Legal Soundings

Sales culture in law firms isn't about turning lawyers into sellers. It's about the structures, incentives, and shared accountability that make growth a team habit — and Benesch has built one of the best. In this episode, Zena Applebaum is joined by Kori Fahrner (Business Development Manager, Benesch) and Beth Cuzzone (VP, Global Growth Marketing, Intapp, and co-founder of LSSO — the Legal...

You can buy tools. You can’t buy maturity. That’s the throughline as two legal ops leaders at opposite ends of the scale spectrum compare notes on building a function that actually changes how a legal department works. In this episode, Kevin Clem is joined by Adam Becker (Director of Legal Operations, Cockroach Labs) and Donovan Bell (Head of Global Legal Operations, Intel) — both CLOC board membe...

CRM has been a fixture in law firms for decades — yet attorney adoption has dropped from 29% to 18% over the past year. Is CRM broken, or are we measuring success the wrong way? In this episode, Zena Applebaum is joined by Laura Saklad (VP, Legal Industry, Intapp) and Sarah Happy (Director, Marketing Technology, Harbor) to unpack where CRM stands today and where agentic AI is taking it next. The c...

Legal operations finally won the seat at the table — but the table itself has changed. In this special CGI edition of Legal Soundings, host Lauren Chung is joined by CLOC President & CEO Oyango A. Snell and Organon's Stacy Lettie to unpack the 2026 CLOC/Harbor State of the Industry Report. The conversation moves past the old fight for legitimacy into the harder question: now that legal ops...

Every technology leader in legal has lived through the painful rollout — the tool nobody asked for, the training nobody attended, the adoption curve that flatlined. So what's different about AI? For the first time, lawyers are coming to IT to ask how to integrate it into their practice. The built-in perception of value is already there. In this episode, Jeffrey Roach (Harbor Global) sits down...

The AI tools are more powerful than ever — so why are law firms still struggling to see returns? In this episode, Brooke Daniels is joined by Marcus East (Autodesk; author of Working with Dinosaurs ) and Allan Lamkin (Harbor Global CTO, former CIO at Paul Hastings) to dig into the real blockers: culture, process, talent, and the unique challenge of selling change to a profession built on skepticis...

Legal Innovation Is No Longer Optional — It's Expected Host Zena Applebaum talks with Wendy Curtis (Chief Innovation Officer, Orrick) and John Koss (Head of Innovation, AI, E-Data Consulting, Mintz) about leading innovation inside law firms — from day one to long-term impact. Wendy brings 15+ years of building Orrick's innovation function; John is fresh off his first year after transitioni...

Is the AI transformation in legal real or still just hype? Three years into the generative AI revolution, Legal Soundings host Zena Applebaum sits down with two of the most respected voices in legal journalism, Bob Ambrogi (LawSites) and Stephanie Wilkins (LegalTech Hub), for a candid conversation about what’s actually changing in law firms, legal departments, and the broader legal ecosystem. From...

In this episode, host Colleen Cable sits down with Greg Lambert, Chief Innovation Officer at Jackson Walker, and April Brousseau, Director at Harbor's Library and Research Group, to explore how information professionals are uniquely positioned to lead the AI revolution in legal — if they're willing to seize the moment. Greg and April draw on decades of experience navigating every major tec...

As law firms head into 2026, data has become one of the most powerful—and misunderstood—drivers of growth, differentiation, and client trust. In this episode of Legal Soundings , host Bobbi Basile is joined by Zena Applebaum and Rachel Shields Williams,  Director, Client Intelligence at Sidley Austin LLP, for a deep, practical conversation on the top five data trends shaping law firms in 2026 . To...

Artificial intelligence is changing the way legal professionals work, communicate, and collaborate. In this first episode of Legal Soundings , host Chris Ryan talks with Matt Peters and Lauren Chung about the opportunities and challenges emerging as AI becomes embedded in legal workflows. They discuss talent readiness, practical innovation, organizational change, and how legal teams can prepare fo...