30 Leading Managing Partners Face AI Head On

June 9, 2026

Alongside Oz Benamram and Ralph Baxter, the Center on Civil Justice co-hosted a private conference titled "Strategic Leadership Program: Preparing the Firm for the AI-Driven Future of Legal Services". Nearly 30 managing partners convened at the NYU School of Law to discuss embracing AI in legal services.

We started off with a welcome speech by Dean Troy McKenzie. This was led by keynote vision speech "Win-Win-Win: Better service, better careers, happier clients" by Ralph Baxter, and keynote vision speech "No, you are not ready" by Ron Friedmann.

In the technology leaders panel "What AI Can Actually Do and How Fast It’s Moving", Pauline Grnarova from DeepJudge, John LaBarre from Harvey, and Thad Jampol from Intapp gave an unfiltered look at capabilities, limitations, and the full potential of AI in legal service.

Then, in a client panel titled "How AI Is Changing What We Expect from Outside Counsel", Jack Pitts from Balckstone and Watt Wanapha from BNY explored how in-house AI adoption is reshaping what work clients send to outside counsel, which outside counsel they choose, and what they expect of them.

Finally, in a managing partners panel titled "What elements of the law firm model will the AI transition require?", Mitch Zuklie from Orrick, Michael Gerstenzang from Cleary, Casey Ryan from Reed Smith, and Alan Mason from Freshfields discussed how AI enables new ways of serving clients, will require new staffing, financial, and incentive models, and new ways to measure and monitor performance.

The conference ended with a closed-door working session for chairs, managing partners, and CEOs to translate the morning's insights into firm-specific priorities and next steps.

To read some key takeaways from the conference from Ron Friedmann, see here.