I spoke with Jeny Maier and Rachael Philbin, the Managing Partner and the new Chief Innovation Officer, respectively, at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider, a law firm focusing on antitrust, intellectual property, and complex commercial litigation. We discussed why this is the right moment for a law firm to invest in dedicated innovation leadership, the benefits of working alongside practicing lawyers in an embedded capacity to help drive change, and what meaningful AI adoption looks like inside a law firm.

I spoke with Jonathan Friedman, the Founder and Managing Partner of Friedman Williams, a specialized recruiting firm serving law firms and corporate organizations across legal, finance, HR, marketing, IT, and administrative staffing. We discussed how the role of law firm C-suite leaders has evolved, best practices for hiring legal executives, and the leadership traits that are becoming most valuable for success in law firms today.

Ari Kaplan speaks with the following leaders at the 2026 International Legal Technology Association Annual Conference:

Faith Benson, Vice President of Marketing, SimplyAgree Ross Guberman, Founder and CEO, BriefCatch Gabriel Karawani, Co-Founder, ClearPeople Dan Malgran, Vice President of Marketing, Steno Eileen Penta, Senior Account Executive, Clarra Joy Heath Rush, CEO, International Legal Technology Association Anthony Seale, Founder and CEO, Legatics Ginger Shimp, Vice President of Marketing, Fulcrum Global Technologies Beth Thompson, VP of Market Strategy and Legal Evangelism, Actionstep Beau Wysong, Chief Marketing Officer, Opus 2

*Music credit: JMHBM - Lucky