by Greg Lambert & Marlene Gebauer
Welcome to The Geek in Review, where podcast hosts, Marlene Gebauer and Greg Lambert discuss innovation and creativity in legal profession.
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🇺🇲
Publishing Since
6/20/2018
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1 available
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April 28, 2025
<p></p><p>This week, we sit down with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenzotsushima" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Kenzo Tsushima</strong></a>, Managing Director of <a href="https://www.morae.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Mine Factory at Morae</strong></a>, to discuss how AI is transforming legal operations and consulting services. Kenzo shares his unique career journey, blending a passion for technology with legal expertise, and highlights why the legal industry is positioned to leverage AI advancements more quickly than heavily regulated sectors like healthcare. With a background that spans consulting leadership and GC roles, Kenzo offers a rare dual perspective on how law firms and corporate legal departments can future-proof themselves by embracing emerging technologies like <a href="https://www.morae.com/morai" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>MorAI</strong></a>, Morae’s proprietary AI platform.</p><p>Kenzo discusses the creation of <strong>MorAI</strong>, launched in mid-2023, as a response to widespread legal tech “decision fatigue” — where an abundance of AI tools overwhelms buyers. Rather than pushing generic solutions, Morae designed MorAI around highly specific legal workflows such as contract review, RFP response automation, and internal helpdesk queries. Kenzo emphasizes the importance of "solutionizing" AI: showing real, targeted results rather than relying on hype. Using examples like their Helpdesk module, Kenzo explains how legal teams can instantly boost efficiency by querying historical RFP responses and deploying AI for natural language document reviews, significantly reducing administrative burdens across legal and procurement functions.</p><p>A strong advocate for <strong>servant leadership</strong> and human-centric AI adoption, Kenzo outlines how Morae's approach goes beyond technology — focusing heavily on <strong>change management</strong> and upskilling legal professionals. Through programs like <strong>SEEDS (Skill Enablement Employee Development Series)</strong>, Morae invests in developing both consulting and technology skills among its team. Kenzo notes that traditional legal professionals, often unfamiliar with public speaking or technology tools, can thrive when given structured, bite-sized learning opportunities. This consultative-first mindset, he argues, not only improves client outcomes but creates a more resilient and engaged workforce.</p><p>Addressing cybersecurity and data privacy concerns, Kenzo details Morae’s use of <strong>private Azure instances</strong> and multiple legally trained LLMs to ensure client data security and confidentiality. Unlike public AI tools, MorAI is designed to be a trusted legal companion that never co-mingles client data or trains on external internet content. Kenzo also explains why Morae’s strategy of <strong>multi-LLM deployment</strong> (leveraging OpenAI, Anthropic, and others) future-proofs clients against rapid developments in AI models — ensuring their legal technology stacks remain agile and powerful over time.</p><p>Finally, Kenzo shares his insights on the challenges ahead for the legal industry: decision fatigue, resistance to change, and the crucial need to align with younger generations’ expectations around technology use. He urges law firms and corporate legal departments to rethink build-vs-buy strategies, embrace commercially available solutions, and foster AI champions within their organizations. As new roles like <strong>legal engineers</strong> and <strong>prompt engineers</strong> emerge, firms that support AI-enabled upskilling and servant leadership will not just survive — they will lead the next era of legal innovation.</p><p><strong>Listen on mobile platforms: </strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-geek-in-review/id1401505293" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a><strong> | </strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/53J6BhUdH594oTMuGLvANo?si=XeoRDGhMTjulSEIEYNtZOw" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thegeekinreview" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YouTube</a></p><p>[Special Thanks to <a href="https://www.legaltechnologyhub.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Legal Technology Hub</a> for their sponsoring this episode.]</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Blue Sky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/geeklawblog.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@geeklawblog.com</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/marlgeb.bsky.social" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@marlgeb</a><br />Email: [email protected]<br />Music: <a href="https://jerrydaviddecicca.bandcamp.com/album/new-shadows" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jerry David DeCicca</a></p><p><strong>Transcript</strong></p>
April 21, 2025
<p>This week we welcome Raghu Ramanathan, President of Legal Professionals at Thomson Reuters, for an insightful discussion on the profound impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the legal industry. Raghu shares why he believes the legal sector, alongside healthcare, stands at the forefront of the AI revolution. His journey into the legal tech world, driven by the transformative potential of AI, sets the stage for a deep dive into current trends, future predictions, and the strategic initiatives shaping the future of law.</p><p>Central to the conversation is Raghu's updated perspective on the evolution of law firms, revisiting predictions he first made in 2017. He outlines a compelling framework describing "three waves" of AI adoption currently underway. The first wave, "Optimization," which many firms are experiencing now, focuses on using AI to enhance existing workflows, making tasks faster and more efficient. The second wave, "Re-engineering," involves fundamentally rethinking processes, staffing models (including the traditional pyramid structure), pricing strategies, and the very nature of legal work to leverage AI's capabilities more deeply. Looking further ahead, the third wave anticipates the emergence of entirely "New Business Models."</p><p>Thomson Reuters is actively navigating and shaping this transformation, particularly through its AI platform, CoCounsel. Raghu highlights the rapid evolution of CoCounsel, emphasizing the continuous development of new "skills"—capabilities ranging from summarization and research to drafting and complex analysis like the innovative "Claims Explorer." He explains TR's strategy involves integrating proprietary data (like Westlaw), client-provided documents, and public information, leveraging advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) from various providers to deliver comprehensive and powerful AI assistance. Prioritizing new skill development involves balancing significant client value with technical feasibility, constantly informed by close collaboration with innovation-focused customers.</p><p>Beyond law firms, the conversation explores the crucial role and adoption of AI within the court system. Raghu notes a surprising enthusiasm among courts, driven by the urgent need to address growing case backlogs and enhance access to justice within tight budgets. He points to Thomson Reuters' significant partnerships, including a major agreement to deploy AI tools across the US federal courts and ongoing collaboration with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), which is fostering education and policy discussions among judges and court staff nationwide. Complementing product innovation, TR's expanded "Customer Success" initiative underscores the importance of user adoption, providing dedicated resources and best practices to help lawyers and legal professionals effectively integrate AI tools into their daily workflows, ensuring technology translates into tangible value.</p><p>Raghu anticipates that smaller and mid-sized law firms may initially leverage AI more aggressively as a competitive equalizer, pushing larger firms to make bolder, more strategic moves beyond simple optimization. He stresses that the ultimate differentiator for success in the AI era will likely be less about the technology itself and more about effective change management. The rapid pace of AI adoption already witnessed in the legal sector signals that this transformation is not a distant prospect but a present reality reshaping the industry at an unprecedented speed.</p><p><strong>Listen on mobile platforms: </strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-geek-in-review/id1401505293" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a><strong> | </strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/53J6BhUdH594oTMuGLvANo?si=XeoRDGhMTjulSEIEYNtZOw" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thegeekinreview" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">YouTube</a></p><p>[Special Thanks to <a href="https://www.legaltechnologyhub.com/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Legal Technology Hub</a> for their sponsoring this episode.]</p><p> </p><p>Blue Sky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/geeklawblog.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@geeklawblog.com</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/marlgeb.bsky.social" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@marlgeb</a><br />Email: [email protected]<br />Music: <a href="https://jerrydaviddecicca.bandcamp.com/album/new-shadows" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jerry David DeCicca</a></p><p>Transcript</p>
April 14, 2025
<p>In this week’s Geek in Review, we sit down with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickwaldo/">Patrick Waldo</a>, CEO of <a href="https://www.unicornforms.com/">Unicorn Forms</a> and proud Houstonian, to explore the intersections of data, document automation, and legal tech innovation. From the vibrant startup culture at Houston's ION and the Capital Factory's SXSW House event to the regulatory grind of form design, Waldo shares how his journey—from working in compliance-heavy industries to launching a playfully named but technically serious platform—is reshaping how we think about document-driven workflows.</p><p>Waldo pulls back the curtain on Unicorn Forms’ approach to digitizing and structuring data trapped in PDFs. With a background in regulatory intelligence, he understands firsthand how critical, yet painfully inefficient, static documents can be. Unicorn Forms aims to transform the “eight-and-a-half-by-eleven world” into structured, field-driven digital tools. By mimicking the look and feel of familiar e-sign interfaces while embedding structured fields and integrations like Calendly or Stripe, the platform bridges the gap between legal formality and technical interoperability.</p><p>Security and compliance are at the heart of the conversation as Waldo outlines the different levels of electronic trust, explaining how Unicorn Forms distinguishes itself with hashed documents, timestamp authorities, and encryption standards that exceed many traditional e-signature solutions. He highlights how many professionals—especially in legal, healthcare, and finance—aren’t aware of the risks they take when using non-secure PDFs for sensitive data like social security numbers or payment details.</p><p>The episode also dives into the often-overlooked role of data ontologies in making government and enterprise forms interoperable. Waldo describes the complexity behind something as seemingly simple as a name or address field and how lack of standardization leads to inefficiencies and errors. By applying his years of ontology-building experience, Unicorn Forms aims to enable more intuitive, human-readable, and system-compatible data capture, with real-world use cases already in place—like improving film permitting processes for the Houston Film Commission.</p><p>From a startup perspective, Waldo gets candid about fundraising challenges, the paradox of needing metrics to raise money and needing money to build metrics, and how early-stage companies must balance marketing, sales, and product development. He emphasizes the value of angel investors and local ecosystems like the ION and the Canon, while acknowledging the rising bar of investor expectations in today’s post-2023 funding environment.</p><p>Finally, Waldo shares his philosophy behind the Unicorn Forms brand—born as an April Fool’s joke but grown into a conversation starter and signal for early adopters. With Party City swag, a pink logo, and a message that draws in the curious and the creative, Unicorn Forms is redefining legal tech not just through software, but through an intentional, approachable identity. As Waldo looks ahead, he sees opportunity in pairing strong data engineering with AI tools—not just to automate, but to make legal and regulatory processes smarter, faster, and more human-centered.</p><p><strong>Listen on mobile platforms: </strong><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-geek-in-review/id1401505293">Apple Podcasts</a><strong> | </strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/53J6BhUdH594oTMuGLvANo?si=XeoRDGhMTjulSEIEYNtZOw">Spotify</a> | <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@thegeekinreview">YouTube</a></p><p>[Special Thanks to <a href="https://www.legaltechnologyhub.com/">Legal Technology Hub</a> for their sponsoring this episode.]</p><p> </p><p>Blue Sky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/geeklawblog.com">@geeklawblog.com</a> <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/marlgeb.bsky.social">@marlgeb</a><br>Email: [email protected]<br>Music: <a href="https://jerrydaviddecicca.bandcamp.com/album/new-shadows">Jerry David DeCicca</a></p><p>Transcript</p><p></p>
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