
Fundamentals of Pretrial Litigation
12th ed.
Curriculum Vitae
Lawyer · technologist · builder — working where courts, code, and the rule of law meet.
Builds legal technology and travels the world discussing AI for law. Parses substantive law — cases, statutes, regulations, motions, briefs, pleadings, and orders — for 100+ countries, and integrates it with the business of law. Continuation of the same team across Fastcase → vLex → Clio since July 2019.
Led the design, development, and expansion of products integrating AI (GPT) into legal workflows and analytics.
VP, Litigation Workflow & Analytics Content (Dec 2021 – May 2023); Managing Director, Product Workflow (Jan – Dec 2021); Managing Director, Fastcase Legal Research Platform (Jul 2019 – Jan 2021).
Stroz Friedberg (an Aon company)
Cybersecurity, incident response, and digital forensics — leading world-scale investigations.
AI / ML / NLP for the legal industry and the judiciary.
Nine-plus years of complex litigation and technology business advice.
Jardine, Logan & O'Brien P.L.L.P.
With the D. Minn. clerkship above, clerked for the chief judges of both a state and a federal court.
Lockridge Grindal Nauen (Law Clerk, 2001–02) · CenterPoint Energy (Summer Law Clerk, 2001) · U.S. Bankruptcy Court, D. North Dakota, Clerk's Office (1998–99).
Minnesota State Bar Association
Oversees the AI Sandbox to expand legal services to underserved communities.
Scale Justice (formerly Pro Bono Net)
Nonprofit advancing legal and ethical AI — open-source KL3M language models (trained on cases, statutes, regulations) and the FOLIO ontology.
Minnesota Governor's Council on Connected and Automated Vehicles
Appointed by Gov. Tim Walz to the 15-member council.
Legal-data standard (ISO-like ontology) grown to 18,000+ tags (RDFS/OWL).
William Mitchell College of Law
Executive Editor, William Mitchell Law Review.
North Dakota State University
St. John's University (1994–95).
A West Academic trial-practice trilogy — each with an AI-interactive (QR-code) layer.

12th ed.

7th ed. · American Casebook Series

Two decades of legal scholarship — in law reviews, legal journals, and legal publications — all discussing how technology is transforming the law (and society).
Beyond the Chatbot: Meet the Agentic Law Firm ↗
Bench & Bar of Minn. (May/June 2026)
AI, UPL, and the Justice Gap: A Profession at the Crossroads ↗
81 Bench & Bar of Minn. No. 3, at 18 (2024)
AI + MSBA: Building Minnesota's Legal Future ↗
81-Oct. Bench & Bar of Minn. 26 (2024)Open access
Quoted by the U.S. District Court in Kohls v. Ellison, 2025 WL 66514 (D. Minn. Jan. 10, 2025). Winner, MSBA Elmer H. Wiblishauser Author's Award.
AI, Originality, and Creativity: Copyrighting All the Melodies to Avoid Accidental Infringement ↗
27 Chap. L. Rev. 289 (2024)Open access
Evolution of the Data-Driven Lawyer ↗
20 U. St. Thomas L.J. 368 (2024)Open access
Bench & Bar of Minn. (May 2023)
Standardizing Legal Data to Extract Insights ↗
AALL Spectrum, May/June 2023 (Vol. 27, No. 5)
Car Minus Driver: Autonomous Vehicles Driving Regulation, Liability, and Policy ↗
Bench & Bar of Minn. (2016); 73 J. Mo. B. 264 (2017) (Parts I & II); The Computer & Internet Lawyer (2018)
Published in three journals
Writing Briefs for Judges Who Read on Screens ↗
JD Supra (Mar. 9, 2016)
You Can't Judge an ECF Notice by its Cover ↗
Robins Kaplan "Briefly" / Minn. Law.
Screen Writing for Screen Reading ↗
Minn. Law. (Apr. 17, 2014) · Robins Kaplan "Briefly"
Sensors, Wearables, and Liability: The Brave New World of IoT
Minn. Law. (print)Print only
Is "Buying" Digital Content Just "Renting" for Life? Contemplating a Digital First-Sale Doctrine ↗
40 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 783 (2014)Open access
68 U. Miami L. Rev. 385 (2014)Open access
Forensic Collection of Electronic Evidence from Infrastructure-as-a-Service Cloud Computing ↗
19 Rich. J.L. & Tech. 1 (2012)Open access
27 Wm. Mitchell L. Rev. 1761 (2001)Open access
Student note — Damien was Executive Editor of the William Mitchell Law Review.
Coverage and interviews about Damien — not authored by him.
Breaking the Ice: Lawyer Sees AI Boosting Productivity, Pro Bono ↗
Todd Nelson · Minn. Law. (Oct. 16, 2025)
Profile of Damien.
The Moving Target
Bench & Bar of Minn. (2025)
Interview/feature about Damien as AI Committee chair