The Blue J Story
Over my two decades as a tax law professor, I've seen firsthand how even the most seasoned professionals grapple with the complexities and uncertainties of tax law. The truth is, tax law isn't always fully clear. Understanding what the law "is" often requires navigating the full panoply of sources, a task further complicated by the fact these sources aren't always consistent with each other and rarely line up perfectly with taxpayers' situations.
This challenge sparked the idea for Blue J. Our mission is simple: to provide clarity on the current state of tax law, empowering you to make informed decisions—even when the law isn’t black and white. What sets Blue J apart is our commitment to you—tax professionals who need precise, up-to-date information to navigate these gray areas. As we continue to innovate, our focus remains on making tax law more understandable, so you can deliver the best advice possible to clients.
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Meet our team
Benjamin Alarie
Meet Ben
Professor Benjamin Alarie is at the forefront of the legal tech revolution, harnessing AI to transform the way tax professionals work. As a renowned tax expert and the visionary behind Blue J, he has pioneered the use of generative AI for tax research, making complex legal information accessible and actionable.
Through Blue J's groundbreaking AI-powered research platform, he's empowering tax professionals across North America and the UK to streamline their research and enhance their decision-making. His impact extends beyond the tech world, with dozens of peer-reviewed academic publications to his name, including the award-winning book The Legal Singularity, which explores the transformative potential of AI in law.
As the Osler Chair in Business Law at the University of Toronto, he's a respected voice in the legal community, contributing insights to top journals and shaping the next generation of legal minds. His academic journey includes degrees from the University of Toronto and Yale Law School, and his early career included clerking for Madam Justice Louise Arbour at the Supreme Court of Canada.
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Avi Brudner
Meet Avi
Avi Brudner is the COO of Blue J. Before joining Blue J, Avi was an attorney in the New York office of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP where he advised hedge fund and private equity fund managers in all stages of the fund lifecycle. Previously, Avi worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he designed and implemented go-to-market and product development strategies for technology companies in the Fortune 500. Avi obtained a B.A. from McGill University and a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was an editor of the Yale Law Journal and Yale Law and Policy Review.
Rose Duggan
Meet Rose
Rose is the Chief of Staff at Blue J. In a nutshell, Rose's priority is making sure that Blue J is a happy place where smart people want to do good work.
In her role, Rose is responsible for the full People and Culture function as well as executive efficiency.
Her professional experience has involved leading overall organizational talent and operational strategy through periods of transition and growth. With a background in strategic planning, full-cycle recruitment, and employee engagement, she has a deep understanding of the corporate talent landscape in North America. Rose works as a business partner to leaders across Blue J, helping recruit, develop, and retain talent at all levels.
Creating safe, inclusive, and sometimes playful spaces for her team, candidates, and partners is deeply and personally important to her, and she keeps equity and inclusivity in mind using a "people-first" approach when making decisions. Rose has a BA from McGill, a dog named Steve, and a passion for making Blue J a great place to work.
Sean Erjavec
Meet Sean
Sean Erjavec is a results-driven executive with over 20 years of experience leading revenue growth and scaling operations for SaaS companies. He specializes in go-to-market strategy, business development, and building high-performance sales teams. Throughout his career, he has consistently achieved aggressive revenue targets across various industries, from early-stage startups to publicly traded firms.
As Chief Revenue Officer at Blue J, Sean Erjavec leads the GTM function and oversees a team focused on expanding the company’s AI-powered tax solutions in the global market. Outside of Blue J, he is also a trusted advisor at Communitech, where he helps scale-up companies to refine their strategy and processes. Previously, he held leadership roles at Bridgit, SimpleReach, and Polar, where he successfully scaled revenue, led multiple financing rounds, and built high-performing teams.
Adam Haines
Meet Adam
Adam is an execution-focused product leader with over 20 years experience driving product innovation and growth. Recognized as one of 2023’s “50 Best Executives” by Report on Business magazine, Adam has a proven track record of transforming ideas into successful products across a range of industries.
Since joining Blue J in 2019, Adam has worked closely with customers to shape the product roadmap through a deep understanding of their needs. Adam’s extensive experience spans the entire product development lifecycle, from customer discovery & design prototyping through delivery & product launch. Adam collaborates closely with go-to-market teams to ensure seamless product launches that drive both customer satisfaction and business value.
Adam holds Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Applied Mathematics degrees from Western University, grounding his leadership in a strong analytical framework.
Brett Janssen
Meet Brett
Brett has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, having held a wide range of positions ranging from software development to consulting architecture roles. He has experience in all stages of the software development cycle, including proposal work, requirements analysis and elicitation, architectural design, technical consulting, design, development and documentation of critical components and support of test and deployment.
Brett has a strong focus on delivering business value and strives to bridge the business-technology divide. He proactively works to resolve issues, both technical and business related. He has a wide breadth of knowledge across all areas of IT delivery.
He has a wide variety of experience across multiple sectors including consulting, banking, government, telecommunications and legal technology.
Susan Massey
Meet Susan
J.D., LLM in International & Comparative Law
Susan Massey has worked in multiple roles in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel (Corporate), most recently serving as the Branch Chief of Branch 3. Prior to joining the Corporate division, she worked as an attorney in the International division of the Office of Chief Counsel. She was the author on multiple guidance projects, including regulations, revenue rulings, and notices. She also served on a detail as Senior Attorney-Advisor to the Commissioner's Chief of Staff in 2016. She holds a JD/LLM in International & Comparative Law from Duke University School of Law.
Anthony Niblett
Meet Anthony
Anthony is a professor of law and the Canada Research Chair of Law, Economics, & Innovation at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Professor Niblett’s research looks at how artificial intelligence will change how law is created, administered, adjudicated, and practiced. His work at Blue J complements his academic work, which uses data to describe, explain, and predict the law. Professor Niblett holds a Ph D in Economics from Harvard University and degrees in Law and Commerce from the University of Melbourne.
Avi Pollock
Meet Avi
Avi Pollock is a seasoned leader and entrepreneur who is passionate about helping technology driven companies big and small innovate, grow and transform their businesses. His 25+ year career has been split evenly between leading, scaling and advising high growth technology companies and in executive innovation, strategy and P&L roles at large companies like RBC and Davis & Henderson (D&H). In 2018, Avi launched his own consulting firm to help start-up and scale-up companies through the key phases of their life cycles with an eye toward building successful, sustainable businesses. He joined Grapevine6, one of his clients, in 2019 as President to help grow and scale the company. After experiencing 10x growth in 2020, Grapevine6 exited to Seismic, the leader in Sales Enablement, where Avi is now the VP, Customer Success. Avi is a graduate of the LLB/ MBA program at York University. He is a frequent speaker on innovation and has been active in charitable and community causes, including: Public Service Advisory Board for Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence, Camp Ramah in Canada. Avi is the current Chair of the Board at JVS Toronto, Member of the Executive, Finance, Fundraising, and Governance Committees.
Albert Yoon
Meet Albert
Professor Albert Yoon is a leading voice in law and economics, innovating with AI to redefine legal research. As co-founder of Blue J Legal, he writes at the intersection of economics, technology, and ethics.
Holding the Michael J. Trebilcock Chair in Law and Economics, Albert has published in leading law reviews and peer review journals, and has fellowships at Princeton, Russell Sage, and the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation. His recent work looks at factors that influence how lawyers meet their professional obligations, and also the boundaries of artificial intelligence's ability to tackle legal disputes. Albert is recipient of the Ronald H. Coase Prize, and a member of the American Law Institute.
Our values
We put the customer first
We constantly put ourselves in the customer’s shoes, delivering outstanding customer value and optimizing the user experience.
We deliver on our promises
If we say we’re going to do something, we do it. Our colleagues and customers have peace of mind because they know we’ll do what we say we’re going to do.
We are pleasant and playful
We take our work seriously, but not ourselves. Work is far more fun and a lot less like work when it is pleasant and playful.
We put the team’s interest over self-interest
We are always searching for ways to help our teammates, and we consider how our actions will affect all of Blue J, not just ourselves.
We are open to better ideas
We listen carefully to other points of view. We welcome feedback, and when we receive new information, we incorporate it into our viewpoint. When a better idea is presented, we acknowledge it and change course.
We solve the tough problems
Ignoring a problem isn’t an option. We continually work on solving issues and are always testing solutions. If one potential solution doesn’t work, we’ll try another one until we get it right. We are resourceful and relentless.
