Recorded
live
at
the
annual
meeting
of
the Legal
Marketing
Association in
New
Orleans,
this
episode
features
my
conversation
with Rachel
Shields
Williams,
president
of
the
LMA
and
director
of
client
intelligence
at
Sidley
Austin,
where
she
has
spent
17
years
building
out
roles
at
the
intersection
of
marketing,
business
development,
knowledge
management
and
data.
Earlier
this
year,
Rachel
was
named
a
recipient
of
ALM’s Monica
Bay
Women
in
Legal
Tech
Award.
Rachel
and
I
discuss
how
AI
is
reshaping
the
work
of
legal
marketers,
and
why
she
believes
the
marketing
community
is
uniquely
positioned
to
help
law
firms
move
past
the
“I’m
curious,
I
want
to
click
the
buttons”
stage
of
AI
adoption
to
sustained,
repeatable
value.
We
get
into
the
state
of
innovation
in
big
law
—
including
Rachel’s
view
that
firms
cannot
use
AI
or
money
to
“skip
the
canyon
of
despair”
in
change
management
—
and
why
she
thinks
meaningful
innovation
often
looks
less
like
a
headline
and
more
like
getting
one
percent
better
every
week.
The
conversation
also
covers
the
changing
competitive
landscape
facing
traditional
firms,
from
AI-native
entrants
like
Norm
AI
to
MSOs
and
a
resurgent
ALSP
market;
the
long-running
debate
over
the
billable
hour;
the
four
interrelated
elements
Rachel
sees
at
the
heart
of
every
law
firm’s
data
—
documents,
clients,
matters,
and
people;
and
what
firm
leaders
should
be
doing
right
now
to
stay
competitive
over
the
next
decade.
Throughout,
Rachel
returns
to
a
theme
about
which
she
calls
herself
an
“unapologetic
humanist”
—
technology
and
process
will
keep
changing,
but
the
firms
that
win
will
be
the
ones
that
put
the
right
people
in
the
room
first.
Listen
here:
Watch
here:
Thank
You
To
Our
Sponsors
This
episode
of
LawNext
is
generously
made
possible
by
our
sponsors.
We
appreciate
their
support
and
hope
you
will
check
them
out.
If
you
enjoy
listening
to
LawNext,
please
leave
us
a
review
wherever
you
listen
to
podcasts.