BDO's Legal Tech Talk Podcast

Guest Notes

Lee Minkoff is managing director at Renovus Capital Partners, a lower middle-market private equity firm specializing in the Knowledge and Talent industries. From its base in the Philadelphia area, Renovus manages over $2 billion of assets across its several sector focused funds. The firm's current portfolio includes over 25 U.S. based businesses specializing in education and workforce development and services companies in the technology, healthcare and professional services markets. Renovus typically makes control buyout investments in founder owned businesses, leveraging its industry expertise and operator network to make operational improvements, recruit top talent and pursue add-on acquisitions.

Guest LinkedIn: Lee Minkoff

Key Takeaways

1. Renovus invests in the legal services ecosystem, not pure legal tech.

• Their focus is on founder-owned businesses delivering legal technology services and tech-enabled legal services, with a services-investor lens.

2. Private equity value creation in legal often comes from disciplined growth and M&A.

• Building platforms through acquisitions can rapidly scale capability and market presence, illustrated by Harbor’s expansion via 10 acquisitions in three years.

3. Digital transformation is a major driver of investment opportunity in legal.

• Demand from large law firms and corporate legal departments supports businesses providing transformation and operational modernization services.

4. The “people-first” operating formula is central to sustainable returns.

• Lee emphasizes a culture-led approach: happy employees create happy clients—ultimately producing happy investors.

Guest Notes

Hannah Ji-Otto advises on data privacy, technology transactions and the use of technology, including artificial intelligence (AI). Hannah is a partner at Quarls & Brady LLP. She also counsels clients on preparing for and responding to data breaches, network intrusions, ransomware attacks and email compromises. With a particular focus on emerging technologies and innovative business models, Hannah helps companies navigate the full breadth of information governance challenges, guiding them in creating and maintaining comprehensive privacy compliance programs. Her clients, ranging from startups to Fortune 500 companies and including both for-profit and nonprofit, come from industries such as: Manufacturing, Consumer products and e-commerce, Health care, Insurance, Fintech, Education, and Marketing and retail.

Guest LinkedIn: Hannah Ji-Otto

Key Takeaways

1. “Ask the right questions” is a privacy and AI skill. Better legal strategy (and better AI outputs) starts with asking the right questions and designing effective prompts.

2. AI requires professional judgment—and strong soft skills. Being able to evaluate whether AI is hallucinating or accurate, distill large volumes of information, and collaborate well with others is increasingly essential as AI “takes over the world.”

3. Privacy compliance is an ongoing program, not a one-time policy. Tabletop exercises can help prevent incidents and reduce mitigation costs, and privacy policies should be improved every year to keep pace with changing laws across jurisdictions.

4. Build for speed of change: invest in people and culture. Technology moves fast, but people who can use technology and adapt are the sustainable resource—so building a strong team and a good culture is central to long-term success.

Guest Notes:

Brendan Sullivan blends four decades of deep tape-storage expertise with a forward-looking vision for use of artificial intelligence in the legal sector. As founder and chief executive of S2 | DATA, he has built a company whose mission is to give law firms and corporations “total command of their legacy data,” turning what was once a liability into an analytic asset.

Guest LinkedIn: Brendan Sullivan | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways:

1. The Unpredictability of Data Evolution:

Even with the best intentions and knowledge at the time, IT administrators could not have predicted the regulatory and operational challenges that would arise decades later, especially regarding privacy and legacy data.

2. Classification and Control at the Source:

Early and effective classification, categorization, and control of data are crucial, but future compliance requirements are often unforeseeable, making perfect foresight impossible.

3. AI’s Role in Unlocking Legacy Data Value:

Technologies like AI can provide targeted insights into legacy datasets, transforming static information into actionable stories and value, especially when paired with intelligent curation layers.

4. Balancing Risk and Opportunity:

Organizations must weigh the risks of legacy data management against the potential value that can be mined from non-litigation datasets, signaling a shift from risk mitigation to value creation in data strategy.

Guests’ Notes

Angelic Benavidez and Joanne Liu are senior litigation paralegals within the legal department at Hyundai Motor America.

Angelic oversees e-discovery, legal holds, and manages the Relativity database, working primarily in the class action and intellectual property group, and occasionally supporting product liability matters. She brings extensive experience from big law, particularly in employment litigation, and has played a key role in transforming Hyundai’s e-discovery processes.

Joanne also focuses on e-discovery and is involved in managing class action and intellectual property cases, with additional responsibilities in product liability. Her background includes private practice and big law, and she is dedicated to streamlining legal workflows and bridging the gap between outside and in-house counsel.

Guests’ LinkedIn

Joanne Liu

Angelic I. B.

Key Takeaways

1. AI-powered tools are streamlining contract analysis and document comparison, reducing reliance on manual and traditional translation services.

2. Closed systems for document review offer enhanced confidentiality, making it safer to analyze sensitive materials without using public platforms.

3. Adopting Gen AI in legal workflows requires a learning curve, and professionals must balance efficiency with maintaining critical thinking skills.

4. Embracing AI is essential for staying competitive in legal operations, and organizations risk falling behind if they do not adapt to these technological advancements.

Guest Notes

Niki Black is Principal Legal Insight Strategist at 8am, the team behind LawPay, MyCase, CasePeer, and DocketWise. She operates at the intersection of law, technology, and innovation strategy. Inside the company, Niki provides insight on the legal market, law firm operations, and how AI is impacting the practice of law. Niki advises on AI implementation within our products, author legal industry reports, and guide teams on how to communicate with lawyers so that our technology solutions and messaging align with their needs and realities. Niki’s role bridges market knowledge, product strategy, and effective engagement with the legal profession.

Guest LinkedIn

Nicole Black | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways:

1. Generative AI is Accelerating Change in Law:

The adoption of generative AI in the legal profession is happening at an unprecedented rate, with exponential growth in use cases and potential for disruption.

2.Ethical Obligations Remain Paramount:

Legal professionals must uphold rules of professional responsibility, ensuring that AI-generated work is thoroughly reviewed for accuracy, validity, and ethical compliance before submission to courts.

3. Democratization of Legal Knowledge:

AI is leveling the playing field by making legal information widely accessible, potentially changing how both attorneys and pro se litigants approach legal matters.

4. Accuracy and Commercialization Challenges:

While AI offers abundant knowledge, concerns about the accuracy of its outputs and the emergence of paid, promotional responses highlight the need for vigilance and critical evaluation in legal practice.

Guest Notes

Greg Buckles is the founder of eDJ Group Inc. He is an Independent corporate legal technology consultant focused on reasonable, defensible process solutions. Greg’s specialties are in forensics, consulting, software design, product management, legal technology, data classification, analytics, and efficiency consulting.

Guest LinkedIn:

Greg Buckles | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways:

1. Efficiency and Speed in Legal Research:

Modern technology has dramatically reduced the time required for legal research, enabling professionals to deliver results in minutes rather than hours. However, validation and accuracy remain essential safeguards.

2. Adoption of AI and Innovation in Law:

Despite traditionally being slow to adopt new technologies, the legal industry is rapidly embracing AI and generative tools. This shift brings both opportunities and risks, especially concerning the submission of hallucinated cases and the need for professional responsibility.

3. Compliance Gaps in New Technologies:

As platforms like Microsoft Purview evolve, there are inevitable gaps between the introduction of new services and the integration of compliance tools. Legal professionals must remain vigilant to avoid over-promising on data completeness and compliance.

4. The Importance of Realistic Representations:

In legal productions, it’s crucial to avoid overstating the thoroughness of data searches. Consultants play a key role in ensuring affidavits and statements accurately reflect the limitations of search terms and data access, protecting attorneys from potential pitfalls.

Guest Notes:

Chris Haley serves as VP of Practice Empowerment aiR at Relativity. Chris’s current focus includes helping industry leaders to understand the economics and practice of leveraging artificial intelligence to drive eDiscovery solutions and business. He consults with other leaders on practices to quickly supplement and experiment with artificial intelligence within their workflows and then expand to substitute and transform key value drivers in their business – helping them consider financial factors, talent mix/staffing, and investment approaches as our industry transforms and adopts AI. aiR is our brand for generative AI products at Relativity.

Guest LinkedIn

Chris Haley | LinkedIn

Key Takeaways:

1. AI Integration as a Standard:

Relativity’s decision to include the entire aiR suite as part of the RelativityOne subscription marks a significant shift, making advanced AI tools accessible to all users without premium barriers. This move is designed to democratize technology and empower organizations to choose the best tools for each case.

2. Evolution Beyond Document Review:

The legal tech industry is moving from a focus on document review to a broader analytics and enablement approach. AI is now positioned to support privacy, data security, and information governance, addressing areas historically underserved by both technology and process.

3. Transformation Through Progressive Steps:

The adoption of generative AI is not about wholesale replacement of existing workflows but rather an evolutionary process. Legal professionals are encouraged to learn and adapt through incremental changes, leveraging AI when appropriate to enhance their work.

4. Broader Implications for the Legal Industry:

Generative AI is transforming the legal sector with unprecedented speed and opportunity. Its integration is expected to dramatically change how legal professionals approach their work, driving greater efficiency and accuracy while opening new possibilities for innovation across the industry.

Guest Notes

Aron Ahmadia is the Senior Director for Applied Science at Relativity where he leads the development of AI capabilities for Relativity One, including AI-Assisted Review, Analytics, and Search. His specializations include the use of AI in Legal Discovery, Model Risk Management, and Responsible AI. Dr. Ahmadia holds a Ph.D. in Applied Math from Columbia University and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Guest LinkedIn

Aron Ahmadia

Key Takeaways

1. Artificial intelligence has been part of the legal tech landscape for decades, but recent years have seen exponential growth and transformation, especially with the rise of generative AI.

2. The adoption of AI in legal workflows is accelerating, with machines now reviewing a significant volume of documents compared to human reviewers, driving efficiency and accuracy.

3. Early challenges in AI, such as costly and inaccurate transcription, have been overcome through rapid improvements in technology, making advanced solutions accessible and reliable.

4. Responsible development and deployment of AI are crucial. Users are encouraged to engage with AI systems but maintain a trust-but-verify approach.

5. Looking ahead, the focus is on identifying and solving future problems in legal tech, with an emphasis on understanding what challenges lie ahead in the next few years and how AI can help address them.

Guest Notes

Matt Galvin is a globally recognized leader in corporate ethics, compliance, and legal risk transformation and a partner at Steptoe LLP. He is known for pioneering BrewRIGHT, a groundbreaking compliance analytics platform at AB InBev. He has co-founded multiple organizations—including Gentic Global Advisors, Transforming Legal, and Integrity Distributed—focused on integrating data, technology, and innovation into legal and governance strategies. With a career spanning high-level public service and private sector leadership, he has shaped DOJ policy, led investigations in over 30 jurisdictions, and actively advises global boards and regulators on building resilient, high-integrity organizations.

Guest LinkedIn

Matt Galvin | Linkedin

Key Takeaways

1. Matt Galvin emphasizes the importance of viewing compliance not just as a legal requirement but as a driver of efficiency, transparency, and bottom-line growth for organizations.

2. The concept of proportionality is crucial—compliance efforts should scale according to the size and complexity of the organization, ensuring resources are allocated effectively.

3. Integrating data analytics across disciplines such as supply, logistics, and sales enables organizations to solve complex problems globally and align incentives among stakeholders.

4. The compliance landscape is cyclical, with periods of low enforcement often followed by crises and increased regulation. Organizations must remain agile and prepared for these shifts to maintain resilience and competitive advantage.

Guest Notes:

Nick Abrahams is the Global Leader of Technology & Innovation for Norton Rose Fulbright. NRF has more than 4,000 lawyers in 50+ offices around the world. Nick is the founder of successful online legal site, LawPath (90,000+ users) and he created the world's first AI-enabled privacy chatbot, Parker. He also has a thriving career as a keynote speaker on future trends and innovation.. He is the author of the best-selling Kindle books "Big Data, Big Responsibilities" and "Digital Disruption in Australia". He is on the boards of: ASX-listed software company Integrated Research ($500M); the global genomics research leader, the Garvan Foundation; the Vodafone Foundation; and the Sydney Film Festival.

Guest LinkedIn

Nick Abrahams | LinkedIn

Podcast Takeaways:

1. Purpose Fuels Impact:

Nick’s career illustrates that finding your “why”—whether it’s helping others or driving innovation—leads to greater satisfaction and success in the legal profession.

2. Creativity and Collaboration Matter:

Skills from creative fields, like comedy and film, can enhance legal practice by fostering teamwork, effective communication, and innovative problem-solving.

3. Innovation Solves Real Problems:

Initiatives like LawPath and Parker were born from identifying gaps in access to legal support and leveraging technology to democratize legal services.

4. AI Augments, Not Replaces, Lawyers:

Contrary to popular belief, AI presents opportunities for lawyers to expand their roles, handle complexity, and serve more clients, rather than eliminating jobs.

5. Empowering Legal Teams Drives Success:

Granting autonomy and decision-making authority to legal professionals boosts morale, efficiency, and client satisfaction, helping lawyers move from “grinders” to “thrivers.”