Harvard Law’s Youngest Grad Points to Venture After Disco Exit

Kiwi Camara, the youngest-ever graduate of Harvard Law School, has tipped his hand to a possible next act after he stepped down Sept. 11 as chief executive officer and from the board of the company he co-founded, CS Disco Inc., sending shares down 19% the next day.

Camara now lists himself as being with “Camara Ventures,” according to his registration with the State Bar of Texas. The entity employs between six and 10 people, the filing shows.

“I’m sure he’s going to take some much-deserved time off after building Disco before he launches his next endeavor,” said Joseph Sibley IV, a name partner at Austin, Texas-based Camara & Sibley, which Camara left a decade ago. He describes Camara as “my best friend since law school.”

Camara was one of only a few chief executives to be paid more than Apple Inc.'s Tim Cook, as he earned roughly $109.5 million in total compensation during 2022, according to a Disco proxy statement. He co-founded the electronic discovery and artificial intelligence-infused legal software company 11 years ago after spotting an opportunity to apply technology to the practice of law.

Disco shares fell after the Austin-based company announced he would resign and be replaced temporarily by board member Scott Hill pending a search for a permanent chief executive. Hill is a retired former chief financial officer for Intercontinental Exchange Inc.

Camara and the company didn’t respond to requests for comment. Disco shares rose 1% Wednesday following their 19% decline on Sept. 12.

The news of Camara’s departure signaled an end—or perhaps a temporary pause—to a meteoric and sometimes controversial career trajectory. Born in the Philippines, Camara moved to the US as an infant and became the youngest-ever graduate from Harvard Law School at age 19 in 2004.

His time at Harvard Law was marred by an incident—he used an ethnic slur in a property law class outline—that nearly derailed Camara’s legal career, reportedly leading Irell & Manella to revoke a job offer. He has previously apologized for the racial notation, which became the subject of a 2005 book examining freedom of speech at the school. Camara chalked it up as a youthful indiscretion that he paid for by losing out on Big Law opportunities.

Camara clerked for Judge Harris Hartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit prior to forming Camara & Sibley in 2009, three years before he set aside litigating cases in the courtroom to start Disco.

Sibley, who counts former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani among his clients, said there is no current plan for the now 39-year-old Camara to return to the litigation boutique that bears his name.

Camara’s Pay

“It has been an incredible experience growing this business from an idea to an industry leader,” Camara said in statement announcing his departure from the company he created. “Disco is in excellent hands.”

The bulk of Camara’s compensation at Disco was comprised of option awards. He owns roughly $31 million in Disco stock, according to Bloomberg data. Securities filings show that he sold off about $38 million in Disco shares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LAW, after the company raised $224 million through an initial public offering in July 2021.

Disco said in a securities filing that Camara’s temporary successor Hill would receive a monthly base salary of $50,000 and a grant of restricted stock units. Hill said in a statement he’s looking forward to “leading Disco as our talented team helps lawyers around the world realize the power and potential of AI.”

Earlier this year, Disco privately debuted Cecilia, an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot designed to assist in e-discovery.

Within the past year Disco has made other notable personnel moves, hiring Kathryn DeBord—a former chief innovation officer at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner—as a vice president of product strategy, and promoting former Big Law partner Trevor Jefferies to general counsel. In January, however, Disco said it would lay off 62 employees, or 9% of its workforce. Disco, like other legal technology providers, also shed staff during the pandemic.

Camara’s exit means the only other lawyer in Disco’s executive leadership is chief financial officer Michael Lafair, a former general counsel at All Web Leads Inc. and Interlogix Inc. who began his career at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Lafair earned more than $2.4 million last year from Disco, per its proxy, which also disclosed that company board member and former Prudential Financial Inc. general counsel Susan Blount was paid roughly $199,500 in total compensation.

Morgan Lewis advised the underwriters on Disco’s IPO two years ago. Cooley took the lead for the company on the listing, which generated $1.5 million in legal fees and expenses, according to a securities filing.