Speaker 

Kathy Zhu

Co-founder, CEO, & General Counsel

As law shifts toward services, systems, and software, ownership of the “stack” is becoming a central question. Accounting firms are drawing private equity, while management services organizations (MSOs) replicate legal systems at scale. With AI now automating dispute resolution, ABS platforms and MSOs may outpace traditional firms. This session will examine whether human judgment still sets firms apart, how Big Tech is becoming the entry point for legal services, and whether traditional firms can remain relevant.

Moderator

Crispin Passmore

Founder & Chair, Passmore & Oliver Partners 

Panelists

Lucian Pera

Partner at Adams and Reese 

Tom Greenaway

Designated Principal at KPMG Law US 

Trish Rich

Partner & Chair of the Legal Profession Team at Holland & Knight

In-house legal teams are being asked to scale their impact with fewer resources—and many are turning to generative AI and automation to meet the challenge. But what’s actually working in the field, and where is the risk outweighing the reward? In this session, legal leaders and technologists share use cases that have delivered measurable ROI while also examining blind spots like data leakage, hallucination, and lack of explainability.

Moderator

Marlene Gebauer

Practice Support Attorney at K&L Gates 

Panelists

Brett Shawn

Managing Director & Assistant General Counsel at Warburg Pincus

Bob Haskin

Director, Solutions Enablement & Business Intelligence, Global Affairs at Google

Lydia Petrakis

Assistant General Counsel & Digital Strategist at Microsoft 

LexSelect 

Newcode 

Syntracts 

SurePath AI

Arizona’s ABS program has attracted major law firm models and investment, but its future is uncertain. States like Maryland, Texas, and California are moving to restrict ABS through ethics rules, legislation, and court action. Large players have the resources to respond, but smaller entrants face greater risk. This session will examine where challenges are emerging, why courts often matter more than legislatures, and what companies can do to safeguard their models. We will also discuss Utah’s regulatory sandbox, its limits for scaling, and what longer-term regulatory options could look like, particularly as generative AI regulation gains traction.

Moderator

Anu Sethee

VP, Legal Practice Leader at LegalZoom 

Panelists

Natalie Knowlton

Associate Director of Legal Innovation at Stanford University 

Lee Minkoff

Managing Director at Renouvus Capital 

Taylor Bell

Founder of Arizona ABS Law

As we are together during the week of Vetean's day, be part of a hands-on team assembling LN4 prosthetic hands that will be given, free of charge, to people around the world who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them. Work side by sid, getting to know others in the legal ecosystem, and hear stories from one of the program’s founders about the impact these hands have made in more than 100 countries.

Speaker 

Lain Hensley 

Head Dream Chaser & Co-Founder of Odyssey Teams

Bridge Legal 

Steno 

Smokeball 

Harvey 

Centerbase

Behind every official workflow is a shadow system whether Google Docs for approvals, Slack for reporting, or AI chatbots for quick answers. These informal tools reveal how employees really solve legal and compliance problems when official systems fall short. This session will explore the creativity and risks of shadow compliance and how in-house teams can turn those insights into more intuitive, resilient, and employee-friendly solutions.

Moderator

Hemma Lomax 

Deputy General Counsel, Vice President, Global Head of Ethics & Compliance at Docusign

Panelists

Sagan Weiss 

Chief Compliance Officer at J. Goldman & Co.

Andrew McBride 

Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Integrity Bridge

Nick Gallo 

Co-CEO & Chief Servant of Ethico

Legal education is changing, reshaping what it means to be a lawyer. We’ll discuss the skills students are (and aren’t) learning, how legaltech is entering classrooms, and what that means for adoption, training, and long-term change. Are schools preparing graduates for a world where AI is central? What does it mean to build a career when tech fluency matters as much as legal analysis? Panelists from academia will share how they’re working together, and why the overlap of education, technology, and identity is driving the future of law.

Moderator

Wendy Butler Curtis

CIO at Orrick

Panelists

Bobby Chesney

Dean & James A. Baker III Chair at University of Texas School of Law

Aric Short

Professor & Director, Professional Identity & Leadership Development at Texas A&M University School of Law

Cat Moon

Professor of the Practice, Founding Co-Director VAILL at Vanderbilt Law School

Kenton Brice

Director of the Law Library at University of Oklahoma College of Law

April Dawson

Associate Dean of Technology & Innovation, Professor of Law at North Carolina Central University

In these pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings, startups will meet with a sitting judge to discuss how their innovations could be applied in the justice system.

Speaker

Honorable Scott Schlegel

Judge at Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal

Address growing opposition to nonlawyer ownership of law firms--through Arizona’s ABS program and emerging models elsewhere--focusing on the growing presence of VC and PE investment and the controversy surrounding that. Explore strategies to highlight the benefits of nonlawyer ownership, the safeguards that protect lawyer independence, and how these structures in partnership with VC/PE can expand access to justice.

Speaker

Natalie Knowlton

Associate Director of Legal Innovation at Stanford University

Join a discussion on how firms are rethinking their approach to purchasing and partnering with technology companies.

Speaker

Christina Wojcik

Chief Innovation Officer at Pierson Ferdinand

Challenge traditional ideas of what it means to be a lawyer, featuring thought leaders Aric Short and April Dawson on how the profession is evolving and what the future role of lawyers may look like.

Speaker

Wendy Curtis

Chief Innovation Officer at Orrick

Ruli AI

Warrant

Naya Software

Covenant

Explore how technology can help in-house teams deliver legal and compliance as a service, improving the employee experience and making support more seamless across the organization.

Speaker

Hemma Lomax

Deputy General Counsel, Vice President, Global Head of Ethics & Compliance at Docusign

Explore the choices that determine whether a tool grows or fades. The conversation will focus on product priorities, sales cycles, market timing, and buyer trust, with real-world insights into what drives success in today’s competitive environment.

Speaker

Marlene Gebauer

Practice Support Attorney at K&L Gates

Are law firms truly innovating, or just layering shiny GenAI tools on top of outdated systems? What does true innovation look like today, and in the future, as models and tech capabilities improve exponentially? Can the law firm innovation team of today keep up, while also avoiding the dreaded “innovation theater.”

Speaker

Sara Miro

Director of Knowledge & Innovation at Sullivan & Cromwell

“Well, how did I get here?” No boring talking heads here as we tackle this question famously posed by The Talking Heads. Join legal tech professionals from all over the ecosystem – tech companies, corporate legal teams, law firms – to talk about career journeys, past, present and future. Share how you found your way into the wonderful world of legal tech and innovation – and dare to predict what future roles will or should look like.

Speaker

Farrah Pepper

Chief Legal Innovation Counsel at Marsh McLennan

Focus on the user experience of legal technology, exploring how attorneys, legal ops, and staff engage with tools in their daily workflows. Discussion will highlight common pain points, challenges with adoption, and the difference between innovation led without user input and what becomes possible when end users help shape the tools they rely on.

Speaker

Daryl Shetterly

Managing Director of Orrick Analytics

Explore how geopolitical tensions, evolving AI regulation, and shifting political and economic conditions are influencing the strategies of tech companies, corporate leaders, and legal teams. We'll discuss how these forces shape product innovation, procurement, risk tolerance, and go-to-market timing in a rapidly changing environment.

Speaker

Sean West

Co-Founder of The Unruly Corporation

Hona 

Flo Recruit 

Vertican 

Foundation AI 

Lawline

Examine how AI tools are being used in the public benefit space and whether they can meaningfully expand access to justice or risk deepening existing inequities.

Speaker

LeeAnn Black

COO at Latham & Watkins

PE funds invest in businesses with the goal of scaling their operations, improving performance, and driving growth in enterprise value. This session will focus on how a PE fund might apply its typical playbook to unlock a law firm's value. We will discuss What Would Private Equity Do to improve margins, price work with more accuracy, increase revenue, develop new products, drive inorganic growth, leverage technology, and more.

Speaker

Brad Blickstein

CEO of Blickstein Group

Hear the most active investors in legal technology share where they see the biggest opportunities ahead. From emerging AI applications to new business models reshaping service delivery, these investors will discuss the trends driving their decisions, how they evaluate companies in a fast-changing market, and what signals they watch to spot the next breakout. Attendees will gain a candid view of the current investment climate for legaltech, what is attracting capital right now, and how shifts in the legal industry and broader economy could create new winners in the years ahead.

Moderator

Kristy Obuchowski Wallen

Managing Director at Baird

Panelists

Gordon Crenshaw

Partner at The LegalTech Fund

Joe Dormani

Partner at Thomson Reuters Ventures

Jacob Pincus

Vice President at Aquiline

Many of today’s most innovative legal tech startups were launched by attorneys who left in-house roles frustrated by the tools they didn’t have. Seeing gaps firsthand, they decided to build the solutions themselves. This panel will feature founders who made that leap, sharing how their in-house experience shaped their products, what pushed them to take the risk, and how their perspective as “in-house refugees” gives them a unique edge in solving problems for legal teams.

Moderator

Farrah Pepper

Chief Legal Innovation Counsel at Marsh McLennan

Panelists

Kathy Zhu

Co-founder, CEO & General Counsel of Streamline AI

Jackie Schafer

Founder & CEO of Clearbrief

Cecilia Ziniti

Co-founder & CEO of GC AI

As we are together during the week of Vetean's day, be part of a hands-on team assembling LN4 prosthetic hands that will be given, free of charge, to people around the world who otherwise wouldn’t have access to them. Work side by sid, getting to know others in the legal ecosystem, and hear stories from one of the program’s founders about the impact these hands have made in more than 100 countries.

Speaker

Lain Hensley

Head Dream Chaser & Co-Founder of Odyssey Teams

As AI tools grow more common in legal, interoperability is becoming a key factor in making them work together effectively. This panel will explore how better integration between Legal AI systems can reduce silos, improve workflows, and unlock real innovation. Panelists will discuss current roadblocks like incompatible systems and data formats, highlight promising solutions, and share the benefits of improved data access, smarter decisions, and lower costs. We'll also look at future trends and why collaboration across developers, legal teams, and tech vendors is crucial for building more connected legal ecosystems.

Moderator

Wendy Chow

General Counsel at Cityblock Health

Panelists

Ilona Logvinova

Chief AI Officer at HSF Kramer

Nicola Shaver

Co-Founder & CEO of Legaltech Hub

Matt Sunderman

CEO of Harbor

Mike Haven

Global Head of Legal Operations at Meta

Meet the companies who are each defining a new chapter in legal technology by turning AI into more than just a tool. Hear them unpack how they are turning AI into a partner, not a gimmick, and what it means when law meets tech in real-time, for real-world clients.

Moderator

Ken Crutchfield

Founder & CEO of Spring Forward Consulting

Panelists

Jen Berrent

CEO of Covenant

Yannic Kilcher

Co-Founder & CTO of DeepJudge

Kiran Bellubbi

Co-Founder & CEO of Glade AI

Two competing models are taking shape in legaltech: specialized point solutions that solve specific problems, and comprehensive platforms that aim to be all-in-one destinations. This creates real strategic challenges for law firms making procurement decisions and for founders choosing product directions, without a clear sense of which approach will win out. As the industry debates whether the future lies in focused tools, integrated ecosystems, or something entirely different, both buyers and builders are being forced to make bets. This panel explores how legal professionals and entrepreneurs can navigate product strategy and investment decisions in a market where the path forward is still uncertain.

Moderator

Christina Wojcik

Chief Innovation Officer at Pierson Ferdinand

Panelists

Ed Walters

Chief Strategy Officer at vLex

Katy Ryan

Partner at Orrick

Leslie Witt

Chief Product Officer at 8am

Michael Shea

Chief Information Officer at McDermott Will & Schulte

CaseBlink

Paximal

Querious

Antidote

Patlytics

Take your seat at the table assigned on your badge. Each group is set up to introduce you to new people, spark conversation, and explore the future of law together. You’ll have the chance to network, share perspectives, and engage with discussion prompts about the changes shaping the industry. This is not just an event; you are a key participant in defining what comes next.

Explore how AI is reshaping the role of the lawyer and how firms, companies, and law schools are preparing talent for this shift. The discussion will cover how training programs are structured, whether access to AI tools requires prior training, how skills requirements are evolving, and what it means to responsibly develop the next generation of legal professionals.

Moderators

Stephanie Goutos

Head of Employment Law Practice Innovation at Gunderson Dettmer

Shanin Lott

Consultant & Global Law Firm Practice Leader at Russell Reynolds Associates

As legaltech merges with wealth, finance, tax, estate planning, and insurance, firms face both disruption and opportunity. Discover how this convergence is driving growth, expanding access, and creating the integrated client experience of the future.

Speaker

Cody Barbo

Founder & CEO of Trust & Will

Explore the critical relationship between founders, investors, and innovation leaders, and how each group shapes the success of legal technology. From product development and funding to adoption and M&A, we’ll look at the dynamics driving this evolving ecosystem and what the road ahead means for the industry as a whole.

Speaker

Ilona Logvinova

Chief AI Officer at HSF Kramer

Let's collectively move past stone-age "strike section 3, replace with..." workflows and explore how AI can make agreement modifications actually operational.

Speaker

Wendy Chow

General Counsel at Cityblock Health

SimpleClosure 

Orbital 

Jusfy 

FirmPilot

As organizations embrace AI, compliance teams are under pressure to manage risk while enabling innovation. New tools are emerging that automate legal workflows, govern how generative AI is used, and monitor communications across channels to meet regulatory requirements. This session will explore how these technologies are making compliance more proactive, data-driven, and aligned with the way employees actually work.

Moderator

Annie Miyazaki

Founder & President of Miya Solutions

Panelists

Tom Dreyfus

Co-founder & CEO of Josef

Casey Bleeker

CEO of Surepath AI

Dean Elwood  

CEO of Umony

Tela Mathias

CEO of Phoenix Outcomes

What do the latest LegalTech rounds mean for the future of lawyers? The biggest legaltech funding rounds of 2025 aren’t just about capital, they’re signals for where the legal profession is headed. In this candid conversation, founders behind some of the year’s most well-funded startups will reveal what investor confidence says about the pain points getting serious attention, how they’re building in a crowded market, and what that means for in-house teams striving for efficiency, law firms fighting to differentiate, and founders navigating the next wave of innovation. Whether you're building a company, running a legal organization, or partnering with legaltech providers, this session offers a front-row seat to the forces that will redefine the future of the industry.

Moderator

Mallun Yen

Founder & CEO of Operator Collective

Panelists

Ryan Alshak

CEO of Laurel

Victor Bornstein

Co-Founder & CEO of Justpoint

Shubham Datta

Vice President, Corporate Development & Ventures of Clio

Omar Haroun

Co-Founder & CEO of Eudia