Reinventing Professionals

Ari Kaplan speaks with the following leaders at the 2026 International Legal Technology Association Annual Conference:

Faith Benson, Vice President of Marketing, SimplyAgree

*Music credit: JMHBM - Lucky

I spoke with Pete Palladino, the Director of Restaurant & Hotel Operations-NJ at Fearless Restaurants, about running Daddy-O, among other properties on Long Beach Island. We discussed building a hospitality culture, the staffing challenges unique to a seasonal vacation market, and how rising guest expectations elevate a team's performance.

I spoke with Sabastian Niles, the President and Chief Legal Officer at Salesforce. We discussed how corporate legal teams can leverage agentic AI, how to balance being AI-first with human judgment when delivering legal guidance, why law firms need to lead with trusted, agentic AI to gain a competitive advantage and meet client expectations, and the importance of developing unified client intelligence.

I spoke with Frederic Beylier, the CEO of Questel, a provider of intellectual property solutions, including AI-powered modular software and expert services. We discussed how AI has changed the IP sector, the key challenges that brand owners and innovators face in the current climate, where IP professionals are realizing the greatest benefits from AI, and new data on the state of AI in IP.

I spoke with Debbie Foster, CEO, and Stephanie Everett, Chief Growth Officer, at Affinity Consulting Group, about their new book "Be a Next Level Leader: The Four Cornerstones of Law Firm Leadership." We discussed leading with intention in law firms, the benefits of remaining calm under pressure, building credibility and influence when partnership dynamics complicate one's authority, and distinguishing transactional trust from genuinely developing people.

I spoke with Tony Muljadi, the General Manager of Large Law at LexisNexis. We discussed how law firms are adapting their AI strategy from novelty to expectation, why integrating authoritative legal content and trust into existing workflows matter more as AI capabilities begin to converge, and how a genuine strategic technology partnership can fuel a law firm's success.

I spoke with Sean Fitzpatrick, the CEO of LexisNexis’s legal business, where he leads strategy, growth, product innovation, and operations. We discussed the value of proprietary content in an AI era, perspectives on the potential shift in how AI is priced, how customers benefit from partnerships with different AI providers, and evolving customer expectations for legal AI.

I was fortunate to attend RelFest London 2026 and speak with the following leaders at Relativity:

Chris Brown, Chief Product Officer

In this 59th episode of Charting Change in Legal, Caroline Hill, Editor and Publisher of Legal IT Insider, and I discussed Lexpo 2026, learning from AI use cases, and attending RelFest London and LegalTechTalk.

I spoke with Collen Steffen, the Founder and President of Project Fortress, a legal operations platform for midsize and large law firms and corporate legal departments. We discussed the value of a platform-first approach, why integration with a law firm's various tools is important, the infrastructure necessary to optimize a law firm's entire suite of tools, and where law firms are succeeding with AI and where they are still facing challenges.