Fringe Legal Presents Bots @ Work

Helen Fan has been building an AI-native law firm from scratch, in public, for 50 days. Not a demo. Not a prototype. A real practice with AI agents handling legal strategy and research, and she's documenting every stumble along the way. In this episode, we get into what that actually looks like: the agents, the arguments, the security concerns, and the hard questions about whether AI-native firms...

Most professionals are overlooking a secret weapon that’s transforming workflows and legal practices faster than anyone expected. Mike Brown reveals how a solo lawyer turned AI hobbyist beat out 500 engineers at a high-stakes hackathon—and how this level of creative problem-solving can unlock your team’s potential today. Starting from scratch, Mike’s curiosity and strategic experimentation with op...

Most legal leaders underestimate how quickly AI will redefine their teams—and why embracing curiosity now is the only way to stay relevant. In this episode, Jennifer Waite , Chief Knowledge & Innovation Officer at Arnall Golden Gregory , shares her unique journey from librarian to Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer. She dives into how her early experiences in law and librarianship shaped h...

Most AI conversations in legal right now are either breathless hype or reflexive skepticism. This one is neither. Ted Theodoropoulos has spent close to 20 years in legal tech. He's worked with more than half the AmLaw, runs InfoDash (used by about one in four AmLaw firms), and hosts the Legal Innovation Spotlight podcast. He sees what firms are actually buying, where tools actually break, and whic...

This episode explores the RAILS initiative, which focuses on the responsible use of AI in legal services. The guests discuss the origins of RAILS, its working groups, and the importance of ethical AI practices. They highlight recent outputs, including a risk management framework and various use cases, while emphasizing the need for AI literacy in the legal field. The discussion also touches on the...

In this episode of Fringe Legal, we host an engaging discussion with James Markham and Darren Mee , authors of ' The Legal MBA .'  The conversation delves into their backgrounds, the inspiration behind their book, and its key themes. We discuss the importance of a broad business education for legal professionals, the integration of legal technology, and the practical applications of the knowledge...

In this episode of Fringe Legal, recorded live from ILTACON 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, Ab sits down with JoeySeeber , CEO of Level Legal . Joey discusses the journey and growth of Level Legal over 15 years, starting during the Great Recession. The conversation delves into various aspects of building a business for longevity, maintaining a startup mindset in a small company, and delivering servi...

In this episode of the Fringe Legal podcast, host Ab interviews Stefan Ciesla , the co-founder and CEO of Ayora ai , a startup that focuses on helping law firms manage their revenues and improve the revenue management skills of fee earners such as attorneys and lawyers. Steven discusses the problem Ayora is solving in the legal industry and the role of lawyers as revenue managers. He explains that...

In this episode of the Fringe Legal podcast, host Ab chats with Conan Hines, Director of Legal Technology at Fried Frank, about building a tech-enabled culture in law firms. Conan shares insights from his previous roles at Clifford Chance and other law firms, highlighting the importance of understanding the role of legal technology and the psychology and behavior of users when it comes to successf...

While technology races ahead, improving legal training and education has lagged behind. Law schools excel at teaching students the law, but critical and practical skills development is often lacking. With the traditional law firm apprenticeship model fading, junior lawyers frequently lack opportunities to gain hands-on experience. Abdi Shayesteh , founder and CEO of the legal training platform Alt...

As part of our series of examining Generative AI in Practice, Fringe Legal spoke with Stephanie Corey , founder of legal operations consultancy UpLevel Ops , and Brandi Pack , UpLevel’s Legal Tech Analyst & AI Consultant. They share how legal teams can thoughtfully leverage generative AI to transform workflows, augment human skills, and futureproof roles. With proper governance and training, w...

We sat down with Jeff Pfeifer , Chief Product Officer at LexisNexis during ILTACON 2023 to get his insights on legal AI progress, hype versus reality, increased law firm adoption, and the importance of demonstrating tangible benefits. Topics covered: Navigating the legal AI hype cycle AI’s potential to enhance legal workflows Growing law firm interest and hands-on exploration Avoiding the “trough...

In this episode of Fringe Legal , host Abhijat Saraswat interviews Nnamdi Emelifeonwu and Feargus MacDaeid, co-founders of legal tech startup Definely. Key Takeaways: Definely creates software plugins to simplify drafting, reviewing, and analyzing legal contracts in Microsoft Word using AI/ML. The idea originated from Feargus' need as a blind lawyer to access information in documents more easily....

ESG (environmental, social, governance) factors have become essential considerations for companies seeking to manage risk, attract investment, and operate sustainably. Yet myths and misconceptions persist around what ESG is and how best to approach it. This leads many legal teams to view ESG as an amorphous compliance exercise rather than a strategic priority. Recently on the Fringe Legal podcast,...

Summary: In this insightful episode of Fringe Legal, host Abhijat Saraswat has an in-depth discussion with India Preston , Director of Platform Solutions at legal tech startup Lupl . They delve into India's winding journey into legal project management, tactical approaches to driving adoption, and how to effectively challenge established processes. India shares learnings and advice drawn from her...

In this episode, our guests Brad Blickstein , David Cambria , and returning guest Keith Maziarek  join host Ab to discuss the findings from the 3rd Legal Pricing and Project Management (LPMM) Survey Report .  They delve into the key challenges and trends shaping the legal industry, touching upon innovation, technology, client expectations, and the future of legal service delivery. Tune in to explo...

Professional services environments are stressful. Among the myriad of items to be juggled each day, you must manage workloads, managing the capacity of employees -  what kind of work & how frequently work is allocated.  How well this aspect is managed will impact performance, productivity, DEI, and retention.  As part of our startup series, we speak with William Dougherty , Co-Founder of Capci...

The guest this week are co-founders of New York-based Priori Legal .  Basha Rubin , the company's Chief Executive Officer, and Mirra Levitt , the Chief Product Officer, met as classmates at Yale Law School and found Priori. Earlier this year, they announced a funding round of $15 million.   Priori works with in-house legal teams to connect legal departments with the right outside counsel for proje...

Legal operation teams have been increasing in popularity. In this episode, Liz Lugones and Sumi Trombley from Uplevel Ops share why Legal Ops teams matter, why you should care, and how to leverage them to level up your legal team (in-house and at firms).   Uplevel Ops are offering a complimentary 30-minute consultation , you can find more here .   In the episode, we discuss: (03:12) Why should you...

To supplement the release of the Fringe Legal no-code report, which provides 100s of hours of market research in 6-min, we speak with Jackson Liu, Chief Commercial Officer at Neota, about the state of no-code in legal.  During the conversation, we discuss: How firms are using no-code tools Leveraging no-code tools as a competitive advantage Focusing on the customer journey and adoption for long-te...

On this episode with speak with Kai Jacob   - Partner at KPMG and Co-founder of Liquid Legal Institute - about digital transformation and designing the future of law.  In the episode we cover (min.seconds): Introduction -> 0.20 Enthusiasm vs adoption of technology -> 1.56 Founding the think thank -> 3.24 Facilitating cross collaboration -> 5.06 Distributing projects equitably -> 6.0...

Lawyers and firms have long struggled to find the right way to price their services. The hourly billing model focuses on the amount of time spent on a matter, project, or case. This can often lead to inefficiencies and frustration for the lawyer and the client. Value based pricing is an alternative that takes into account the value of the service being provided rather than simply the time spent. I...

Leading teams during times of crisis presents a unique challenge. Many of which are multiplied when you are a startup and the team was only formed months ago.  And then, overnight, everyone suddenly felt very fragile. It's a unique feeling and unique in a bad way because suddenly you have no idea what to do. And the feeling is that you're very lost. Yet, that is exactly the challenge that faced Al...

What role does creativity play in a law firm and legal practice?    "You can be creative in any industry and anything that you do. Creativity is a mindset . It's being open to new ideas, new trends that diversity of thought, as we mentioned, being willing to experiment and try things, seeing things through a different lens than people typically do.   To me, that's what creativity really is. It doe...

Matt Coatney is a seasoned C-level product and technology executive, entrepreneur, advisor, author, and speaker with 25 years of experience helping businesses and technology work better together. He has led divisions and portfolios for large global corporations, co-founded three companies and advised several others, been an early-stage employee of two successful tech startups, advised dozens of bu...