UpLevel View

UpLevel View

By Stephanie CoreyBusinessCareers
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UpLevel View episodes

  • Raising the Bar: What Legal Departments Should Expect from Their Technology and Outside Counsel

    Nathan Wenzel and Craig Raeburn, founders of Legal Operator.ai and previously of Simple Legal, join Stephanie Corey to argue that Legal Ops has the equation backward. Instead of doing more with less, AI should be pushing legal teams to demand more from their technology vendors and their outside counsel. The conversation covers why software prices should fall even as expectations rise, why invoice review has outgrown line-item policing, and why the hourly rate won't die in one dramatic moment so much as quietly erode.

    Key Takeaways
    • Technology expectations should keep rising, not level off. AI and deep integrations, think Slack, Teams, Outlook, and now MCP connections, mean software should all but disappear into the work instead of becoming one more tool to log into.

    • Software prices should come down, but not because of a race to the bottom. AI lets companies be built, staffed, and operated differently, and that structural shift is what makes lower prices sustainable.

    • Invoice review is overdue for a rebuild. Instead of flagging block billing line by line, AI can organize the work so the real question in-house teams ask becomes whether outside counsel is headed in the right direction.

    • The hourly rate won't disappear in one moment. It erodes quietly, the same way e-signatures already pulled work away from billable hours, as in-house teams route more demand to AI, automation, and alternative providers.

    • Legal Ops has an opening to lead enterprise AI strategy, not just adopt whatever technology the business hands down, a real flip from legal's old place as the last department to get new tech.

    Links and Resources
    • LegalOperator.ai: legaloperator.ai

    • Legal Operations Consulting, UpLevel Ops: uplevelops.com

    • Thought Leadership articles at UpLevel Ops: uplevelops.com/thoughtleadership

    • UpLevel View Podcast home page: uplevelops.com/uplevelviewpodcast

    Keywords

    legal ops technology expectations, AI in legal operations, outside counsel management, invoice review AI, legal tech pricing, value-based pricing legal, hourly rate legal billing, Legal Operator.ai, legal department AI adoption, legal ops software, AI invoice review, legal tech integrations, MCP connections legal tech, legal ops budget, law firm billing models, AI strategy legal department, legal ops vendor selection, enterprise AI legal, legal tech innovation speed, in-house legal AI

    AI invoice review

    Episode Highlights
    • [00:01:00 - 00:03:00] Nathan and Craig trace how legal tech expectations have shifted since Simple Legal

    • [00:04:00 - 00:05:00] Craig argues roadmaps should shrink from 12 months to 90 days

    • [00:05:00 - 00:06:00] Stephanie flips the old "10 years in business" vendor rule on its head

    • [00:06:00 - 00:08:00] Nathan and Craig debate whether pricing should just come down or be value-based

    • [00:09:00 - 00:11:00] Why building an AI-native company means restructuring, not just adding features

    • [00:12:00 - 00:15:00] Nathan reframes invoice review around direction, not line-item policing

    • [00:15:00 - 00:17:00] Stephanie asks about law firms threatening ten-thousand-dollar hourly rates

    • [00:19:00 - 00:22:00] Nathan explains how hourly billing actually erodes, one e-signature at a time

    • [00:22:00 - 00:25:00] Why the value of prevention is the hardest thing for legal to prove

    • [00:25:00 - 00:29:00] Stephanie describes today's legal AI adoption curve, from skeptics to builders

    • [00:29:00 - 00:31:00] Why AI should be treated as the smartest intern, not a replacement

    • [00:32:00 - 00:35:00] Stephanie's own "show me the boxes" moment building workflow without drag-and-drop

    39 min
  • AI Without the Burnout: Helping Legal Teams Absorb Change

    Samridhi Jain, staff writer at Legal Tech Hub, joins Brandi Pack to talk about change fatigue, the part of AI adoption nobody wants to plan for. They dig into why access to a tool is only the first step, how leaders can tell the difference between healthy AI use and burnout, and why going back to the basics matters more than chasing the newest agent.

    Key Takeaways

    • Look internally before looking outward. Before adopting a new process or buying a new tool, map your current workflows and find out where the real friction lives.

    • Not everyone needs to be a super user, and that's fine. A bell curve of AI adoption, roughly eighty percent base users, ten percent app users, ten percent power users, is a healthy and common pattern. Protect the people who move slower instead of turning adoption into a competition.

    • Efficiency gains can become a trap. Automating tasks just to fill the freed-up time with more work leads to burnout even among the most enthusiastic users. Ask where the saved time is actually going.

    • AI readiness starts with data and process hygiene, not agents. Teams that skip playbooks and clean data to jump straight to agentic tools are codifying bad process at a faster speed.

    • ROI measurement needs a human column. Track adoption and efficiency, but also track how people feel about the tools. A dashboard that shows satisfaction dropping as automation rises is telling you something important.

    Links and Resources

    • Legal Operations Consulting | UpLevel Ops: uplevelops.com (http://uplevelops.com/)

    • Legaltech Hub: legaltechnologyhub.com (http://legaltechnologyhub.com/)

    • Samridhi Jain on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/samridhi-jain-samridhi-writes-legally (http://linkedin.com/in/samridhi-jain-samridhi-writes-legally/)

    • "Change Fatigue in Corporate Legal: Introducing AI Without Losing Your Team," Legal Tech Hub: legaltechnologyhub.com/contents/change-fatigue-in-corporate-legal-introducing-ai-without-losing-your-team (http://legaltechnologyhub.com/contents/change-fatigue-in-corporate-legal-introducing-ai-without-losing-your-team/)

    Keywords

    change fatigue, AI adoption legal, legal ops mental health, AI burnout, legal tech adoption, in-house AI strategy, bell curve AI adoption, AI ROI legal, legal ops leadership, AI readiness, data governance legal, legal ops innovation, human-first AI, AI token costs, super users AI, legal AI policy, change management legal, legal tech hub, legal operations AI, AI adoption strategy

    Episode Highlights

    • [00:01:15 - 00:02:10] Samridhi's advice to look internally before adopting any new process or tool

    • [00:03:47 - 00:04:38] Brandi on why it's fine for ten percent of a team to use AI less

    • [00:05:10 - 00:06:05] Samridhi on the real burnout risk for people who are pro-AI by default

    • [00:07:04 - 00:08:41] The bell curve of AI adoption, and how UpLevel Ops uses it with clients

    • [00:09:20 - 00:10:10] Samridhi on why leaders must look inward before setting AI policy

    • [00:10:50 - 00:11:40] Brandi on why the fear of data inside AI has already left the barn

    • [00:11:41 - 00:12:25] Brandi on why skipping the basic phase for agents is more dangerous, not less

    • [00:18:12 - 00:19:05] Brandi on the case for a four-day work week as AI takes over admin tasks

    • [00:21:04 - 00:22:00] Brandi on building an AI ROI dashboard that tracks employee sentiment

    29 min
  • What's Next for Legal Ops? Staying Ahead Through the Next Wave of Change

    To mark UpLevel Ops' tenth anniversary, Stephanie Corey sits down with longtime friend Reese Arrowsmith, Executive Vice President of Legal Operations and Administration at Fox, to look back at how far legal ops has come and ahead at what's next. The conversation moves from the earliest days of the profession to document management as the unglamorous foundation for AI, and closes with concrete advice on the skills legal ops leaders need to stay indispensable.

    KEY TAKEAWAYS

    • Legal ops has already proven its ROI. The job now isn't proving value, it's telling that story loudly enough to change the mind of every GC still on the fence about hiring for the function.

    • AI is only as useful as the body of knowledge behind it. Document management, version control, and basic data hygiene are the unsexy prerequisites that have to happen before any AI layer adds real value.

    • Adoption is harder than rollout. The key to getting a legal team to actually use a new system is finding the trigger moment, a departure, a lost document, a leadership scare, and striking while it's fresh.

    • AI won't replace legal ops, it will expand it. Legal ops is the only function that sits across people, process, tech, and spend, which puts it in position to lead enterprise AI strategy instead of just adopting whatever comes down from the business.

    • Career growth in legal ops now runs through network, quick wins, and information security. Build relationships early, bank small wins for your GC, and get comfortable partnering closely with your CISO.

    LINKS AND RESOURCES

    • UpLevel Ops: uplevelops.com

    • "AI Doesn't Need Your Data, It Needs Your Workflow" by Brandi Pack, Above the Law: abovethelaw.com/2026/08/ai-doesnt-need-your-data-it-needs-your-workflow

    KEYWORDS

    legal ops evolution, legal operations profession, document management legal, knowledge management legal, AI in legal departments, legal ops and AI, legal ops career skills, legal ops adoption strategy, ACC benchmarking legal ops, legal ops value proposition, information security legal ops, legal engineer role, legal ops network building, employee engagement survey legal, legal department strategic plan, legal ops leadership advice, in-house legal AI strategy, version control document management, legal ops hiring trends, Fox legal operations

    EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

    • [00:02:00 - 00:04:00] Reese traces legal ops back to 1999 and the ACC data that first quantified its value

    • [00:05:40 - 00:06:30] Reese lays out the two paths ahead: foundational build-out and the AI-driven next wave

    • [00:09:40 - 00:10:30] Stephanie tells Reese she's the only person she's seen roll out document management successfully

    • [00:11:20 - 00:12:30] Reese explains the real secret to adoption: waiting for the trigger moment and striking fast

    • [00:13:40 - 00:14:30] Stephanie walks through how a body of knowledge turns into a usable AI workflow

    • [00:17:20 - 00:19:00] Reese explains why legal ops, not AI, is the only function that can connect spend to outcomes

    • [00:20:00 - 00:21:10] Reese previews a structured proof of concept testing two tools across ten practice areas

    • [00:24:00 - 00:26:30] Reese on the choice between building your own AI skills and hiring a legal engineer

    • [00:29:36 - 00:30:30] Reese's top career advice: build a network before you need one

    • [00:31:00 - 00:32:30] Why employee engagement surveys are one of the best diagnostic tools in legal ops

    36 min
  • Building a Legal Function That Can Scale
    Summary

    Nikki Rahimzadeh joined Analog Devices as the legal department was working through a "big T" transformation, triggered by an acquisition that doubled the company's size overnight. She walks Stephanie through what she found (a lot of vision, not much infrastructure) and what she built since: new people, new processes, and a technology stack rebuilt around project management rigor and clean data. The two dig into how Legal Ops professionals without a budget-holding champion can still make the case for investment, and why "fail fast" has become a legitimate strategy for building leadership buy-in.

    From there, the conversation turns to AI. Nikki argues that no legal team can use AI well without first doing the unglamorous work of data governance, since most legal departments have no idea how much data they actually generate. She also describes how ADI went from a department that had never led on tech to the most active enterprise-AI-tool users in the company, and how proactive communication (use AI, but bring the judgment call to legal) is helping the department stay the trusted advisor even as self-service AI use grows.

    Key Takeaways
    • A "big T" transformation needs a vision and a budget, but you can build the case without either. Nikki recommends showing incremental, imperfect proof of what's possible before asking for the big investment.

    • Fail fast is now a legitimate Legal Ops strategy. Build something that's a quarter good, use it to show leadership the art of the possible, and leave breadcrumbs toward the bigger ask.

    • AI adoption starts with data governance, not tools. You can't connect anything until you know what data exists, where it lives, and how reliable it is, and legal teams routinely underestimate how much data they generate.

    • Legal Ops has an opening to own AI strategy for the whole enterprise, not just adopt whatever the business hands down, a flip from Legal's historical position as the last department to get new tech.

    • Scalability today is a ways-of-working question, not a headcount question. When someone leaves, the first question is whether the work can be redeployed through better tools before backfilling the role.

    Links and Resources
    • Operating Readiness Engagement led by UpLevel Ops: UpLevelOps.com/ULO_ADI_OperatingReadiness

    • General Legal: generallegal.com

    • UpLevel Ops: uplevelops.com

    • Ken Callander's Above the Law article series, "Why You Should Choose Legal Ops Tools You Can Build On" (Parts 1 and 2)

    Keywords

    Legal Ops scalability, legal ops transformation, Analog Devices legal, in-house AI adoption, data governance legal, legal ops strategy, AI strategy legal department, legal ops budget, fail fast legal ops, legal ops org design, headcount redeployment, responsible AI legal, legal ops leadership, ACC Value Champion, legal department scale, enterprise AI adoption, legal ops resource model, in-house legal innovation, legal ops case for resources, AI guardrails legal

    Episode Highlights
    • [00:00:47 - 00:01:27] Nikki describes ADI's "big T" transformation following a major acquisition

    • [00:05:40 - 00:06:23] Stephanie names the real problem: making the case for resources without a budget-holding vision

    • [00:07:04 - 00:08:41] Nikki's blueprint for buy-in: fail fast, use what you have, leave breadcrumbs

    • [00:09:20 - 00:10:31] Stephanie's Copilot vs. ChatGPT story: failing fast to justify a non-standard tool

    • [00:11:25 - 00:12:25] Why readiness work still can't be skipped, even as implementation speeds up

    • [00:12:31 - 00:14:26] Data governance as a blind spot: legal teams don't realize how much data they generate

    • [00:16:01 - 00:17:20] Legal Ops as the strategic bridge between legal and enterprise data and AI initiatives

    • [00:20:25 - 00:20:48] ADI's CLO tells the organization: use AI, but bring judgment calls to legal

    • [00:23:56 - 00:24:38] Redefining scalability: it's about ways of working, not headcount

    • [00:29:36 - 00:31:39] Advice for resource-constrained Legal Ops leaders: get creative, use IT pilots and vendors

    33 min
  • The Leadership Side of Legal Operations
    Summary

    Leadership looks very different when an entire profession is evolving. Oyango Snell, CEO of CLOC, joins Stephanie Corey to trace how Legal Ops has moved from fighting for recognition to owning strategic decisions inside the enterprise. They talk through why mismatched expectations, and job descriptions written for a COO but budgeted for a paralegal, still trip up departments trying to build the function right.

    The conversation turns to AI, where Oyango argues the technology only exposes problems that were already there if a department lacks governance and a clear read on its own data. He closes with a challenge to the field itself: professionals have to invest in their own development, not just wait for a title or a GC to hand them the mandate, and maybe it's time to ask whether "Legal Ops" is even still the right name for what this work has become.

    Key Takeaways
    • Legal Ops has moved past its identity crisis. The industry spent years arguing for a seat at the table. Now, per Oyango, people are stepping into decision-making roles and simply owning that this is their business, not something "other."

    • A great job description doesn't fix a broken framework. Hiring one person to be a five-page miracle worker on a paralegal budget sets Legal Ops up to fail, and then the framework gets blamed on the discipline.

    • One hire is never the whole fix. Legal Ops success depends on budget, executive support, and being woven into the organization's strategic goals, the same way a new CEO needs a strong team underneath them.

    • AI adoption starts with data governance, not tools. Oyango's advice: understand the business problem first. Buying a CLM or an AI tool because it's trendy, without knowing what you're solving for, is how organizations waste money and stall out.

    • The profession still runs on peer-to-peer sharing. From twelve people comparing notes in a conference room to a global community today, the willingness to share templates and hard-won lessons is what Oyango says makes Legal Ops different from other professions.

    Links and Resources
    • CLOC (Corporate Legal Operations Consortium): cloc.org

    • UpLevel Ops: uplevelops.com

    • Ken Callander's Above the Law article, "Why You Should Choose Legal Ops Tools You Can Build On"

    Keywords

    Legal Ops leadership, CLOC, Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, legal ops evolution, legal ops hiring, legal ops job description, legal ops resourcing, AI strategy legal, legal ops AI adoption, legal engineering, legal ops community, legal ops mentorship, GC decision making, CLO legal ops, legal ops title, legal ops budget, legal ops governance, in-house legal innovation, legal ops professional development, CLOC Global Institute

    Episode Highlights
    • [00:01:27 - 00:02:33] Oyango describes the shift from clamoring for a seat at the table to owning it

    • [00:04:33 - 00:05:44] Stephanie names the mismatch between what GCs think Legal Ops is and what it requires

    • [00:06:20 - 00:07:17] Oyango on how efficiency alone can work a Legal Ops professional out of a job

    • [00:09:55 - 00:10:45] Stephanie and Oyango compare notes on the wide range of Legal Ops salaries

    • [00:11:37 - 00:12:37] Oyango: hiring one person isn't a savior if the framework isn't set up to support them

    • [00:15:04 - 00:15:54] The emergence of new titles like "legal engineering" as a bridge to IT

    • [00:17:10 - 00:17:58] Stephanie shares Susan Hackett's framing: one great Legal Ops hire vs. ten lawyers

    • [00:20:53 - 00:22:34] Oyango on CLOC's growth strategy: strategic partnerships over competition

    • [00:26:20 - 00:27:24] Oyango: AI is not the solution to all your problems, understand the business case first

    • [00:31:40 - 00:32:32] Oyango raises the question of whether "Legal Operations" is still the right term for the field

    35 min
  • The New Economics of Legal Work
    Episode Summary

    In this episode of The Uplevel View Podcast, Stephanie Corey and Brandi Pack sit down with Ryan Walker, CEO and co-founder of General Legal, to explore how AI is transforming the legal industry.

    Ryan shares his journey from mathematics and early NLP work to building some of the first AI-powered legal tools at Casetext. The conversation dives into a persistent issue: despite massive advancements in AI, legal services remain expensive, inefficient, and largely unchanged for clients.

    General Legal is tackling this problem head-on with a new model—combining AI-native workflows, embedded legal services, and flat-fee pricing. The result: faster turnaround times, lower costs, and a more integrated client experience.

    The episode also explores the limitations of current AI models, the importance of human lawyers in the loop, and the emerging power of agent-based systems that can unlock insights from unstructured legal data without requiring heavy infrastructure like traditional CLMs.

    Ultimately, this episode paints a compelling picture of a future where legal services are more accessible, efficient, and aligned with client needs.

    Links & Resources

    • General Legal - General Legal | AI native law firm for growing companies

    • UpLevel Ops - Home Page

    Keywords

    Legal AI legal tech AI in law billable hour disruption flat fee legal services contract review AI legal operations CLM alternatives legal automation AI agents legal innovation access to justice in-house counsel legal data analytics NLP law firms future of legal services

    Episode Highlights
    • 00:00–01:00 – Introduction to Ryan Walker and his background in AI and legal tech

    • 01:00–02:30 – How Ryan entered legal tech and why the space fascinated him

    • 02:30–04:20 – The persistent adoption problem in legal technology

    • 04:20–06:05 – Why AI hasn't yet changed the client experience in legal services

    • 06:05–07:30 – Launching General Legal and early traction (0 to 100+ clients)

    • 07:30–09:00 – Embedding lawyers into client workflows (Slack, CLMs)

    • 09:00–10:30 – The access-to-justice gap and unaffordable legal services

    • 10:30–12:10 – The inefficiencies of the billable hour model

    • 12:10–14:00 – AI limitations: high issue detection, low contextual judgment

    • 14:00–16:00 – Why human lawyers are still essential in AI workflows

    • 16:00–18:00 – Flat-fee model: $500 per contract and full lifecycle coverage

    • 18:00–20:30 – Building client context through past contracts and interactions

    • 20:30–23:30 – AI agents and the future of legal data analysis

    • 23:30–26:00 – Replacing heavy CLMs with flexible AI-driven systems

    • 26:00–End – The future: freeing lawyers from rote work to focus on high-value tasks

    43 min
  • Leading Legal in a Product-Led Company
    Summary

    In this episode of Uplevel View, Stephanie Corey sits down with Betsy Cantrell, VP of Legal at HighLevel, to explore how legal teams must evolve in fast-moving, product-led organizations.

    Betsy shares her journey from a highly structured corporate legal environment at Intel to building a scrappy, agile legal function from scratch in a startup. The conversation dives into how legal teams can move from being perceived as blockers to becoming strategic partners embedded within product development.

    Key themes include integrating legal into product workflows, hiring adaptable talent, leveraging legal operations, and—most critically—embracing AI as a core driver of efficiency, scalability, and relevance. Betsy emphasizes that the biggest risk today isn't using AI imperfectly—it's not using it at all.

    This episode is a must-listen for legal leaders looking to modernize their function, scale effectively, and stay ahead in an AI-driven world.

    Links & Resources
    • UpLevel Ops: http://UplevelOps.com

    • Above The Law: http://AbovetheLaw.com

    Keywords

    Legal Operations, Product-Led Companies, In-House Counsel, AI in Legal, Legal Tech, Startup Legal, Compliance, Privacy Law, Workflow Automation, Legal Strategy, General Counsel, Legal Innovation, AI Adoption, Corporate Law, Legal Leadership

    🎧 Episode Highlights (with timestamps)
    • 00:00–00:33 – Why legal involvement often comes too late in product-led companies

    • 01:13–01:49 – Betsy's journey: from Intel to building a startup legal team from scratch

    • 02:18–03:05 – The cultural shift: from legal authority to proving value

    • 03:05–04:08 – Why legal must understand product and user experience

    • 05:33–06:31 – Hiring for startups: curiosity over specialization

    • 06:53–07:48 – Learning new legal domains (like privacy) on the fly

    • 08:06–08:47 – Why the first hire was legal ops—not a lawyer

    • 11:01–11:27 – The power of exposure and learning across domains

    • 12:21–13:05 – Using competitors and AI as benchmarks for decision-making

    • 15:13–16:11 – Embedding legal into product workflows without friction

    • 16:55–17:34 – Using AI agents to flag legal risks automatically

    • 20:29–20:45 – Why complex intake forms fail

    • 21:37–22:28 – AI agents replacing repetitive legal review work

    • 23:30–24:13 – The real risk: not adopting AI fast enough

    • 27:01–27:43 – AI as a headcount multiplier for legal teams

    49 min
  • The New Standard for Legal Leadership
    Episode Summary

    How does Legal move from cost center to growth engine as expectations rise? Ron Bell, Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at Collective Health, joins Steph Corey to discuss the new standard for legal leadership and what it really takes for Legal to prove value, earn trust, and perform when the margin for error is small, and expectations keep going up. Listen to the UpLevel View and improve your legal leadership vision today!

    Links & Resources
    • Collective Health: collectivehealth.com

    • Ron Bell: linkedin.com/in/ronsbell/

    • UpLevel Ops: http://UplevelOps.com

    • Above The Law: http://AbovetheLaw.com

    Keywords

    Legal leadership Cost center to growth engine Legal operations AI in legal Strategic GC Risk management Value storytelling Legal metrics Adaptability Business-first legal

    Above the Law

    Episode Highlights

    00:00–02:15 - The rising bar for legal leadership and shrinking margin for error 02:15–03:38 - Why Legal is still treated like a cost center—and how that narrative formed 03:38–04:31 - Reframing Legal from ballast to motor 04:31–05:30 - Legal judgment vs. Legal's true job 05:30–06:39 - Outsource, automate, or stop doing the work 06:39–08:00 - Maintenance, protection, and aspirational legal work 08:00–09:31 - How experienced lawyers learn to focus on what actually matters 09:31–10:26 - AI's role in automating low-value legal work 10:26–12:23 - Why GCs get stuck in the weeds—and how to get out 12:23–13:44 - Stakeholder overload and expectation-setting 13:44–15:20 - Telling the right value story to earn respect and resources 15:20–17:02 - Being brought in early vs. "raining on the parade" 17:02–18:57 - Metrics that matter—and metrics that mislead 18:57–21:19 - Legal ops as strategic partner, not support function 21:19–25:49 - Change management and adoption challenges 25:49–31:49 - AI's impact on legal teams, hiring, and structure 31:49–34:12 - Skills future legal leaders must build 34:12–37:03 - Legal's opportunity to shape trust in unstable times 37:03–40:46 - Adaptability as the ultimate career advantage

    42 min
  • The End of the Billable Hour: AI, Value, and the New Economics of Expertise

    Summary

    In the first episode of 2026 for the UpLevel View podcast, Stephanie Corey and Ken Callander sit down with Rita Gunther McGrath, Columbia Business School professor and Wall Street Journal columnist, to talk about how AI is forcing professional services to price outcomes instead of hours.

    From law firms to in-house legal teams, the rules of value are being rewritten. The question is: who's ready to lead the change?

    Listen to the UpLevel View and improve your legal leadership vision today!

    Episode Highlights

    00:00:18 - Introducing Rita Gunther McGrath.

    00:02:23 - Definition of strategic inflection points.

    00:03:21 - Legal industry disruption with AI.

    00:06:47 - Shift from billable hours to value.

    00:12:26 - The economic model and compensation structure challenges.

    00:23:39 - Historical change movements as a model for legal transformation.

    00:32:30 - Training and learning in the AI age.

    00:39:36 - The concept of permissionless organizations.

    00:40:15 - "Two percent less stupid" book title.

    Episode resources:

    • http://UpLevelOps.com

    • Brainwave Newsletter by UpLevel Ops: http://UpLevelOps.com/Brainwave

    • Thought Sparks Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thought-sparks/id1546758719

    • Thought Sparks Newsletter on Substack: https://thoughtsparks.substack.com

    • Learn more about Professor McGrath at: http://RitaMcGrath.com

    Keywords

    • UpLevel View

    • Stephanie Corey

    • Ken Callander

    • Rita Gunther McGrath

    • strategy

    • innovation

    • Columbia Business School

    • Wall Street Journal

    • Thinkers 50

    • The End of Competitive Advantage

    • Seeing Around Corners

    • AI

    • inflection points

    • disruption

    • value-based pricing

    • legal industry

    • billable hours

    • professional services

    • general counsel

    • law firms

    • legal operations

    • Uber

    • Airbnb

    • marijuana legalization

    • economic model

    • law firm culture

    • consulting firms

    • transformation

    • change management

    • in-house teams

    • apprenticeships

    • legal training

    • skill development

    • future partners

    • media industry

    • Hollywood

    • entertainment industry

    • strategy

    • scarcity

    • permissionless organizations

    • two percent less stupid

    43 min
  • AI Adoption That Actually Works: How Hanna House Went from Pilot to Playbook

    What happens when a nonprofit embraces AI not for the hype, but for the help? In the latest episode of the UpLevel View podcast, Brandi Pack and Ken Callander sit down with Cristal Cardenas Sanchez, Director, Research & Evaluation, Hanna Center, and Marissa La Brecque, VP of Research and Training, from Hanna Center, to talk about how their grassroots AI pilot turned into a full 2026 roadmap. Hear how they're using GenAI to streamline operations, spark new ideas, and even open the door to a broader range of grant opportunities, without losing sight of their mission.

    Highlights

    • Streamlining data collection at Hanna Center.

    • Hanna Center's mission and services overview.

    • Significant data entry challenges faced early on.

    • Custom AI tools drastically reduce manual data entry.

    • Adoption process and early AI successes.

    • Building confidence and addressing privacy concerns.

    • Efficient internal adoption fuels enthusiasm.

    • Insights into using AI for organizational transformation.

    • Impressive ROI from AI tool implementation.

    • Planning and prioritizing AI use cases for next year.

    • Enhancing grant opportunities with AI tools.

    • Recommended starting points for non-profits using AI.

    • Creative applications of AI across departments.

    • Hanna Center's evolving use of AI and future plans.

    Episode Resources

    • UpLevel Ops Master Chef GPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-oVwrdPo0I-master-chef

    • UpLevel Ops Wanderlust GPT: https://chatgpt.com/g/g-eDSeep6qT-wanderlust-guide

    • Thought Leadership from UpLevel Ops: https://uplevelops.com/thoughtleadership/

    • LINK (Legal Innovators Network): http://Linkforlegal.com

    • Connect with Stephanie Corey

    • https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephcorey-ulo

    • https://fr.linkedin.com/company/uplevel-ops

    • https://uplevelops.com/

    • https://uplevelops.com/legal-operations-consulting/

    • https://uplevelops.com/thoughtleadership/

    • https://uplevelops.com/services/gai-management/

    • GAI Management Services from UpLevel Ops: https://uplevelops.com/services/gai-management/

    • https://www.intel.la/content/www/xl/es/homepage.html

    • GAI Management Solutions from UpLevel Ops: https://uplevelops.com/services/gai-management/

    33 min

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Amidst the innovation renaissance in Legal Operations, it's natural to feel overwhelmed. Luckily, the UpLevel View podcast has got you covered! Join UpLevel Ops experts each month for exclusive…