Adding Value in the Age of AI
The Practice
July/August 2026
How do we decide what value is—and who produces it?
July/August 2026
Introducing the July/August 2026 Issue
How we approached this complex question of what value is and who is driving it in today's uncertain market.
How Lawyers Can Add Value in the Age of AI
Drawing on 50 interviews with chief legal officers (CLOs), law firm partners, legal operations professionals, and non-lawyer corporate executives around the world, this article posits that the lawyers who will distinguish themselves are those who figure out how to create value-add in an era of AI.
Moving from Adoption to Responsible Impact
How should general counsel and senior legal operations leaders approach integrating AI into the legal department, beyond simply driving adoption? A workshop at Harvard Law School revealed how much is still undecided.
Value to a Degree
In the United States, few decisions put the question of value under a brighter spotlight than higher education: a six-figure investment made at age seventeen whose returns may not arrive for decades. But economic uncertainty, political polarization, and advances in AI are rewriting how we think about that value.
Leading Businesspeople with Law Degrees
DHL Supply Chain Americas chief legal officer Mark Smolik talks with Michele DeStefano about how organized, well-structured data—not the latest tool—is the real foundation for using AI in a legal department. Drawing on a digitalization journey that began in 2009 with paper files and filing cabinets, Smolik explains how his team brought roughly 80 percent of its work in-house and what he wants from law firms moving forward.
