Legalweek kicks off next week in New York, which means it’s time for the annual deluge of legal tech announcements timed to coincide with the event. Among the pre-show announcements, Relativity unveiled its fifth annual AI Visionaries list, honoring 20 individuals the company recognizes as shaping how AI gets understood, applied, and integrated across the legal ecosystem.
This year’s class of 20 honorees draws from global law firms, Fortune 500 companies, academia, media, and the public sector. The roster includes folks from Quinn Emanuel, Cleary Gottlieb, Morgan Lewis, Arnold & Porter, Clifford Chance, Google, Walmart, Bayer, and GE Vernova, among others. Legal media even gets a nod with the inclusion of Richard Tromans of Artificial Lawyer.
What’s notable about this year’s list is less the names and more the tenor of what the honorees are saying. Scan the quotes on the Relativity page and you’ll notice a theme. Almost nobody is talking about AI in the breathless, revolutionary terms that dominated legal tech marketing circa 2023. The vibe has shifted from “AI will transform everything!” to “AI is already here, and the real work is making it reliable.”
“Humans have a tendency to associate fluency with authority, often to our detriment,” Adrian Agius of Gilbert + Tobin said. “In law, where language is the medium of advocacy, that bias can become dangerous if left unchecked.” Dave Fronapfel, working in the public sector, emphasized that “Change for the sake of change is not a good policy for institutions that rely on public trust.” And Ankur Malik of Clifford Chance stressed the cardinal rule that this stuff “not take action without explicit human approval and a clear line of accountability.”
That’s a far cry from the “fire all the associates” fantasies that dominates the venture capitalist discourse.
Which tracks with what we’ve been writing about Relativity for a while now. The company has consistently positioned itself in the “AI should help lawyers do their jobs better” camp rather than the “AI should replace lawyers” camp.
The AI Visionaries selection reflects that philosophy because these aren’t people pitching moonshots, but people dealing with the day-to-day successes and frustrations. “[T]he implementation and impact of AI in the industries we support function as a great equalizer,” said Deric Yoakley of Walmart. “We are all learning about it at the same time.”
The honorees will be celebrated at a recognition dinner on March 9, featuring Chris Wiggins, a Columbia applied math professor who doubles as Chief Data Scientist at the New York Times. Those attending Legalweek can find Relativity at RelHQ at Convene 30 Hudson Yards or at booth #501 in the North Javits Center — the conference’s new home this year.
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter or Bluesky if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
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