Ryan Juliano runs Darwin Legal, a subscription-based fractional general counsel practice serving early-stage tech startups. After 15 years moving down the legal food chain from IPOs to pre-seed companies, he's built a model that replaces the crushing wave of hourly billing with committed capacity—and he's using AI across every part of his practice. In this conversation, he shares what it means to use tools "promiscuously," why lawyers need to get comfortable chopping with blunt axes, and how AI helps him think through not just legal problems but business model design.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-juliano-b3833124
https://darwinlegal.com/

📌 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿:

Get the latest news, trends, and tactics in legal AI—straight to your inbox.
➞ join free: https://www.spellbook.legal/newsletter

💎 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸:

Draft and review contracts 10x faster
➞ try it free: https://www.spellbook.legal

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

0:00 - Introduction

1:12 - Meet Ryan Juliano

2:15 - From IPOs to early-stage startups

5:34 - The subscription fractional GC model

8:34 - Who manages legal before you arrive

11:01 - Running everything through AI

16:19 - Good enough vs. perfect

17:55 - Will tools consolidate or stay fragmented?

20:29 - How Ryan spends his time now

24:37 - Shifting from inputs to outputs

27:23 - Capturing knowledge to repurpose

32:57 - Defining "good enough" in legal services

34:04 - Connect with Ryan

Colin Lachance helps law firms implement AI without the paralysis. As founder of LawQi and former Innovator in Residence at the Ontario Bar Association, he's developed a practical framework: start with tasks, not processes. In this conversation, he explains why most firms aren't ready for full process redesigns, what infrastructure you actually need before experimenting, and how to build the skills that prevent expensive mistakes.

📌 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿:

Get the latest news, trends, and tactics in legal AI—straight to your inbox.
➞ join free: https://www.spellbook.legal/newsletter

💎 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸:

Draft and review contracts 10x faster
➞ try it free: https://www.spellbook.legal

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinlachance

https://lawqi.com/

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

0:00 - Introduction
1:30 - Meet Colin Lachance
4:15 - Working inside a real law firm
6:00 - The messy garage problem
11:30 - Tasks vs. processes: which comes first
14:00 - What infrastructure you actually need
17:30 - Why start with tasks, not whole processes
21:30 - How lawyers should learn AI
24:15 - Connect with Colin

Washington, DC attorney Shavon J. Smith runs a small firm that serves growing businesses as their fractional general counsel. In this episode, she explains how AI helps her compete with larger firms – from mapping workflows to drafting contract checklists, improving client alerts, pressure-testing assumptions, and crafting clearer redline comments during negotiations. She also shares where AI meaningfully improves efficiency, where it simply improves quality, and where human judgment still matters most, especially in negotiation and client counseling.

📌 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿:

Get the latest news, trends, and tactics in legal AI—straight to your inbox.
➞ join free: https://www.spellbook.legal/newsletter

💎 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸:

Draft and review contracts 10x faster
➞ try it free: https://www.spellbook.legal

𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀:

0:00 - Introduction
2:15 - Meet Shavon J. Smith
3:32 - What is fractional general counsel?
4:00 - AI for process mapping and improvement
6:03 - Using AI as a brainstorming partner
7:46 - Marketing and client communication
8:25 - How clients find the firm (including through AI)
10:06 - Email overwhelm and client management
13:12 - AI for contract drafting and review
16:06 - Being a better strategic advisor
18:00 - Understanding clients' businesses
19:48 - Managing people and processes
22:35 - Where AI can't help: settlement psychology
24:17 - Learning from other lawyers
24:35 - Connect with Shavon