Pioneers and Pathfinders

Casey Flaherty is well known in the world of legal innovation. His career journey has taken him to nearly every corner of the legal system. Casey has been a Big Law litigator, in-house counsel at a Global 500 company, a legal operations consultant, and architect of the legal project management team with the world's largest law firm. Today he is co-founder and chief strategy officer at LexFusion, a...

Marlene Gebauer is a self-described “knowledge heroine.” After a successful stint as a practicing lawyer, Marlene became a law librarian, where she then transitioned into legal information management. She focuses on research, outreach and education, procurement, licensing, and management. Today she is the director of knowledge management at Locke Lord, where she drives adoption of innovative legal...

Over the past decade or so, the legal industry has expanded dramatically to include different kinds of providers, and no part of the industry has contributed to that growth more than the managed services sector. Today we're joined by Ed Sohn, a veteran of that segment of the industry. As with so many of our guests, Ed started out in Big Law—in this case, as an attorney with King & Spalding. A desi...

For those conversant with the world of legal tech, today's guest needs no introduction…but we’ll do it anyway. Noah Waisberg is a serial legal tech entrepreneur who is changing the way lawyers practice law. Most recently, he co-founded and became CEO of software company Zuva, which uses AI to extract the value out of documents and contracts within client businesses. Zuva, in turn, is a spinoff of...

Today’s guest is Nicole Black, legal technology evangelist at MyCase. Nicole describes her role as a bridge between technology and the practice of law. On the MyCase side of the bridge, she represents the lawyer point of view, and shares insights and industry knowledge with MyCase’s tech and marketing teams. (We should note that following our recording of this episode, MyCase announced its acquisi...

Today’s guest is Nikki Shaver, a high-achieving legal technology executive specializing in legal business transformation and enterprisewide change management. Her experience in the legal industry includes 10 years of legal practice with top-tier law firms and Fortune 500 companies and close to a decade of experience as a global innovation leader in large law firms. Most recently, she left her role...

Anyone following the business of Big Law will be familiar with today’s guest. Over the past few years, Roy Strom has been one of the key reporters covering the country's biggest law firms and how money flows through the legal system. His weekly column, “Big Law Business,” examines the economics, cultures, and personalities inside law firms and an increasingly competitive industry. For the past fiv...

Today’s guest is Ivy Grey, a legal tech entrepreneur, well-regarded writer, and former practicing lawyer. Her work on technology competence, ethics, and innovation has made her a respected thought leader in legal tech. Ivy has been recognized as a Fastcase 50 Honoree and was recently named to Women of Legal Tech by the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center. Currently, Ivy is Vice President of Strat...

In today's episode, we're joined by Pieter van der Hoeven. Pieter is the co-founder and CEO of Clocktimizer, which was one of the first legal tech products that applied machine learning techniques in an effort to pull actionable data from individual lawyer time records. An M&A lawyer by training, Pieter co-founded Clocktimizer out of frustration with a manual process of reviewing time records to r...

David Johnson is a lawyer, teacher, and writer. His fascinating career path has taken him from Miami courtrooms in the '80s to general counsel roles for Silicon Valley tech startups in the '90s, and now teaching and research posts at Stanford Law School and the Stanford Institute of Design—known as the “d.school.” His work in design began as GC and COO for a consultancy that was applying design th...

Today we welcome Jessica Stuart, Senior Product Manager at Pro Bono Net. In her role, she combines her passion for access to justice with her interests in technology, process improvement, and the user experience to increase the effectiveness and reach of law firm pro bono programs via the practice management software Pro Bono Manager. Jessica has also helped lead the platform development and produ...

For anyone following the rapidly evolving area of legal technology, today's guest will be a familiar voice. Bob Ambrogi—lawyer, journalist, media consultant, and blogger—has been working at the intersection of law, media, and technology for 40 years. He is known internationally for his expertise in legal technology, legal practice, and legal ethics. He's won numerous awards for his blog and his le...

Today we are joined by Ed Walters, a true pioneer in legal tech and driver of change in the legal industry. Ed is the CEO and co-founder of Fastcase, which has grown into one of the world’s largest cloud-based legal software providers for the legal industry. It currently serves more than 800,000 subscribers from around the world. Before founding Fastcase, Ed spent time in Big Law serving a number...

If you have spent any time in the “legal tech” hashtag on social media, you’ve probably encountered today’s guest. And you probably already know that Colin S. Levy is not your typical lawyer. Shaped by his experience graduating law school during the tail end of the Great Recession, he has taken many twists and turns, from eschewing Big Law to finding an in-house job—and most recently, taking on th...

In recognition of Well-Being Week in Law, we are bringing you our interview with Jeena Cho, a pioneer in the area of mental health and wellness for lawyers. Long before the nonstop stressors of the last two years, Jeena Cho was a vocal advocate for the well-being of lawyers. It started when she realized how meditation and mindfulness could help her deal with the stress of practicing bankruptcy law...

Today’s guest is Michael Rynowecer, president and founder of The BTI Consulting Group. For more than 30 years, Michael has helped service organizations enhance their performance by looking at every angle of the client relationship through the lens of the client experience. He has conducted and analyzed more than 20,000 one-on-one interviews with C-level executives to discover their expectations, n...

Today’s guest is Stephanie Corey, a true pioneer in the field of legal operations. She started her career in business and finance, but became the first legal ops professional in Silicon Valley when she assumed that role for HP. She then co-founded and is a former executive member of the leading legal operations trade organization CLOC—the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium. Today Stephanie is a...

Today’s guest is Jordan Furlong, a legal industry analyst who has been writing, thinking, and speaking about the intersection of law and business for more than 20 years. As the mastermind behind Law21, he is on the constant lookout for critical new developments and emerging patterns in the legal services ecosystem. He uses these insights to advise legal organizations on how to plan their strategie...

Today we welcome back our first two-time guest, the one and only Susan Hackett, for another enjoyable discussion about life, law, and business. For those of you who don’t know her, Susan is the CEO of Legal Executive Leadership, LLC, and was vice president and general counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) for more than 20 years. While at the ACC, she presided over the creation of t...

Today's guest has a fascinating in-house role, and is a leading voice for the LGBTQ+ community in the legal industry. Wesley Bizzell serves as senior assistant general counsel and managing director of Political Law and Ethics Programs, External Affairs for Altria Client Services, Inc. He oversees a comprehensive compliance program covering the regulation of government affairs, providing advice and...

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of Pioneers and Pathfinders, we present this “best of” episode, featuring our first guest, Dr. Heidi Gardner. Dr. Gardner is a distinguished fellow at Harvard Law School’s Center on the Legal Profession and faculty chair of the school’s Accelerated Leadership Program and Sector Leadership Masterclass. She is also the best-selling author of Smart Collaboration...

Today's guest is Matthew Stubenberg. Matthew is the associate director of legal technology at Harvard Law School's Access to Justice Lab, and president of MDLegalApps. Early on in his career, he recognized the power of pairing technology with public service, and he committed himself to exploring that potential. Shortly after graduating from the University of Maryland Law School, Matthew created a...

Today's guest is Laura Safdie. Laura is the chief operating officer at Casetext, whose products include the number one-rated legal research platform Casetext Research, an all-in-one research and drafting print platform Compose, and Parallel Search, which offers the first application of concept-based search for the law. Laura joined Casetext after stints at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, the US Senate...

Today we have the distinct honor of being joined by Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack. Her passion for access to justice has been a constant throughout her career in public service. Immediately out of law school in New York, she joined the Legal Aid Society and the Office of the Appellate Defender. As a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, she launched a nu...

Throughout the year, we highlight episodes of Pioneers and Pathfinders that deserve a second (or third) listen. This month, as we celebrate Black History Month, we are revisiting our interview with Laurie Robinson Haden, founder of Corporate Counsel Women of Color (CCWC). Today, CCWC provides an important platform for Black women attorneys to network and forge successful career paths in law. Lauri...