
I AM LEGALLY UNCONVENTIONAL.
Legally Unconventional is dedicated to transforming the way we work, challenging hierarchies of expertise, and developing pathways to success. When not working on transforming contracts directly, Jacqueline teaches and trains lawyers, law firms, and law students on how to break out of the mold to better serve their clients and dramatically increase their client offerings. Jacqueline's diverse experiences span from growing up working in her mother's resale shop, co-founding a vintage store in Nebraska, to graduating from top law school NYU Law, interning at the Federal Trade Commission, Human Rights Watch, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, to advocating for tenants in Bronx housing court and over the past several years co-developing and teaching the innovative Negotiations Clinic at Quinnipiac University School of Law. She’s a frequent global guest speaker, including at World Commerce & Contracting and the New York City Bar Association, and has trained lawyers across 10 countries and growing. Pansexual, polyamorous, and unapologetic, Jacqueline believes in breaking down the unnecessarily complex to increase access-to-justice, help advance global economic equity, and liberate us all.
Jacqueline Horani
You're here to unapologetically change the game in your industry, creating a liberatory future of work. We are too! Companies eager to scale-up and generate greater social impact often find legal services near the end of the list of things to consider—for good reason! Our existing legal concepts around contracts were built for white men to control, extract, and hold on to wealth. No matter how much has changed within the legal system (e.g., greater technology use, more womxn lawyers, discussions of DEI & ESG), the way we think about, advise on, & draft contracts is stuck perpetuating an outdated patriarchal paradigm. This paradigm keeps legal as an isolated—but needed—department separate from your business strategy development; it's where to go for formal bureaucracy, templated documents, and compliance/rules on what's legally required or how to engage in defense & offense. It's also for most clients a source of fear, frustration, avoidance, or eager adversarial tensions that misalign with their true values and goals. Those feelings are a product of the system working exactly as intended. We're here to break out of this system and replace it with a liberatory approach to contracts consulting that 1) integrates your values, 2) increases clarity, communication, and collaboration throughout your company, and 3) shifts fear into trust through relationship-focused solutions that aim to reduce future legal costs. We help you generate transformative value from some of your MOST under-utilized brand assets and resources: YOUR CONTRACTS! We believe that the best business guidance understands how the decisions within—and absent from—your contracts affect and reflect every facet of your company. This isn't hyperbole, we genuinely mean it! We developed our Legally Unconventional approach to help transform the way we all work while challenging hierarchies of expertise. When you work with us, you get more than our skills in plain language, clear expectations, user experience, & visual design; you get to co-create a new paradigm.
My Journey:
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Grew up working in my mother's resale shop, Eco-Kids, as the child of immigrant entrepreneurs
Studied Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology, & Org. Management @UNO, Thesis "Gender Rearing from Pre-Natal to Pre-School"
Quit my job @Whole
Foods to launch "Lucky's
Vintage" store with good friend & business partner J-9
Left Nebraska for NYU
School of Law, Staff Editor Review of Law & Social Change
Research Assistant @ Human Rights Watch on systemic barriers to Access-to-Education.
Designed my own
internship researching Intentional Communities across the Eastern U.S. incl. decision making, conflict & governance models.
Law Clerk at Federal
Trade Commission (FTC)
in Seattle, investigating consumer rights, charities fraud, & community education
Law Clerk at Federal
Trade Commission (FTC)
in Seattle, investigating consumer rights, charities fraud, & community education
Externship with the NYC Law Department Environmental Division
As a Feminist Founder and entrepreneur I understand what it's like to launch from scratch, relying on sweat equity, spending hours navigating how to get your work to truly reflect your 'radical' values (you know the ones...like rooting out exploitation in your business practices and unlearning White Supremacy in a way that goes waaaaay beyond the DEI of the boardroom...). My path has taken me from running a vintage store in Nebraska—to law school at NYU—to interning with the Federal Trade Commission, the Human Rights Watch, & the Natural Resource Defense Council—to advocating for tenants in Bronx housing court. In 2019, I launched Legally Unconventional to empower entrepreneurs with access to transformative info & liberatory justice. Together let's break down the unnecessarily complex and design new systems for a liberated future.