AI and the Future of Law

Practising Law Institute
  • 5.0 (17)
  • Business
  • Updated Biweekly

AI and the Future of Law is your essential podcast for understanding how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the legal industry. Hosted by Bridget McCormack and Jen Leonard, each episode delves into cutting-edge technologies, trends, and strategies, providing invaluable insights for legal professionals, tech enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the future of law. Join us as we navigate the evolving landscape of AI, empowering the legal community to thrive in an era of unprecedented innovation. This podcast is presented by the American Arbitration Association with Creative Lawyers, and distributed by PLI - bridging world-class legal education with the global leader in dispute resolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 4h ago

    How Judges Can Use AI Without Losing Human Judgment with Justice Jerod Tufte

    How can judges use AI without delegating the human judgment at the center of their role? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack are joined by Justice Jerod Tufte of the North Dakota Supreme Court for a conversation about AI, judicial workflows, public legal data, access to justice, and the future of courts. In this episode: How judges can use AI while preserving human judgmentWhy AI should support, not decide, judicial workHow AI can assist with records, citations, and bench memosWhy courts need guardrails for AI useHow AI may increase litigation volumeWhy public law should be accessible and AI-ready Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Aug 18

    Kirkland’s $500 Million AI Bet and the Future of Junior Lawyers

    What does Kirkland & Ellis’ $500 million AI bet mean for Big Law — and for junior lawyers? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack discuss Kirkland’s reported investment in building its own proprietary AI platform and what it signals about the legal industry’s shift from AI adoption to AI building. They explain why Kirkland’s strategy may make sense for Kirkland, but why other firms should be careful not to copy it without considering their own strengths, clients, culture, and market position. Jen and Bridget also explore growing concerns about junior attorney development as AI takes on more entry-level legal work. If junior lawyers are no longer learning through the same kinds of assignments, how will firms help them build judgment, confidence, and expertise? And what new training models might emerge? The episode also includes an AI Aha! segment on practical AI use cases in everyday life and a What Just Happened discussion on Anthropic, model risk, and emerging government oversight of frontier AI systems. In this episode: Kirkland’s $500 million AI announcementBig Law’s shift from AI adoption to AI buildingWhy AI strategy should match firm strategyWhat AI means for junior associate developmentWhy learning by doing does not happen automaticallyHow firms might rethink legal trainingWhat Anthropic’s model-risk episode means for lawyers and clients Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Aug 4

    What Does It Mean to Be an AI-Ready Lawyer? Farrah Pepper and Kirsten Talmage on AI Competency

    What does it mean to be an AI-ready lawyer? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack are joined by Farrah Pepper, legal innovation partner at Harvey, and Kirsten Talmage, chief strategy officer at Practising Law Institute, to discuss The AI-Ready Lawyer: A Competency Framework for the AI Era. Farrah and Kirsten explain why the legal profession needs a shared language for AI competency, how the framework can help law firms, legal departments, law schools, and individual lawyers, and why AI training should focus on durable professional skills rather than any single tool. The conversation also explores new legal career paths, the importance of oversight and judgment, and how organizations can use the framework to assess training gaps and build AI fluency responsibly. In this episode: What it means to be an AI-ready lawyerWhy the legal profession needs a shared AI competency frameworkHow AI fluency differs from tool-specific trainingWhy human judgment, oversight, and ethics remain centralHow firms and legal departments can use the frameworkWhy smaller teams may benefit from AI training even moreHow law students can assess AI readiness in schools and employersLearn more about PLI’s AI-Ready Lawyer framework: [PLI AI-Ready Lawyer Framework] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Jul 21

    What Is an AI-Native Law Firm? John Nay on Norm AI and Norm Law

    What is an AI-native law firm? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack are joined by John Nay, founder and CEO of Norm AI and Norm Law, for a conversation about agentic law, AI-native legal services, and what it means to build legal work around agents rather than copilots. John explains how legal and regulatory reasoning can be embedded into AI agents, allowing them to perform first-pass work, learn from prior matters, and create compounding value over time. The conversation also explores how Norm Law combines attorneys, legal engineers, software engineers, and AI engineers; why client-specific knowledge can become persistent; and how outcome-based pricing may change the business model of legal services. The episode also examines client trust, human supervision, experienced legal talent, and the Legal AGI Lab’s research into how AI agents may be evaluated, benchmarked, and governed by law. Learn more about the Legal AGI Lab: https://lab.norm.ai In this episode: What agentic law meansHow AI agents differ from copilotsWhat an AI-native law firm looks likeThe role of legal engineers and AI engineersOutcome-based pricing and client trustHuman supervision in AI-native legal workLegal AGI and the governance of AI agents Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Jul 7

    How AI Is Reshaping In-House Legal Teams with Nick Fleisher

    How is AI changing the work of in-house legal teams? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack are joined by Nick Fleisher, co-founder and CEO of Sandstone, an AI-native platform built specifically for in-house legal teams. Nick discusses how AI is transforming legal operations by helping legal departments manage intake, triage work, connect business context, and move from reactive service providers to proactive strategic partners. The conversation explores why successful legal AI depends on data and context rather than simply deploying another chatbot, how AI systems can learn legal judgment over time, what lawyers should automate first, and why human oversight remains essential as agentic workflows become more common. Nick also shares why corporate legal departments are under increasing pressure as AI accelerates work across the business, and what that means for the future of legal teams. In this episode: Why in-house legal teams are adopting AI differently than law firmsBuilding AI-native legal infrastructureWhy legal AI is fundamentally a data and context problemHow AI can help legal teams become more proactiveWhat AI can—and can't—learn from lawyersUnderstanding agentic workflows and human oversightWhy implementation is the key to successful AI adoption Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Jun 23

    Can Law Firms Redesign Themselves for AI? Jen Leonard on Unprecedented

    Can law firms redesign themselves for a world shaped by generative AI? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack are joined by Sharon Crane, president of Practising Law Institute, for a conversation about Jen’s new book, Unprecedented: Designing a Human-Centered Law Firm When Everything Is Changing. Together, they explore why law firm transformation is difficult, how storytelling can make change feel more accessible, and why collaboration, human-centered design, and practical experimentation matter in the AI era. The conversation also covers PLI’s AI competency framework, the value of business fables, the history of the Cravath system and the billable hour, how Jen used AI as a writing partner, and what the future of junior lawyer training might look like. Learn more about Unprecedented: Designing a Human-Centered Law Firm When Everything Is Changing: https://www.pli.edu/catalog/publications/treatise/unprecedented-designing-a-human-centered-law-firm-when-everything-is-changing/447974 In this episode: Why law firm change requires human buy-inHow storytelling can make transformation more usableWhy the current legal business model is not inevitableHow AI can act as a co-intelligence, not a shortcutWhat junior lawyer training might look like in the AI era Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Jun 9

    Is Legal Tech in a Bubble? Nikki Shaver on AI Strategy and Legal Tech Growth

    The legal tech market is growing fast—but is it a bubble, or the beginning of a new era for legal services? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack are joined by Nikki Shaver, co-founder and CEO of Legaltech Hub, to discuss how AI is reshaping law firm strategy, pricing, technology selection, and competition. Nikki explains why firms are moving beyond efficiency as the main measure of AI value, how AI-native firms may challenge incumbents, and why agentic AI creates new governance and security questions for legal organizations. In this episode: How legal tech adoption has shifted since ChatGPTWhy AI value is moving from efficiency to qualityWhat AI-native firms mean for incumbent law firmsHow law firms should evaluate legal tech startupsWhy agentic AI raises new governance risksWhat Nikki expects next for the legal tech marketKeywords: legal tech, legal technology, AI in law, legal AI, law firm strategy, Nikki Shaver, Legaltech Hub, agentic AI, AI-native firms, law firm innovation, legal innovation, GenAI, legal tech bubble, future of law Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. May 26

    What Happens When AI Agents Make Contracts? Bridget McCormack on LCP

    What happens when AI agents start making contracts with other AI agents? In this episode, Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack explore Legal Context Protocol, or LCP, a new open protocol designed to help legal terms become discoverable, verifiable, and connected to agentic transactions. Bridget explains why existing e-commerce legal infrastructure may not translate cleanly to a world where machines negotiate, accept terms, and complete transactions on behalf of people and businesses. In this episode: What Legal Context Protocol is designed to solveWhy agentic commerce creates new contract and ratification issuesHow legal terms can become discoverable, verifiable, and connected to transactionsWhy AI risk and legal-context risk should be separatedWhat general counsel and law firm partners should do now Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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5
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

AI and the Future of Law is your essential podcast for understanding how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the legal industry. Hosted by Bridget McCormack and Jen Leonard, each episode delves into cutting-edge technologies, trends, and strategies, providing invaluable insights for legal professionals, tech enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the future of law. Join us as we navigate the evolving landscape of AI, empowering the legal community to thrive in an era of unprecedented innovation. This podcast is presented by the American Arbitration Association with Creative Lawyers, and distributed by PLI - bridging world-class legal education with the global leader in dispute resolution. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Practising Law Institute
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    59
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jen Leonard & Bridget McCormack
  • Show Website
    AI and the Future of Law

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