Without Limitation

Matt Pollins

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TECHNOLOGY

Stories from the people reshaping legal www.agents.law

2 DAYS AGO

Why YC just backed an AI law firm

What We Covered * General Legal’s founding story and its roots in Casetext * JP’s unusual career path from iOS developer to Harvard Law to Big Law (WilmerHale, Cooley) to legal tech engineer * What makes a firm “AI native” versus a traditional firm that’s adopted AI tools - and the corporate structure and reinvestment philosophy that distinguishes the two * The practical workflow: how clients engage General Legal via Slack, send contracts, and receive AI-assisted attorney-reviewed markups within a three-hour SLA * Pricing model: $250 for documents under three pages * The “attorney attention engine” concept - AI handles first-pass review and context gathering, directing lawyer focus to the provisions that actually matter * How General Legal differentiates from Atrium by targeting “run the company” work (MSAs, NDAs, DPAs) rather than “bet the company” work (priced rounds, M&A) * The competitive landscape: not directly competing with Big Law or in-house teams, but filling a gap where neither wants to operate * The YC experience, the $4.2M pre-seed, and the ambition to build the largest law firm in the world * Forward-looking topics including MCP-compatible law firms, clients pre-processing contracts with ChatGPT, and the blurring line between engineers and attorneys Key Takeaways * The defining question for an AI native firm: are you willing to reinvest virtually all profits back into efficiency rather than distributing them to partners? * Run the company legal work (routine commercial contracts) is ripe for AI disruption; bet the company work (M&A, priced rounds) still demands top-tier human strategic advice * The percentage of work done by AI versus humans isn’t fixed; it depends entirely on the matter - a DPA draft might be 90% AI, while advising on GDPR compliance is 98% human * Traditional law firms spend only 1-2% of profits on efficiency tools, which J.P. believes structurally limits their ability to compete with firms that take outside capital and reinvest aggressively * The most important hiring criterion is still excellent lawyering - you don’t need engineer-attorneys, you need client-obsessed commercial lawyers who are willing to adopt AI workflows and help shape the tools * Slack-first client communication is a meaningful efficiency gain over email, even before any AI enters the picture * The corporate structure mirrors Atrium’s model: a separate law firm entity employing attorneys alongside a partner technology company, sidestepping ABS restrictions * The long-term play is horizontal expansion across practice areas - starting with commercial contracts to earn client trust, then expanding into regulatory, litigation, and broader transactional work This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.agents.law

48 min
31 JAN

Should law firms encourage vibecoding?

What We Covered * The rise of vibecoding in the legal industry * Bird & Bird’s recent rollout of a vibecoding solution within the firm * Governance and compliance considerations, including how to give everyone a safe sandbox to prototype, with clear pathways to enterprise deployment with the appropriate safeguards when something proves valuable * The maintenance question * Opportunities for vendors to lean into vibecoding rather than see it as a competitive threat * The shifting training needs toward product thinking * The skills needed to sell products rather than services Key Takeaways * Velocity excites everyone, but someone has to handle sustainability, governance, and scale. * Vibecoding works, but not at scale yet. It’s brilliant for prototyping and individual problems, but no one has solved managing proliferating micro-applications. * The polarised debate misses reality. Truth sits between “I built Harvey in 30 minutes” and “vibe coding is just a hobby.” For the right use cases with proper controls, it delivers genuine value. * Recreating a feature is easy; creating a company is very hard. Weekend projects that replicate one capability shouldn’t be confused with sustainable products. * The forest of mushrooms problem. Apps sprouting everywhere, some great, some poisonous, creates fragmentation in already-fragmented law firms. * Trust must transfer to platforms before agents scale. Clients need to trust the technology enough to upload documents without a human in the middle. * Reward failure in innovation. Three days vibe coding something that goes nowhere still teaches you something. That learning has value even when the app doesn’t ship. Links Bird & Bird announces partnership with vibe-coding app development platform Betty Blocks This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.agents.law

45 min
24 JAN

Should clients get a discount if firms use AI?

What We Covered * Richard’s 40 years of working with law firms on pricing * His viral LinkedIn post from January 2026 that sparked debate: a fictional partner’s letter explaining why AI may not mean lower fees - we get into the arguments for and against * Richard’s view that transparency and benefit-sharing between firms and clients is the only sustainable path forward * The difference Richard has observed between what clients say they want (lowest price) and what actually drives their buying decisions * How productised legal services like Littler’s employee classification tool represent a new pricing paradigm * The “creative destruction” mindset firms need to avoid being disrupted * Richard’s journey from managing partner to pricing consultant, and the Aderant acquisition of Virtual Pricing Director Key Takeaways * Richard believes firms that have invested heavily in AI tools deserve ROI on that investment, not a race to the bottom on fees * When GCs were asked to prioritize price factors, less than 10% chose “lowest price” as most important * Richard believes the winning formula is transparent benefit-sharing: if AI reduces delivery cost from £100k to £70k, billing £85k splits the value fairly * Clients aren’t just buying legal advice. They’re buying security, reassurance, and the firm’s professional indemnity coverage * If you don’t destroy your own business model, someone else will * The legal profession’s greatest pricing limitation is lack of confidence. As one senior partner told Richard: “If you don’t think you’re worth it, why should anyone else?” * Legal work will grow, not shrink. Life and commerce are getting more complex, and AI itself creates new advisory opportunities * Technology alone won’t transform pricing. Sustainable change requires addressing people, process, and technology together This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.agents.law

42 min
18 JAN

Without Limitation (S1 E1): Mary Bonsor

What we covered * Mary’s journey from law student and litigator to founder, sparked by her own struggle to secure a training contract and the obvious disconnect between eager junior talent and firms needing support * How she made the leap into entrepreneurship, including raising external funding to create a real proof point before leaving practice * What Flex Legal is and how it evolved: from a platform focused on paralegals to a broader model supporting lawyers and in-house teams * The social mobility mission behind Flex Legal, including the impact of the SQE route and the creation of training contract pathways * The real impact of AI on junior legal careers: why Mary is optimistic, what’s changing in role requirements, and why junior lawyers still matter in an AI-enabled workflow * The skills that will define successful lawyers in 2026 and beyond: curiosity, judgment, EQ, relationship-building, and commercial awareness * The story behind the Mishcon acquisition, and why relationships and long-term networks matter more than people think * Mary’s new role as GC Relationships Director and how it reframes law firm client relationships through a “customer success” lens * The shift toward productised legal delivery: breaking work into strategic vs BAU components, combining people/process/tech, and designing pricing that works for both sides * Why client feedback and pilots are essential to successful innovation, especially when firms are building new service lines * The GC Academy: a structured programme designed to build financial literacy, leadership, legal ops and legal tech skills for in-house leaders * Lessons from 10 years of building: staying optimistic through the lows, maintaining energy, and treating startup life as a marathon Thanks for reading/listening! If this was useful, please share it. Biggest takeaways * Purpose and profit are not opposites: The best businesses can deliver real commercial outcomes while creating measurable social impact. * AI is changing job specs faster than it’s changing demand: The work juniors do will evolve, but the need for people who can operate with judgment and quality control is only increasing. * Curiosity is a career superpower: The ability to ask better questions, learn fast, and deeply understand client problems will outperform almost any technical skill. * Human skills are the long-term moat: Judgment, empathy, and trust-building remain the parts of legal work that are hardest to automate. * Networks compound over time: The acquisition story is a reminder that consistent relationship-building creates outcomes years later. * Productisation only works with real client input: Build with customers, pilot early, learn quickly, and iterate before scaling. * Founding a company requires durable optimism: You need enough energy and belief to keep going through the inevitable difficult moments. Book recommendations * Patrick Lencioni (especially The Five Dysfunctions of a Team) * Stephen R. Covey — The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.agents.law

42 min

4 Episodes

Stories from the people reshaping legal www.agents.law

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Matt Pollins
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2K
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4
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Clean
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© Matt Pollins
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Without Limitation