"They will be the ones who see the trends just before everyone else does." - Peter Watson

Commercial awareness is one of the most requested skills in law, finance and consulting. Yet too many people mistake it for simply reading the news. In this episode of the Legally Speaking Podcast sponsored by Clio, I am joined by Peter Watson, CEO of Watson's Daily. Peter draws on 13 years in stockbroking, experience across financial markets and recruitment, and more than a decade spent helping people make sense of business news.

Together, we explore what commercial awareness really means, why law firms use it to distinguish great candidates from good ones, and how professionals can turn headlines into useful insight for interviews, clients and career decisions. Peter also examines AI and information overload, the growing value of emotional intelligence, the geopolitical trends shaping future opportunities, and the simple habits that make commercial awareness easier to build. This is a practical conversation for anyone who wants to understand business more clearly, communicate with greater confidence and become a more valuable adviser.

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and Peter discussing:

- Application Over Accumulation: Knowing the Headline is Only the First Step

- Commercial Value: Law Firms Want People Who Can Connect Legal Knowledge to Real-World Outcomes

- Judgement Over Noise: AI Can Summarise Information, But Professionals Still Need to Decide What Matters

- Human Skills as Hard Skills: Emotional Intelligence, Reading a Room and Framing Advice 

- Consistency Over Cramming: a Realistic Daily Habit Beating Last-Minute Interview Revision.

Connect with Peter Watson here - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/peter-watson-5a275213

On today’s Legally Speaking Podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Ruben Miessen.

Ruben is the CEO and Co-Founder of LEGALFLY, a European enterprise legal AI company, building a secure, governed legal operating system for in-house teams in regulated industries. Before founding LEGALFLY, Ruben worked as a senior product manager at Tinder, where he led initiatives and built a team that would later become the founding team behind LEGALFLY. With his co-founders, Ruben identified how legal bottlenecks could slow down businesses, whilst legal teams were strained under pressure and spending time onrepetitive tasks. This led to the creation of LEGALFLY. LEGALFLY is expanding internationally, with offices in Ghent and London and Dubai. 

Ruben has been recognised as one of Forbes Belgium’s 30 Under 30. Today, we are exploring AI, entrepreneurship and the future of legal work. We will explore Ruben’s journey from Tinder to building a legal tech company; the challenges of creating enterprise AI for sensitive legal data; how AI could transform legal workflows and what the legal profession may look like in the years to come.

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and Ruben discussing:

- AI-powered legal workflow automation

- Secure anonymisation of sensitive documents

- Unblocking business teams with AI

- Multi-step workflows across enterprise teams

- Expanding globally across regulated industries.

Connect with Ruben Miessen here - https://be.linkedin.com/in/rmiessen

In this special live recording from the Legally Speaking Podcast at LegalTechTalk 2026, Rob speaks with Marisa Monteiro Borsboom about AI2L’s new WAI2L initiative and the importance of building community and support across regions and areas of expertise.

The conversation centres on collaboration, allyship and creating visibility for different organisations and communities, while also highlighting the event’s broader energy around legal innovation, legal tech, and the podcast’s ongoing role as a media partner bringing together influential voices in the legal industry.

Connect with Marisa Borsboom here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisamborsboom/

On today’s Legally Speaking Podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Matthew Claughton.

Matthew is the Managing Director of Olliers Solicitors, one of the UK’s leading criminal defence firms. Since taking full control of the business in 2018, he has helped steer Olliers through a major period of growth, quadrupling turnover, strengthening its reputation in privately funded criminal defence, and building a firm widely recognised for its expertise in pre-charge engagement, serious crime, fraud, regulatory work and crisis management. He is ranked as a Leading Partner by The Legal 500, has been recognised as the Legal 500 Northern Powerhouse Criminal Lawyer of the Year, and is widely regarded as one of the standout names in high-stakes criminal defence.

But this conversation is about more than rankings and results. It is about what really makes an outstanding criminal defence firm today. How do you build a practice around preventing charges, not just winning at trial? How do you lead through growth without losing standards? And what does it take to stay independent, ambitious and trusted in one of the most pressured areas of legal practice? 

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and Matthew discussing:

- Preventing Charges Through Proactive Defence

- Quadrupling Turnover with Strategic Leadership

- Client-First Culture Driving Sustained Growth

- Developing Future Criminal Defence Talent

- Calm Judgment Under Intense Pressure.

Connect with Mathew Claughton here - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/matthewclaughton

What happens when the brightest minds in legal, technology, and innovation come together to shape the future of our profession? Welcome to the Legally Speaking Podcast Legal Tech Talk 2026 miniseries. As the UK's number one legal podcast and show ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally, we're delighted to be returning as the official media partner for Legal Tech Talk for the third time. Having supported this event since the beginning. We've witnessed firsthand how it has become Europe's largest legal technology conference, bringing together the people, ideas, and innovations transforming the legal industry. Across this special series, we'll be speaking with some of the world's leading legal professionals, founders, technologists, change makers to explore what's next for law. Because our mission remains the same. Inspiring legal minds, transforming legal futures. Let's get into it. 

In the final minisode of this series, we get the chance to speak with Monika Koestner. She is the co-founder of Artificial Intelligence for Global Good. She’s focused on using AI to expand access to justice, helping legal teams handle claims more efficiently and giving individuals a fairer chance against well-resourced opponents. Her core message: AI should support—not replace—lawyers, and the legal profession needs to adapt quickly to make the most of it.

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and Monika discussing:

- AI Augmenting Lawyers, Not Replacing Them

- Learning AI Fast While Adapting Continuously

- Legal and AI Collaboration Multiplying Progress

- Technology Scaling Access to Justice

- Adaptability Defining Future Legal Leaders.

Connect with Monika Koestner here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/monika-koestner/

On today’s Legally Speaking Podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Neil Heaney.

Neil is the CEO and founder of Judicare Law International, a specialist UK law firm focused on international legal matters. He founded the business after being frustrated by the quality of legal advice he received when he himself purchased property abroad. Today, Judicare handles matters across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Before building Judicare, Neil was also a professional footballer, coming through Arsenal and later playing in the Premier League for Southampton. This is a conversation about more than law. It is about what happens when someone experiences the legal system from the client side, feels let down, and decides to build something better.

We get into cross-border legal risk, trust, access to the right expertise, and how to look after clients when their legal problem is happening somewhere far from home.

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and Neil discussing:

- Football Lessons Shaping Business Leadership

- How a Legal Nightmare Inspired the Creation of a Global Law Firm

- Protecting Overseas Property Buyers Worldwide

- Trust Through Reassurance and Expertise

- Education Preventing Costly Cross-Border Mistakes

Connect with Neil Heaney here - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/neil-heaney-02468431

What happens when the brightest minds in legal, technology, and innovation come together to shape the future of our profession? Welcome to the Legally Speaking Podcast Legal Tech Talk 2026 miniseries. As the UK's number one legal podcast and show ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally, we're delighted to be returning as the official media partner for Legal Tech Talk for the third time. Having supported this event since the beginning. We've witnessed firsthand how it has become Europe's largest legal technology conference, bringing together the people, ideas, and innovations transforming the legal industry. Across this special series, we'll be speaking with some of the world's leading legal professionals, founders, technologists, change makers to explore what's next for law. Because our mission remains the same. Inspiring legal minds, transforming legal futures. Let's get into it. 

David Woolstencroft, co-founder of People in Legal, came all the way from Sydney to attend Legal Tech Talk in London. He said the biggest shift in legal tech is that AI has become mainstream across both large and small firms, with a growing sense of FOMO driving adoption. His focus is on telling people’s stories, learning from the community, and understanding where the legal industry is heading. 

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and David discussing:

- How AI is Now Mainstream

- Storytelling Mattering in Legal Tech

- Small Firms Facing AI FOMO

- Client Expectations Changing Fast

- Serendipity Driving Meaningful Conference Connections.

Connect with David Woolstencroft here - https://au.linkedin.com/in/novumglobal

What happens when the brightest minds in legal, technology, and innovation come together to shape the future of our profession? Welcome to the Legally Speaking Podcast Legal Tech Talk 2026 miniseries. As the UK's number one legal podcast and show ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally, we're delighted to be returning as the official media partner for Legal Tech Talk for the third time. Having supported this event since the beginning. We've witnessed firsthand how it has become Europe's largest legal technology conference, bringing together the people, ideas, and innovations transforming the legal industry. Across this special series, we'll be speaking with some of the world's leading legal professionals, founders, technologists, change makers to explore what's next for law. Because our mission remains the same. Inspiring legal minds, transforming legal futures. Let's get into it. 

Mia Ihamuotila is a Helsinki-based legal transformation specialist, legal tech and design lawyer, and the founder of the Legal Design Summit. She also opened Legal Tech Talk with a dance performance exploring the evolution of law. Her central message is that AI should become a “second brain” that expands human thinking rather than replacing it. 

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and Mia discussing:

- Legal Transformation Through Creative Design

- AI as an Extension of Thinking

- Blending Ancient Wisdom with Technology

- Diverse Thinking Modes for Lawyers

- Experimentation Spaces Within Legal Organisations.

Connect with Mia Ihamuotila here - https://fi.linkedin.com/in/mia-ihamuotila

What happens when the brightest minds in legal, technology, and innovation come together to shape the future of our profession? Welcome to the Legally Speaking Podcast Legal Tech Talk 2026 miniseries. As the UK's number one legal podcast and show ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally, we're delighted to be returning as the official media partner for Legal Tech Talk for the third time. Having supported this event since the beginning. We've witnessed firsthand how it has become Europe's largest legal technology conference, bringing together the people, ideas, and innovations transforming the legal industry. Across this special series, we'll be speaking with some of the world's leading legal professionals, founders, technologists, change makers to explore what's next for law. Because our mission remains the same. Inspiring legal minds, transforming legal futures. Let's get into it. 

James McGregor is the founder of Ethical eDiscovery, a boutique consultancy focused on digital evidence and e-discovery. His core message is that legal teams should resist chasing AI for its own sake: get data organised, reduce unnecessary data, and define the real problem before buying new technology. He sees AI as valuable for streamlining routine work and improving access to justice, but only with strong human oversight.

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and James discussing:

- Human Adaptation Over Tech Hype

- Data Hygiene Powers Effective AI

- Protect Independent Legal Judgment

- Automate End-to-End Legal Workflows

- Lead with Empathy and Connection.

Connect with James Macgregor here - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jamesmacgregor

On today’s Legally Speaking Podcast, I am delighted to be joined by Bill Reid. 

Bill is the senior founding partner of Reid Collins, a former federal prosecutor, a two-time Benchmark Litigation U.S. Plaintiff Litigator of the Year, an adjunct professor atthe University of Texas School of Law, and the author of Fighting Bullies: The Case for a Career in Plaintiffs’ Law. Over the course of his career, he has prosecuted precedent-setting cases and recovered billions of dollars in complex commercial litigation.This episode is not just about plaintiffs’ law. It is about how the legal profession defines success, why so many talented young lawyers are funnelled down narrow paths before they really understand their options and what it actually takes to develop real trial judgment in a profession increasingly shaped by leverage, efficiency and now AI.

For our UK and international listeners, think of this as a conversation about claimant-side trial work, professional formation, and whether the system is still set up to produce great courtroom lawyers.

So why should you be listening in? 

You can hear Rob and William discussing:

- Mastering the human element remains essential for trial success 

- Prioritising experience over prestige 

- The traditional legal career model is being reshaped 

- AI's encroachment exposes the inefficiency of the billable hour 

- Irreplaceable Human Skills.

Connect with Bill Reid here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/williamtreidiv