Professor Jonathan Askin Honored Among Top 50 Legal Innovators in Academia for 2026
Professor of Clinical Law Jonathan Askin, the pioneering founder and director of the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy (BLIP) Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, has been named as one of the Top 50 Legal Innovators in Academia for 2026.
The recognition, presented by The National Law Review and Wickard, was established to honor educators, administrators, researchers, and academic leaders who are shaping the future of legal education by developing innovative programs, conducting impactful research, modernizing curricula, launching new centers and initiatives, and preparing students to meet the evolving demands of the legal profession. Honorees were selected through an independent selection committee with expertise in law and innovation, including a mix of law school deans and faculty members, attorneys, entrepreneurs, and technology company executives, among others.
Askin, who founded the BLIP Clinic when he joined the Law School in 2008, has spent 20-plus years building institutions, communities, and educational models that redefine how law engages with technology, entrepreneurship, public policy, and access to justice.
"As the founder of the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy (BLIP) Clinic at Brooklyn Law School, Askin created one of the nation's first technology-focused legal clinics and one of the most influential models for experiential legal education," the Aug. 24 National Law Review article announcing the honorees noted.
The BLIP Clinic is part of the Law School’s larger clinical program, which was established in 1970 as one of the first in the nation and continues to be regarded as one of the finest and most comprehensive clinics programs nationwide.
With a distinct focus on all things innovative, BLIP served dozens of clients in the Spring 2026 semester, when it increasingly zeroed in on AI-related ventures. BLIP itself has been working to develop mechanisms to deploy artificial intelligence within its own law practice, so that students who participate in the BLIP Clinic will be better prepared for practicing law in an AI-disrupted world.
While primarily focusing on day-to-day legal support for socially minded, bootstrapped entrepreneurs, the BLIP students also prepared public-facing documents to advance law and society in the digital age. Among its recent projects are efforts to establish new corporate structures, including integrating AI capabilities into large decentralized autonomous organizations (“DAOs”), and advocating for the introduction of a statutorily recognized Artistic Corporation or “A-Corp” in New York State. An Artistic Corporation is a new type of legal entity designed to empower artists to better control their intellectual property, their equity, and their contracting power.