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 is part of the strategic core, how does it drive enterprise value? They dig into the productivity gap law departments are facing (rising demand, flat budgets, flat headcount), how AI has shifted from theoretical fear to practical force, the metrics GCs should be tracking but mostly aren't, and a candid look at what high-performing law departments will look like three years from now — including which work lawyers will simply stop touching.

In this episode:

• Why "the fight for the seat at the table" is over

• The productivity gap: rising demand against flat resources

• AI a year later — what's working vs. what's still aspirational

• Benchmarking as a discipline, not an exercise

• The metric every GC should track (but most don't)

• What legal ops leaders should stop doing immediately

Learn more at harborglobal.com.

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 with Evette Pastoriza (CIO, Mayer Brown) and Magdalena Suder (Director of Clients, Markets & Growth Operations, Ashurst) to unpack what that shift really means — and why having eager lawyers doesn't automatically solve the adoption problem. They discuss why "build it, and they will come" still fails, how to sell outcomes instead of systems, the psychological weight of asking lawyers to break workflows they've tested and trusted for years, and how to use AI's gravitational pull to lift adoption of less glamorous (but equally critical) tools.

Magdalena closes with a practical three-part framework for any legal tech rollout: Diagnose the real barriers, stakeholder by stakeholder; Design communications tailored to those barriers; and Sustain through champions, measurement, and iteration.

Key takeaways:

• AI is the first legal technology with built-in perceived value — lawyers see it as non-optional, which is unprecedented
• Perception matters more than reality: adoption is behavioral, not technical
• Change management should start before the business case, not after go-live
• Lawyers resist change not out of stubbornness but because they've carefully built trusted processes — breaking that trust is the real ask
• Use AI's momentum to elevate the adoption of other critical but less visible tools (CRM, matter intake, BI)
• Magdalena's Diagnose → Design → Sustain framework applies to any rollout, not just AI

Learn more about Harbor: harborglobal.com

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 skepticism.

They explore why most firms feel behind but aren't, how to find and empower change champions inside practice groups, the messy reality of legal data scattered across iManage, Elite, and O365, and what leaders can do right now to start closing the gap between AI promise and AI payoff. Marcus shares case studies from Lloyd's of London and National Geographic, and Allan breaks down what a practice-group-by-practice-group rollout actually looks like.

If you lead technology, innovation, or operations at a law firm or corporate legal department, this one's for you.

Key takeaways:

• Only ~5% of AI investments are delivering expected ROI (per MIT research) — culture and process are the gap

• Lawyers are natural skeptics; adoption requires data-driven proof, practice-group-specific workflows, and internal champions

• Democratizing data access is critical but requires leadership courage — especially around fears of disrupting the associate pyramid

• The firms that win in 3 years won't just improve productivity — they'll fundamentally re-engineer how they operate

• Picking the right technology partner matters more than building everything in-house

Subscribe for future episodes wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about Harbor: harborglobal.com

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 transitioning from litigation. They cover the real challenges: change management failures, measuring ROI beyond hours saved, combating tool fatigue, and why law departments are emerging as surprising early AI adopters.

Key takeaways:

• 92% of law firm COOs say innovation/KM is a 2026 priority
• Innovation teams need independence — own budgets, own structure
• Change management ownership must be assigned before buying any tool
• Measure success by the problem you set out to solve, not hours saved
• "Process pros, not tech pros" will unlock AI value
• Law departments are becoming early adopters of AI as a business function
• One word for 2026: "Hope" (Wendy) and "Confidence" (John)

Legal Soundings is the podcast from Harbor. 

Learn more: harborglobal.com

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 back-office automation to the future of the billable hour, Bob and Stephanie share what they’re seeing on the ground. They discuss how in-house counsel are driving tech adoption, why consolidation is accelerating and why Model Context Protocol (MCP) may be the most underestimated trend in legal tech today.

Whether you’re a GC evaluating new tools, a law firm leader navigating change, or a legal tech founder trying to break through the noise, this episode cuts through the hype to tell you what’s actually happening, and what’s coming next.

Guests

Bob Ambrogi — Editor, LawSites | Legal tech journalist covering the industry for 30+ years

Stephanie Wilkins — Director of Content, Legal Tech Hub

Hosted by Zena Applebaum — Head of Marketing, Harbor

To learn more about Harbor’s work across law firms and corporate legal departments, visit https://harborglobal.com

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 technology shift in the legal industry, from print to internet to knowledge management to generative AI. They make a compelling case that the skills librarians and information specialists have always held — organizing information, verifying outputs, understanding workflows — are exactly what law firms need most right now.

Key topics covered:

• How both guests evolved from traditional library roles into innovation and strategic leadership
• Why this AI inflection point is different, and why information professionals risk "giving it away" again if they're not careful
• The shift from being a business service to being a strategic partner, and what that language change requires
• What law firms are overestimating about AI
• Why "garbage in, garbage out" means AI governance and content creation are undervalued, and who's best suited to lead that work
• The future of training
• Practical advice for information professionals at any career stage who want to position themselves as strategic leaders

Guests:

• Greg Lambert - Chief Innovation Officer, Jackson Walker
• April Bursson - Director, Library and Research Group, Harbor

To learn more about Harbor’s work across law firms and corporate legal departments, visit:https://harborglobal.com

Subscribe to Legal Soundings wherever you get your podcasts.

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. Together, they explore why firms continue to struggle with fragmented systems, poor data quality, and underutilized insights—and what it will actually take to turn data into a strategic asset.

Rather than focusing on dashboards and reports, this conversation zeroes in on how firms can use data to strengthen client relationships, improve business development outcomes, reduce risk, and make AI investments pay off.

• Why fragmented relationship and experience data prevents firms from achieving a true 360-degree view of clients
• How poor data quality and incomplete records undermine trust, analytics, and AI initiatives
• What it takes to turn data into actionable revenue insights, not just static reporting
• Why data governance, privacy, and AI ethics are now core business imperatives for law firms
• The critical role of change management and culture in building a data-driven firm

Throughout the discussion, the guests emphasize a recurring theme: technology alone isn’t the answer. Success in 2026 will depend on aligning people, processes, and platforms—while keeping a human in the loop—to ensure data supports smarter decisions, deeper relationships, and sustainable growth.

Whether you’re a law firm leader, business development professional, technologist, or legal operations executive, this episode offers a clear roadmap for navigating the data challenges—and opportunities—ahead.

🎧 Listen now and subscribe to Legal Soundings for more conversations on the future of law, technology, and innovation.

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 for the next wave of technological disruption. If you’re responsible for legal operations, innovation strategy, or people leadership, this is the perfect place to start.

Key themes:

• AI’s impact on talent and skills

• What meaningful innovation looks like

• Change management inside legal teams

• Leadership in a period of rapid transformation

• The future of legal tech adoption

Legal Soundings is produced by Harbor Global. 

Learn more at: https://harborglobal.com