#14 - A discussion with Stephen Palley

All things crypto regulation, crafting a legal career & team, and the difficulty in defining decentralization

Welcome back. Some horrible things have occurred in the past few days. My thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected. Sad to see how the decisions of a few can impact so many, in such horrible ways.

Jacob Robinson @JacobRobinsonJD

Hard to focus on anything outside of Ukraine. Heartbreaking to think of the men, women, and children who will have their lives forever changed. And for what? Grew up w/ grandparents who survived both WWs & POW camps. Stories seemed from a different universe. Chilling reminder.

That said, I am grateful to share that Stephen Palley (@stephendpalley) joined the podcast. He is a Partner in the Washington, D.C office of Anderson Kill, where he chairs the Technology, Media & Distributed Systems practice group. Stephen has written extensively and been quoted widely on legal issues arising from the use of blockchain technology, with appearances in both print and television media. He is also an editor of the International Journal of Blockchain Law (IJBL), a law journal helping non-legal communities better understand blockchain applications and digital assets.

In this episode, we discuss Stephen’s path into the crypto space, he gives insight into building a crypto-law dream team, and reveals the truth behind his love for two spaces after each period, hatred of Google Docs, and herring.

Listen and subscribe to Law of Code for weekly updates and interviews on the intersection of blockchain and the law.

Episode highlights:

[1:10] The Car Game

[4:45] Choosing Law School over an English PhD

[9:00] How a legal career is different than what Stephen expected

[11:55} From Construction and Insurance Law to Crypto

[16:50] Impasse Breaker

[20:30] Advantages in a legal career from a programming background

[23:26] Software Development and Engineering: Licenses?

[28:56] Chair Gensler

[31:00] Regulatory oversight & what is "decentralization" legally

[36:40] Writing for The Block and cases covering decentralization

[38:00] Working with anonymous clients?

[40:45] The two words why Stephen joined Anderson Kill

[53:00] What do young lawyers spend too much time on

[56:00] Valuable habits Stephen has developed over the years

[58:00] Two spaces after a period, fonts, Google Docs, Twitter & Herring. Of course. 

Links: 

The Block - Stephen D. Palley 

You can follow Stephen @stephendpalley and Jacob @JacobRobinsonJD on Twitter.

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Spotify: Click here.

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