At its Inspire Conferance, NetDocuments assembled some of legal tech’s sharpest minds to talk about AI’s real impact on legal practice. Zach Abramowitz, Nicola Shaver, Zach Warren, and Jennifer Poon didn’t hold back on the hard questions: Why traditional ROI metrics fail for AI, how ‘AI-first’ firms are disrupting the leverage model, and why many lawyers are still ignoring what’s coming. But we might be just one economic downturn away from widespread AI adoption in law. Here’s my post for Above the Law.

Over the past month I have attended more user conferences than I can count. At every single one of them there are presentations and panel discussions about change management particularly for law firms.

I haven’t practiced law full time for a bit and have kind of lost the need for all this focus on change management. I forgot how hard it is for lawyers, and anyone else to change. I was quick to conclude lawyers are Luddites who are just being obstinate when they resist change. As for me, I was sure I could change in a heartbeat if need be. I don’t need no management.

Just back from NetDocuments Inspire conference. In an era of legal tech consolidation and flashy AI promises, NetDocuments CEO Josh Baxter told me: ‘We’re not a rock band.’ Their new AI Profile tool tackles the metadata problem that’s plagued document management for years. But can this understated, specialized approach survive when the market seems headed toward tech WalMarts? 

Here’s my post for Above the Law.

The world of GenAI: get an answer to anything and everything within seconds. No thinking required: just prompt and go. I’m all about technology and the wonders GenAI brings to our world. But sometimes I wonder: at what cost? 

Once a week, on Sundays, I try to have a screenless day. A day where I try to minimize looking at screens, the digital world if you will.

I got the idea from a book I read a few years ago entitled The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter. It was written by a Canadian writer David Sax who focuses on the analog vs digital life, among other things.

Plaintiffs AI firm, EvenUp, just hit a $2 billion valuation after recently raising $150M. 

But here’s what makes this funding round different: it signals that AI for plaintiffs’ lawyers has reached a tipping point.

I first met EvenUp’s co-founder at ILTA in 2023. My initial reaction? Ho-hum. Another demand letter generator.

Then I learned about what EvenUp was also doing: getting and using crowdsourced data from actual PI cases. Which led it from startup to a billion dollar valuation.

As a former defense lawyer, this could matter for both sides of the table.

Here’s my post for Above the Law.

At Relativity Fest, CEO Phil Saunders announced the bundling of aiR for Review and aiR for Privilege that used to cost extra with the standard Relativity package. But the bigger story? His honesty about what works, what doesn’t, and why trust matters more than revenue.

In an industry where vendors often nickel-and-dime customers and overpromise underperforming products, this approach is refreshing. 

Here’s my post for Above the Law.

The American Arbitration Association recently announced it’s launching an AI-powered arbitrator in November. Many litigators think this future will never arrive in litigation. That litigation requires empathy, gut instinct, and the ability to read a room, things AI can’t do (at least yet).

But what if the decision-maker itself becomes an AI bot?

I spoke with insurance GCs about what cases might be ripe for AI decision-making. They believe an AI decions maker in low-stakes disputes where litigation costs exceed the exposure might work. One GC told me she’d happily refer any case under $50k to an AI arbitrator “in a heartbeat.”

But there’s several issues: Bad faith liability. Algorithmic bias. Questions about appeals and transparency. And the biggest concern: consent.

Here is my post for Above the Law.

158 years of business. And poof: Gone. Because of a password like 1-2-3-4.
KNP Logistics learned what many law firms still haven’t: “Security by obscurity and we have cyber insurance” aren’t security strategies.
Multifactor authentication and other security measures cost relatively little. Ignoring them could cost everything, including your ability to tell clients their data is safe.
Here’s my post for Above the Law on why lawyers need to stop making excuses about cybersecurity.