacement, or decline.

At the same time, I have tried to be intentional about defending the silver lining. Alongside the uncertainty, something else is happening. People are experimenting, building new communities, and rethinking the rules that govern how we work, collaborate, and create. In many ways we are watching the legal and institutional infrastructure of the digital age being formed in real time.

“We are watching the legal and institutional infrastructure of the digital age being formed in real time.”

This publication grows out of those conversations. Rebuilding Law explores how technology and communities are reshaping law, governance, and innovation. Sometimes that will mean writing about startups, AI, regulation, or the changing role of lawyers. Other times it may involve stepping back and reflecting on how institutions evolve and how communities shape the rules that guide them.

Underlying all of it is a conviction. It is time that we take our eyes off the screens in front of us and pay closer attention to what is actually happening around us, and to the humanity of the people building, questioning, and reshaping the systems we live within.

If society is being rebuilt and our economy reorganized, it will not be—or at least it should not be—directed by AI or by the screens in front of us.

And it will not happen only in boardrooms, legislatures, or courtrooms. It will be shaped in part by the optimists building companies, forming communities, experimenting with new ideas, and making everyday choices about how they want to live and work together.

This space is an attempt to pay attention to that process and explore it with curiosity, optimism, and the occasional reflection along the way.

// ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION

A dispatch from the intersection
of law, technology, and community.

Rebuilding Law is an independent publication exploring how technology and communities are reshaping law, governance, and innovation. Written for founders, lawyers, builders, and anyone paying close attention to where things are headed.

Get it in your inbox