Interview by Dan Selman, CTO Clause Inc.
Zack, you embody Legal-Tech in that you studied Philosophy and Law before joining Clause. Please tell us a little about your journey and what attracted you to Clause and startups in general?
Computer Science, Law, and Philosophy all share common roots of adherence to foundational logical reasoning. While the three subjects diverge in application, their structures parallel by way of singleton ideas combining into complex systems of knowledge. During law school, both AI and blockchains were beginning to receive significant press. I spent some time reading about them, but realized without significant technical knowledge my understanding would remain limited. While my interests in technology initiated through curiosity surrounding specific domains, I quickly found myself fascinated with the entire field of computer science. Eventually, I made the decision to switch into software engineering. Clause offers the rare opportunity to work in an environment intent on pioneering a large space in the legal-technology landscape. Clause is inventing and standardizing the paradigms for the burgeoning field of smart-contracts, and there is a lot of exciting software to build!
At Clause you’ve been working on the billing user interface and infrastructure, which has been a strategic project over the past 6 months. Can you tell us about any lessons you’ve learned along the way?
I’ve learned quite a lot. On the UI side, working on a React application for software designed to handle millions of users has taught me how to balance coming out with new features while keeping in mind user experience and bug-free code. On the back-end, Clause’s infrastructure includes a myriad of brilliantly interconnected microservices. Working with these services has taught me how to smoothly connect a complex web of functionality while keeping code clean, concise, scalable, and readable.
What do you like to do when you aren’t programming?
I like to read, take Zoey to the park (my sister’s dog), and lately, study logic gates.
