Careers and the Business of Law

In this episode, David Cowen sits down with Nicole Giantonio, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Epiq, to explore how cutting-edge AI technology, bold investments, and strategic talent development are revolutionizing the legal industry. From Epiq's game-changing AI Labs to Nicole's private equity perspective on innovation, this conversation is a masterclass for anyone navigating the evolving world of legal services.

If you're ready to future-proof your career and understand the forces shaping the next decade of law, this episode is your roadmap.

What's Inside?

The Talent Shift: Nicole shares how AI is reshaping roles, creating higher-level opportunities, and why training with AI tools is non-negotiable for today's professionals.

Boardroom Trends: Why Fortune 500 companies and Global 1000 law firms are making massive investments in legal tech—even without a clear ROI.

The Iceberg Effect: Nicole's analogy explains the hidden creativity and acceleration beneath the surface of the legal industry—and why it's gaining momentum.

Future of Legal Ops: Get a sneak peek into emerging trends like legal data intelligence, the role of agentic AI models, and how Epic is positioning itself for long-term innovation.

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Episode Description: In this episode, David Cowen speaks with Bobby Malhotra, Partner at Winston & Strawn and a founding member of Legal Data Intelligence (LDI). Together, they explore how AI, eDiscovery, and data governance are reshaping the legal industry. Bobby also highlights the power of mentorship, the evolution of legal data intelligence, and the lessons he's learned from his own career journey. If you're navigating the future of law, this conversation is a must-listen.

What's Inside?

• eDiscovery's Next Chapter: Bobby dives into how the field has evolved from email production to a sophisticated practice that influences case outcomes and strategies.
• The Role of AI in Legal Data: Discover how conversational AI is eliminating friction, accelerating time to insights, and revolutionizing how legal teams manage data.
• Legal Data Intelligence (LDI): Learn about the founding and mission of LDI, a professional network designed to tackle the most complex data challenges across disputes, transactions, and compliance.
• Mentorship and Leadership: Bobby shares how mentorship transformed his career and why building relationships with mentors and mentees is critical to success in the legal profession.
• Going Above and Beyond: Bobby recommends Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara as a blueprint for creating extraordinary client experiences.

Key Mentions:

• Books: Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara
• Influencers: Kathleen McDowell, John Rosenthal, and Scott Cohen
• Organizations: Legal Data Intelligence (LDI), and Winston & Strawn

Takeaways

• Leverage AI Tools: Start using conversational AI like ChatGPT to interrogate your data and uncover insights faster.
• Mentorship Matters: Find mentors who align with your goals and reciprocate by sharing your own expertise.
• Join Professional Networks: Get involved with groups like LDI to connect with industry leaders and stay ahead of emerging trends.

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In this episode, David Cowen dives into the transformative role of Legal Data Intelligence (LDI) with industry leaders Julia Hasenzahl, Jeremiah Weasenforth, and Ashley Christakis. They discuss how meta-skills like strategic thinking and adaptability are reshaping legal operations and explore how experiential knowledge is driving predictive insights across the legal ecosystem.

Key Topics:

• Meta-Skills Matter: Why adaptability, curiosity, and problem-spotting are essential for thriving in LDI.
• Expanding Roles: How LDI professionals are integrating e-discovery, governance, privacy, and risk management.
• Building Talent: The importance of fostering a culture of radical thinking to attract top talent in a competitive market.
• Better vs. Different: The dual need to improve current processes while rethinking how legal data is used to create predictive strategies.

Meet the Guests:

• Julia Hasenzahl : Co-founder and CEO of ProSearch, a leader in applying data intelligence to legal operations and e-discovery.
• Jeremiah Weasenforth: Legal Analytics Director at Edward Jones, pioneering data-driven approaches to legal strategy.
• Ashley Christakis: Senior Manager eDiscovery and Legal Operations at CrowdStrike, innovating the intersection of e-discovery and operational excellence.

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In this episode, David Cowen chats with Kevin Cohn, Chief Customer Officer at Brightflag, about how next-gen technology and AI are reshaping legal operations, the war for talent, and the evolving role of legal professionals. If you're navigating the future of law, this conversation is your roadmap.

What's Inside?

• Brightflag's Impact: Learn how Brightflag uses AI to transform legal billing and matter management for clients like Spotify and SAP, enabling legal teams to shift from admin to strategy.
• Tech & Talent Arms Race: Why GCs are hiring legal ops pros first and how AI is disrupting lower-level work while increasing demand for top talent.
• OKRs in Action: Kevin shares insights from Measure What Matters by John Doerr and how OKRs drive long-term innovation at Brightflag.
• Future-Proofing Your Career: Why training with AI tools like ChatGPT is critical to stay competitive in 2025 and beyond.

Key Mentions -

• Books: Measure What Matters by John Doerr
• Influencers: Tomasz Tunguz, Dave Kellogg, Daniel Young (Shark Ninja), Eva Bogucki (Cargill).
• Podcasts: Brightflag's legal ops podcast hosted by Alex Kelly.

Takeaways -

• Train with AI: Spend an hour a day with tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to stay ahead.
• Build Your Network: Surround yourself with thinkers and tech leaders to sharpen your career edge.
• Think Long-Term: Apply OKRs to stretch your goals and align them with future trends.

Quotes -

• "If you're not training with AI, you're falling behind." – Kevin Cohn
• "Your career is a jungle gym, not a ladder—never eat alone and think out loud with others." – David Cowen

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Join us as we sit down with Zach Posner, founder of The Legal Tech Fund (TLTF) and the visionary behind the TLTF Summit, to unpack the unprecedented surge of innovation, talent, and investment reshaping the legal industry. From the rise of generative AI to law firms embracing venture capital mindsets, Zach offers insider insights into where legal tech is headed and why now is the time to lean in.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• The $1 Billion Day in Legal Tech: How a single day in 2024 redefined the investment landscape.
• Generative AI's Legal Impact: The explosion of generative AI startups and what it means for law firms and legal operations.
• Legal Tech's Talent Revolution: Why top talent from Google, Facebook, and Netflix is flocking to legal tech startups.
• The Pyramid of Legal Tech Growth: Breaking down the lifecycle of startups—from early-stage experiments to scalable success.
• Law Firms as VCs: How firms are experimenting with technology and funding innovation to future-proof their practices.
• Retention Through Innovation: Why firms investing in cutting-edge tech are winning the war for talent.

Key Highlights:

• (1:08) ChatGPT's historic debut and its role in igniting a generative AI gold rush.
• (3:28) The 239% growth in generative AI startups in just eight months—what's driving this explosive trend.
• (12:13) Why law firms with innovation funds are attracting and retaining top talent.
• (14:17) The Rubik's Cube analogy: How law firms are experimenting with tech to find the perfect fit.
• (15:03) The importance of focusing tech adoption in high-impact practice areas for maximum ROI.

Connect with Zach Posner: LinkedIn: Zach Posner

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Join us as we sit down with Paula Reichenberg, founder of NEUR.ON, a groundbreaking legal tech startup addressing multilingual challenges in the legal industry. Paula shares her entrepreneurial journey, from managing her family's wine business at 16 to stepping onto the TLTF startup stage, and her mission to take NEUR.ON global.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• From Law to Leadership: How Paula's legal career inspired her to become a founder and solve real-world problems.
• The Power of Pivoting: How a client's request for translations revealed a massive market opportunity.
• Building NEUR.ON: The story behind the name and how clever branding plays a pivotal role in startup success.
• The Multilingual Legal Challenge: Insights into the critical role of language in global legal operations.
• What's Next for NEUR.ON: Plans to expand to the US and UK, with a bold vision for growth over the next 12 months.

Connect with Paula Reichenberg:

• LinkedIn: Paula Reichenberg
• NEUR.ON

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Take your career from now to next. Never eat alone.

In this episode, Brian Liu, co-founder of LegalZoom and founder of Overture Law, shares his journey of building not one, but two game-changing legal tech companies. After a wildly successful exit from LegalZoom, Brian dives back into the entrepreneurial world with Overture Law, a platform transforming how attorneys refer clients and share fees—ethically and efficiently.

• LegalZoom's Legacy and Lessons:
  • Founding LegalZoom in 1999 and leading it to public success in 2021.
  • Reflections on the challenges of building a legal tech pioneer.
• The Spark Behind Overture Law:
  • Identifying a gap in attorney referrals for non-contingency cases.
  • Creating a platform where attorneys can ethically refer clients and share fees, leveraging innovative technology to streamline connections.
• How Overture Works:
  • Combining LinkedIn, Yelp, and Match.com for attorney referrals.
  • Utilizing generative AI to enhance profiles and aggregating ratings for transparency.
• Building a Second Startup:
  • Recruiting co-founders and developing a minimum viable product (MVP) in four months.
  • Growing the network to over 5,000 attorneys, adding hundreds weekly.

• Explore Overture Law: Overture.law
• LinkedIn: Brian Liu

"Don't tackle everything at once. Find one small niche, one customer need, and attack it. You'll be surprised how big it can become." – Brian Liu

If you're a founder or legal tech innovator, this episode is packed with inspiration and practical advice.

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Take your career from now to next. Never eat alone.

In this episode, Crispin Passmore, a leading voice in legal innovation, unpacks the transformative potential of Alternative Business Structures (ABS), famously pioneered in Arizona. With a rich background as a regulator and policy expert in England and Wales, Crispin brings a unique perspective on how changes in ownership rules are reshaping the legal market globally.

• What is the Arizona Model? How Arizona has opened the door for non-lawyers to own and invest in law firms, following a decade of success in England and Wales.
• Impact on the Legal Market: The ripple effects of ABS on legal innovation, client choices, and competition, from individual consumers to global corporations.
• The Economics of Change: Why external capital creates opportunities for long-term growth and innovation that traditional partnership models can't sustain.
• The Role of Regulation: How regulators can balance modernization with oversight and why failing to adapt will result in market-driven change.

• LinkedIn: Crispin Passmore
• Book Mentioned: Another Country by James Baldwin

"If you free up markets, they grow. Liberalization helps meet the needs of 100% of legal consumers, not just 20%." – Crispin Passmore

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Take your career from now to next. Never eat alone.

In this episode, we sit down with Ned Gannon, the visionary founder of Coheso and previously eBrevia, to unpack his 14-year journey in the evolving legal tech landscape. As a second-time founder with a proven track record, Ned shares unique insights into the challenges and opportunities of building AI-driven solutions for the legal industry. From scaling eBrevia to its successful exit, to the launch of Coheso, Ned is a seasoned voice in how innovation is reshaping law.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• A Tale of Two Startups: Explore the early days of eBrevia (2011–2012) and how the legal tech landscape has matured since then, creating a more dynamic, fast-paced environment for founders today.
• The Origin of Coheso: Learn how Ned and his co-founders, AI engineers from Carnegie Mellon, are bridging the gap between business and legal teams with a cutting-edge platform designed to manage legal requests, automate routine processes, and prioritize work.
• Market Maturity and Acceleration: Ned reflects on how funding, buyer sophistication, and talent pools in legal tech have quadrupled over the past decade, leading to faster innovation cycles.
• Insights for Founders: - The importance of talent spotting and talent slotting in building a successful team. - The role of iteration and client feedback in scaling products quickly. - Lessons from managing risk capital and limiting dilution to set startups on a trajectory for success.
• Ned's Day-to-Day: What life as a legal tech founder looks like, from onboarding large clients to iterating on features in response to customer needs.

Connect with Ned and Coheso:

• Website: Coheso
• LinkedIn: Ned Gannon

For Founders, By Founders: If you're an entrepreneur in legal tech or just curious about the space, this episode provides a masterclass on building and scaling AI-driven solutions in an increasingly dynamic market.

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Let's take your career from now to next.

Never eat alone.

In this episode, we shine a spotlight on Katon Luaces, one of the youngest founders at TLTF 2024. At just 25 years old, Katon took the Startup Stage by storm, presenting his company PointOne to a packed room of investors, customers, and industry leaders. PointOne is revolutionizing the legal industry with its cutting-edge automated time-tracking solution for attorneys, helping them focus on practicing law, not tracking hours.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Startup Stage Reflections: Katon shares what it's like to pitch in front of 200+ stakeholders at TLTF and offers advice for future founders.
• PointOne's Origin Story: Discover how Katon's co-founder, an ex-corporate attorney frustrated with time tracking, inspired the creation of PointOne.
• Magic of Automation: Learn how PointOne uses generative AI and large language models to seamlessly track lawyers' work in six-minute increments—no interruptions or manual input required.
• From Google Intern to Founder: Hear about Katon's journey, starting with a gritty self-taught coding effort that led to a freshman-year internship at Google.
• Insights on Building a Team: With co-founders Jeremy Ben-Meir and Adrian Parlow, PointOne is bridging the gap between tech and law, solving real problems with innovative solutions.

Why Listen? Katon's story is a testament to grit, adaptability, and innovation. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a legal professional, or just curious about how the next generation is solving age-old industry challenges, this episode is for you.

Connect with Katon and PointOne: Website: PointOne LinkedIn: Katon Luaces If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows. Let's take your career from now to next.

Never eat alone.