By Grace Stanley
Cornell Tech has launched the Michael Mills Memorial LegalTech Scholarship, honoring an influential figure in legal technology and marking a milestone for the campus’s Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship program. Created by a network of more than 50 donors to celebrate Mills’s legacy, the scholarship will support students pursuing careers at the intersection of law and technology through the Cornell Tech LL.M. program. This fall, the first award was awarded to Suby Valluri, an LL.M. student who will graduate from the program in 2026.
Valluri, who holds a Ph.D. in quantitative economics and an M.A. in law, is the co-founder and CEO of FinMont, a travel payments startup. His work combines law, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology. “Receiving the Michael Mills Memorial LegalTech Scholarship marks a profoundly meaningful step in my professional journey,” Valluri said. “Beyond its financial value, the award reflects Michael Mills’s legacy of mentorship, creativity, and his lifelong effort to reshape how law and technology intersect.”
Valluri plans to use the scholarship to develop “smart agreements” – contracts that combine traditional legal language with computer code. These agreements can automatically check compliance and trigger payments across different countries, reducing complexity and making global transactions faster and more reliable.
“My broader aim is to make cross-border transactions more transparent, affordable, and secure,” he said. “This scholarship gives me the space and confidence to deepen my research, test new prototypes, and participate more actively in Cornell Tech’s LegalTech community. Most importantly, it connects me with a network of thinkers and builders who share a common purpose: making legal systems more transparent, equitable, and adaptable through technology.”
The scholarship honors Michael Mills, who co-founded and led Neota, a company that enabled lawyers to build legal software applications without writing code. He also co-founded Central Park Conservancy and Pro Bono Net, a nonprofit that uses technology to expand pro bono legal services. Mills also funded innovation awards in the College of Law Practice Management and mentored professionals moving into technology roles.
Matthew D’Amore, professor of the practice and director of the Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship Program at Cornell Tech and Cornell Law School, said the scholarship reflects the campus’s commitment to shaping the future of legal innovation. “At Cornell Tech, we’re honored to be the home of the Michael Mills Memorial LegalTech Scholarship,” he said. “Michael was a thought leader and legal tech pioneer who shared his insights with our students many times over the years.”
“Often you don’t see smart and kind in the same sentence – Michael was both,” said Oz Benamram, a founding donor who helped launch the scholarship and a friend of Mills who follows his path and is now advising law firms on AI and LegalTech. “He touched our community by being helpful and generous and thoughtful, always sharing ideas, never with ego. When we learned he had cancer, it felt right to commemorate him by helping the next generation of LegalTech leaders come through.”
The scholarship was established through a broad community effort of donors in the LegalTech world. “Our aim is permanence,” Benamram said. “We want to reach the endowment level so that every year – for as long as the school exists – a student can carry Michael’s name forward without the burden of debt.”
By supporting students working at the intersection of law and technology, the scholarship aims to advance innovations that make legal systems more efficient, accessible, and equitable. With continued donor support, Cornell Tech plans to grow this fund into a permanent resource for aspiring legal tech leaders – ensuring Michael Mills’s commitment to progress lives on for generations.
“This scholarship will help us attract and inspire future pioneers in the field like Suby to carry on Michael’s legacy and join the growing ranks of legal tech founders and scholars coming out of Cornell Tech,” D’Amore said.
To learn more about supporting the Michael Mills Memorial LegalTech Scholarship at Cornell Tech and helping advance the next generation of LegalTech leaders, visit the official scholarship page.
Grace Stanley is the staff writer-editor for Cornell Tech.
