Zach Abramowitz is Legally Disrupted

Recording at LegalWeek in New York, Zach sits down with Shlomo Klapper (founder of Learned Hand) and Bridget McCormack, former Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and now CEO of the American Arbitration Association, to challenge one of the biggest double standards in legal AI: “AI for me, but not for thee.” Lawyers are now widely using AI, but the moment it touches judges or arbitrators, support drops off.

That hesitation comes as courts are under real strain, with judges handling thousands of cases a year and only minutes to decide each one, and no realistic way to keep up. Shlomo describes Learned Hand’s “AI law clerk,” built to support judicial research, analysis, and drafting, while Bridget brings the perspective of someone who has both made decisions on the bench and now leads a major dispute resolution institution. The conversation moves beyond AI as an assistant and into a harder shift: AI as part of decision-making itself, and whether the system can continue to function without it.

Learn More:
Bridget - http://www.aaaicdrfoundation.org/director/bridget-m-mccormack
Shlomo - https://www.learned-hand.ai/
Zach - https://www.legallydisrupted.com/
 
Follow Along:
Bridget - https://www.linkedin.com/in/bridget-mary-mccormack-26700b30
Shlomo - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sklapper
Zach - linkedin.com/in/zachabramowitz

What does it actually look like to go from practicing law to building the future of legal AI? In this episode, Zach speaks with Kyle Poe, former Big Law partner and now a leader at Legora, about his unconventional path from litigation to legal tech. Kyle shares how early frustrations with outdated legal workflows pushed him to build internal tools, why generative AI changed everything, and what it really takes to break into the legal AI space today. They also dive into how billing models are evolving, the emergence of the “legal engineer,” and why relationships and adaptability may matter more than ever in an AI-driven legal industry.

 

In this episode:

How Kyle transitioned from Big Law to a leading role in legal AI

Why generative AI is a true inflection point for legal practice

The emergence of the “legal engineer” and new career paths for lawyers

What lawyers get wrong about breaking into legal tech—and how to do it right

How AI is shifting legal careers toward relationships, adaptability, and high-agency work

 

Learn More:
Kyle - https://legora.com/blog/a-window-of-opportunity-the-lawyer-rewiring-legal-practice-for-the-ai-age
Zach - https://www.legallydisrupted.com/
 
Follow Along:
Kyle - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkylepoe
Zach - linkedin.com/in/zachabramowitz

Zach Abramowitz sits down with Josh Schmerling, partner at Zirkin & Schmerling and co-founder of LawPro.ai, to explore how building technology inside a law firm is reshaping personal injury practice. Josh shares how an internal tool for processing medical records evolved into a broader litigation platform, and what it means to commercialize a product while still running a high-volume plaintiff’s firm. The conversation dives into product-market fit, adoption dynamics, and how tech, combined with private equity, could fundamentally change the competitive landscape of PI law.
 
In this episode:

How an internal tool became a market-facing legal tech product

The advantages (and tensions) of building software inside a law firm

What drives real product-market fit in legal tech

Adoption trends across personal injury firms

The role of private equity in reshaping the PI ecosystem

Learn More:
Josh - https://www.lawpro.ai/team/josh-schmerling
Zach - https://www.legallydisrupted.com/
 
Follow Along:
Josh - https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-schmerling-287489ab
Zach - linkedin.com/in/zachabramowitz

What are in-house lawyers actually doing with AI right now? In this episode, Zach speaks with Jarryd Strydom, co-founder of Sandstone, about what he learned from a cross-country road trip meeting with corporate legal teams across the United States. They discuss how legal departments are experimenting with AI tools, the growing “build vs. buy” debate as lawyers explore vibe-coding their own workflows, and why legacy legal tech infrastructure may struggle in an AI-native world. 
 
In this episode:

What in-house lawyers across the U.S. are actually doing with AI today

The rise of “vibe coding” and the new build vs. buy debate for legal teams

Why traditional CLM systems often fail to capture real business context

How AI could finally unlock institutional legal knowledge inside companies

Why legal teams are being pushed to adopt AI as other departments move faster

How AI might reshape the structure of in-house legal teams

What junior lawyers should be thinking about in an AI-driven legal market

Learn More:
Jarryd - https://www.event.law.com/corpcounsel-gcc-east/speaker/2017419/jarryd-strydom
Zach - https://www.legallydisrupted.com/
 
Follow Along:
Jarryd - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jarrydstrydom
Zach - linkedin.com/in/zachabramowitz

Just in time for Legal Week, Zach sits down Cosmonauts founder and legal tech insider Timo Karakashev for a wide-ranging conversation about where the legal AI market really stands. Timo shares what he’s seeing on the ground: growing demand for “premium” legal AI tools, dissatisfaction with generic enterprise AI solutions, and a market that’s still in the very early innings of adoption.
 
In this episode:

Why legal AI tools like Harvey and Legora feel “premium” compared to generic AI

The growing dissatisfaction with enterprise AI tools like Copilot

Why demand for intelligence in legal work far exceeds human supply

How legal AI adoption differs across regions, including Australia

The debate over whether AI will disrupt or strengthen the SaaS model

Why IP law has historically lagged in tech adoption and why that’s changing

How legal tech conferences are evolving to focus more on practitioners and operators

⁠Why innovation at the top of the market could eventually improve access to justice

Learn More:
Timo - https://www.crunchbase.com/person/timo-karakashev
Zach - https://www.legallydisrupted.com/
 
Follow Along:
Timo - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/timo-from-cosmonauts
Zach - linkedin.com/in/zachabramowitz