The 2024 Lawdragon 100 Leading AI & Legal Tech Advisors
By Katrina Dewey | March 15, 2024 | Guides, News & Features
Tech-savvy lawyers out to change world. Image by ChatGPT's DALL·E
We’re thrilled to introduce The 2024 Lawdragon 100 Leading AI & Legal Tech Advisors.
These librarians, entrepreneurs, lawyers and technologists built the world where artificial intelligence threatens to upend life and law as we know it – and are now at the forefront of the battles raging within.
It’s very feudal, Shogun style – if enacted by the Beastie Boys.
Kick it.
The matchup between Sam Altman’s OpenAI with Elon Musk is universes colliding made even more delicious by the two lead lawyers. Where else could you get a faceoff between the 15-year old world recordholder for fastest traverse of the New York City subway system with a onetime NYC cabbie? And that’s just the first pie thrown in this showdown, in which Altman hired Wachtell co-managing partner Bill Savitt (the cabbie). You know, Savitt? The guy who litigated Musk into submission in Delaware to buy Twitter. I mean, yeah, that letter thing. For his part, Musk hired the 73-year old genius Morgan Chu, a high school drop out with five degrees to wage battle over what AI was made for.
Do you like parties?
If so, this is the guide for you. We set out to find 100 stellar players who capture the state of artificial intelligence in the law today, with a side of interesting legal tech. What that means in 2024 is sifting through roughly 20,000 press releases from law firms and VC funded legal tech startups (yawn-assisted eyeroll) touting their embrace or development of cutting-edge technology. Note to reader: Alan Turing published ‘Computer Machinery and Intelligence’ in 1950.
Bust it.
To create this first-of-its-kind guide, we cast a wide net with dozens of leaders in this area, took submissions, consulted with some of the most esteemed gurus in legal tech. We also researched the cases most likely to have the biggest impact on AI, unearthing the dozen or so top trial lawyers tapped to lead the battles. Many of them bring copyright or IP backgrounds and more than a few are Bay Area based. Those denoted with an asterisk are members of our Hall of Fame.
And we observed the truism that for artificial intelligence, there must be intelligence. Our guide salutes Michael Lissner of the Free Law Project, a hero in the valiant fight against corporations who tried to lock up the law as if it was their own. Without Lissner and numerous undersung librarians recognized here, there would be no database of laws or cases for law student/founder Brad Neal’s Lexblog and Gunnerbot to devour.
There are worlds within this guide, and we will say little more before stepping aside and letting you enjoy this look at law’s present and future. And we’ll add our two cents on whether AI will (finally) kill the lawyers: Not a chance. The minds represented here, their judgment and guidance, could never be produced by a machine. Lesser mortals, perhaps.
But these 100? No way.
| First | Last | Organization | Location | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael | Abramowicz | GW Law | Washington, D.C. | Academic, Strategy & Innovation |
| Sarah E. | Alt | Michael Best | Waukesha, Wis. | Chief AI Officer |
| Alice | Armitage | University of California College of the Law, San Francisco | San Francisco | Academic, Innovator, Creator of LexLab |
| Pablo | Arredondo | Casetext | Stanford, Calif. | Legal AI Founder |
| Ahmed | Baladi | Gibson Dunn | Paris | AI Dealmaker |
| Elisha | Barron | Susman Godfrey | New York | AI Litigation |
| Danielle | Benecke | Baker & McKenzie | Palo Alto, Calif. | Leader of Machine Learning |
| Allyson R. | Bennett | Morrison Foerster | Los Angeles | AI Litigation |
| Ashlie | Beringer | Gibson Dunn | Palo Alto, Calif. | AI, Technology Litigation |
| Kritika | Bharadwaj | Day Pitney | New York | AI Dealmaker |
| Jack | Blumenfeld* | Morris Nichols | Wilmington, Del. | AI, IP Litigation |
| Jason | Boehmig | Ironclad | San Francisco | Legal AI Founder |
| Bennett R. | Borden | DLA Piper | Washington, D.C. | AI Governance, Data Science |
| Robert | Brauneis | GW Law | Washington, D.C. | Copyright, IP Academic |
| Jim | Brock | PartnerMotion | Santa Cruz, Calif. | Legal Tech, AI Advisor |
| Davida | Brook | Susman Godfrey | Los Angeles | AI Litigation |
| Joshua | Browder | DoNotPay | Stanford, Calif. | Legal AI Founder |
| Matthew | Butterick | Butterick Law | Los Angeles | AI Litigation |
| Alyssa | Caridis | Orrick | Los Angeles | AI Litigation |
| Margaret | Caruso | Quinn Emanuel | Redwood Shores, Calif. | Copyright, IP Litigation |
| Cat | Casey | Reveal | Austin, Texas | Legal AI Founder |
| Dale | Cendali* | Kirkland & Ellis | New York | AI Litigation |
| Tiffany | Cheung | Morrison Foerster | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Morgan | Chu* | Irell & Manella | Los Angeles | IP, AI Litigation |
| Ian B. | Crosby | Susman Godfrey | Seattle | AI Litigation |
| Jack | Cushman | Harvard Library Innovation Lab | Cambridge, Mass. | Academic, Innovation |
| Sy | Damle | Latham & Watkins | Washington, D.C. | AI, Copyright Litigation |
| Mark | Davies | Orrick | Washington, D.C. | Supreme Court Litigator, Author 'Artificial Intelligence: Law & Litigation' |
| Angela | Dunning | Cleary Gottlieb | Palo Alto, Calif. | AI Litigation |
| Sanjeet | Dutta | Goodwin | Redwood City, Calif. | AI, IP Deals |
| Sarah K. | Eddy | Wachtell | New York | AI Litigation |
| Jason | Eiseman | Yale Law School | New Haven, Conn. | Innovation, Accessibility Legal Information |
| Jordan | Eth | Morrison Foerster | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Michael J. | Flynn | Morris Nichols | Wilmington, Del. | AI, IP Litigation |
| Cassandra | Gaedt-Sheckter | Gibson Dunn | Palo Alto, Calif. | AI,Privacy |
| Andrew | Gass | Latham & Watkins | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Beth | George | Freshfields | Redwood City, Calif. | AI, Cybersecurity Advisor |
| Lauren | Goldman | Gibson Dunn | New York | AI, Data Privacy Litigation |
| Joseph C. | Gratz | Morrison Foerster | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Joe | Green | Gunderson Dettmer | New York | Chief Innovation Officer |
| Dazza | Greenwood | MIT Computational Law Report, Law.MIT.edu | Oakland, Calif. | Academic, Innovation |
| Ross | Guberman | BriefCatch | McLean, Va. | Legal AI Founder |
| Stephenie Gosnell | Handler | Gibson Dunn | Washington, D.C. | Trade, Cybersecurity |
| Karl | Harris | Lex Machina | Menlo Park, Calif. | Legal AI Founder |
| Gila | Hayat | Darrow | Tel Aviv | Legal AI Founder |
| David L. | Hayes | Fenwick | Mountain View, Calif. | AI, IP Litigation |
| Jake | Heller | Casetext | San Francisco | Legal AI Founder |
| Caroline | Hill | Legal IT Insider (The Orange Rag) | London | Editor |
| Jane | Horvath | Gibson Dunn | Washington, D.C. | Tech Privacy |
| Annette | Hurst | Orrick | San Francisco | IP Litigation |
| Randall W. | Jackson | Wachtell | New York | AI Litigation |
| Jordan R. | Jaffe | Wilson Sonsini | San Francisco | IP Litigation |
| Yury | Kapgan | Quinn Emanuel | Los Angeles | AI Litigation |
| Rami | Karabibar | EvenUp | San Francisco | Legal AI Founder |
| Daniel Martin | Katz | Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Tech | Chicago | Technologist, Academic |
| Mark A. | Klapow | Crowell & Moring | Washington, D.C. | AI Litigation |
| Ken | Kumayama | Skadden | Palo Alto, Calif. | Cyber, AI Dealmaking |
| Rose S. | Lee | Morrison Foerster | Los Angeles | AI Litigation |
| Lore | Leitner | Goodwin | London | AI, Cybersecurity, UK & Global Regulations |
| Stuart | Levi | Skadden | New York | Cyber, AI, Tech Dealmaking |
| Steven | Lieberman | Rothwell Figg | Washington, D.C. | AI Litigation |
| Eleanor | Lightbody | Luminance | London | Legal AI Founder |
| Michael | Lissner | Free Law Project | Berkeley, Calif. | Free Law Advocate |
| Megan | Ma | Stanford | Stanford, Calif. | Translating Legal Knowledge to Code |
| Jennifer | Maisel | Rothwell Figg | Washington, D.C. | AI Litigation |
| Jonathan | Mayer | U.S. Department of Justice | Washington, D.C. | AI Prosecutor |
| Tony | McKenna | Howard Kennedy | London | Legal Technology & Change |
| Vivek | Mohan | Gibson Dunn | Palo Alto, Calif. | AI, Privacy Dealmaker |
| Gordon | Moodie | Harvey | New York | Legal AI Founder |
| David E. | Moore | Potter Anderson | Wilmington, Del. | AI, IP Litigation |
| Brad | Neal | Lexplug | Washington, D.C. | Legal AI Founder, Law Student |
| Jimoh A. | Ovbiagele | Bench IQ | Toronto | Legal AI Founder |
| Sean S. | Pak | Quinn Emanuel | San Francisco | AI, IP Litigation |
| Bindu Ann | Palapura | Potter Anderson | Wilmington, Del. | AI, IP Litigation |
| Warrington | Parker | Crowell & Moring | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Zach | Posner | The LegalTech Fund | Miami, Fla. | Legal Tech VC |
| Nick | Pournader | P&C Global | New York | Digital Transformation Adviser |
| Rosemarie | Ring | Gibson Dunn | San Francisco | AI, IP Litigation |
| Pamela | Samuelson | University of California, Berkeley, School of Law | Berkeley, Calif. | Academic, IP |
| Joseph | Saveri | Joseph Saveri Law | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Jeffrey | Saviano | EY | Cambridge, Mass. | Innovation Leader |
| William | Savitt | Wachtell | New York | AI Litigation |
| Jacqueline | Schafer | Clearbrief | Seattle | Legal AI Founder |
| Robert M. 'Bobby' | Schwartz | Quinn Emanuel | Los Angeles | Entertainment, AI Litigation |
| Evan | Shenkman | Fisher & Phillips | Murray Hill, N.J. | Chief Knowledge & Innovation Officer |
| Derek | Silva | P&C Global | New York | Digital Transformation Adviser |
| Joshua L. | Simmons | Kirkland & Ellis | New York | AI Litigation |
| David | Simon | Skadden | Washington, D.C. | Global Cyber Security, inc. AI |
| Orin | Snyder | Gibson Dunn | New York | AI Litigation |
| Derek | Southall | Hyperscale Group | London | Legal Tech Advisor |
| Robert | Spano | Gibson Dunn | London | AI Litigation, esp. EU Regulation |
| Sam | Stake | Quinn Emanuel | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Alli | Stillman | Latham & Watkins | New York | Copyright, IP Litigation |
| Ragesh K. | Tangri | Morrison Foerster | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Danny | Tobey | DLA Piper | Dallas | Machine Learning, Robotics |
| Eric | Vandevelde | Gibson Dunn | Los Angeles | AI Investigations, Litigation |
| Roland | Vogl | CodeX | Stanford, Calif. | Legal Informatics |
| David | Wakeling | Allen & Overy | London | Head of Innovation |
| Daniel | Wertman | Noetica AI | New York | Legal AI Founder |
| Joe | Wetzel | Latham & Watkins | San Francisco | AI Litigation |
| Horace | Wu | Syntheia | New York | OG Thinker in AI, Founder |
