Fast-paced, inspiring talks from innovators and changemakers – big ideas, delivered in under 15 minutes.
LEGAL GEEK CONFERENCE AGENDA 2026
Explore the sessions at Legal Geek Conference 2026, featuring TED-style talks, workshops, interactive roundtables, panels, Q&As, and more.
New sessions added weekly!
TED-STYLE TALKS
Alma Asay
Chief Innovation and Value Officer
Crowell & Moring
From survey scramble to strategic asset: Weaving AI usage into a data-driven culture of transparency
This talk shows how one firm turned client AI surveys from a last‑minute compliance task into a strategic insight engine. By integrating AI tool usage data with internal firm systems, the team created real‑time visibility into how, where, and by whom AI is used, enabling stronger governance, clearer accountability, and more confident client reporting.
Andrei Salajan
Director Legal Tech & Innovation
Schoenherr
Beyond adoption: The collaboration layer that will decide who wins AI
With AI adoption now table stakes, this session argues that real advantage comes from the collaboration layer around the tools. It focuses on how firms orchestrate relationships between lawyers, technologists, practice groups, and clients to move beyond usage into meaningful, sustained impact.
Bianca de Souza
Legal Counsel & Local Compliance Officer, UK – Daimler Truck & Daimler Buses
Beyond technical excellence: The modern lawyer operating model
This session introduces a new operating model for in‑house lawyers, reframing legal expertise as the baseline rather than the differentiator. It explores how scalable judgment, commercial risk calibration, and human‑centred clarity enable lawyers to design themselves into the operating fabric of modern organisations.
Christian Bartsch
CEO
Bird & Bird
Human advantage: leading law firms in the
age of AI
This session argues that as AI becomes embedded in legal work, differentiation will come from people rather than platforms, highlighting the enduring importance of judgement, trust, leadership, and culture in firm strategy.
Wayne Barnes
Partner
Squire Patton Boggs
The wig and whistle: Learnings from sport and law
Drawing on experience as both a criminal barrister and referee of the 2023 Rugby World Cup Final, this talk explores decision‑making, leadership under pressure, and accountability across elite sport and legal practice.
Emily Tearle
Head of Knowledge Management
Travers Smith
Bridging the Gap: the power of KM in legal innovation
This talk highlights the pivotal role of Knowledge Management professionals in successful legal innovation, acting as translators between lawyers and technologists, safeguarding quality, and ensuring new tools are properly tested, embedded, and supported through training.
Roisin Noonan
Associate Director
Deloitte
Next-gen contracting: How to leverage AI to unlock contracting value
Moves the AI conversation beyond efficiency to value, showing how in‑house legal teams can use AI to unlock commercial impact across one of the most complex, time‑consuming, and expensive business processes: contracting.
Nicholas Tennant
Head of Legal Services
MDU
AI’s growing pains in healthcare law and practice
This session offers a frontline perspective on how AI is already shaping healthcare law—from clinicians using ambient technologies to AI‑assisted litigants—highlighting real‑world benefits, emerging risks, and practical implications for legal practice.
Caroline Mylward
Deputy General Counsel, Chief Corporate and Securities Counsel Sotheby’s
Art and luxury in the world of AI
How does a 282 year old auction house remain entrepreneurial and create value for shareholders in the global drive for AI?
Helder Santos
Head of Legaltech & Innovation
Bird & Bird
Technology adoption: a human problem disguised as a digital one
Digital transformation fails or succeeds on human behaviour, not technology. The real constraint is psychology, confidence, and culture, not tools. After 25 years in tech and leading LegalTech in a global law firm: innovation never fails because of software. It fails because people don’t feel safe, capable, or rewarded to change.
Emily Friend
Head of Legal and Compliance TotalEnergies
Masking at work: The performance no one applauds
This session explores the hidden cost of workplace masking, where achievement becomes a coping strategy and self-regulation carries a silent tax. Join us for an honest conversation about what it means to be high functioning, the risks of masking, and how organisations can create cultures where people can thrive without hiding who they are.
Matthew Gough
Head of Consumer Law and Partner
Eversheds Sutherland
Social mobility, opportunity and our industry: What's occurring Matthew?
This talk focuses on Social Mobility. Matthew talks about his journey since his school days to achieving partnership at a global law firm. He considers what might have changed in that time, what our industry is doing and what next-gen might expect in the future.
Ruben Miessen
CEO & Co-Founder
LEGALFLY
Beyond the legal team: A new model for getting legal work done
Every enterprise function now touches legal work, from procurement closing vendor contracts to sales pushing NDAs through. This session sets out a practical model for splitting that work between AI, legal teams and the business, so routine tasks move fast and judgment stays where it belongs.
Erica Albertson
Director of AI Transformation International
Relativity
Stop Searching. Start Asking.
Your evidence doesn’t need a better keyword. It needs a better question. In this session, Erica Albertson (Relativity’s Director of AI Transformation International) and A&O Shearman join forces to show how one team replaced complex Boolean searches with plain-language conversation, and found what they needed in minutes, not days. No query syntax. No army of reviewers. Just a direct dialogue with the data, backed by citations you can actually verify. If you’re still searching when you could be asking, this session will change how you think about investigations forever.
Julian Merschen
Chief Product Officer
KLDiscovery
Finding signals earlier in the Noise: Rethinking case insight in the age of AI
See how you can cut days of early case assessment to hours, surfacing key people, timelines, themes, and key documents from the first upload, plus use AI effectively to interrogate your case data directly using natural language. Come if you want to get a grounded view of how gen AI and Agents can help you increase the speed to insight.
Iain McKeith
Co-Founder
Rising Tide
The hidden cost of poor client experience in legal services
Original research commissioned across UK legal clients shows that communication-related dissatisfaction is quietly costing law firms referrals, repeat instructions, and revenue, often without them realising it. This session translates the data into commercial terms and explores what a client experience advantage actually looks like as a business model.
Shruti Ajitsaria
Partner, Head of Fuse
A&O Shearman
James Kanagasooriam
Chief Research Officer
Focaldata
Should you worry about your job?
Join Shruti Ajitsaria (Head of Fuse at A&O Shearman) in a fireside chat with James Kanagasooriam (Chief Research Officer at Focaldata), discussing findings from the Focaldata Workforce AI Tracker launched in partnership with the Financial Times. They will talk about AI usage (how and what), perceived productivity gains, barriers to use and impacts on the labour market. The conversation will cover the current state of play and trends that we should expect to see, all grounded in data gathered across 4,000 respondents across the US and UK.
Alex Juras
Global Digital Counsel
Diageo
Regulated, not restricted: What alcohol brands can teach us about AI adoption
Legal teams are often seen as a barrier to AI adoption, especially in highly regulated industries. But in reality, clear legal oversight can be the thing that makes innovation possible. Drawing on experiences from the alcohol sector, this session explores how legal-led governance helps organisations adopt AI with confidence by setting clear boundaries, managing risk, and keeping a lawyer in the loop. Join us for a practical look at how good governance can accelerate AI adoption, not slow it down.
Tara Waters
Legal Innovation Partner
Harvey
Joe Cohen
Legal Innovation Partner
Harvey
We opened the gates
We are now outsourcing more of the heavy lifting to AI platforms – speed rises, the output looks right, and your sense of whether it actually is any good starts to detach slightly from reality. This talk sets out what the science says AI does to legal judgment, where the risk of cognitive decline might sit in the coming years, and what to do about it today. The drawbridge is down, but this time we can look inside the Trojan Horse before accepting the gift.
Thomas Hallett
Solutions Engineer
Airia
AI governance in legal practice: From risk to strategic advantage
As AI adoption accelerates, legal teams need effective governance to manage risk, control costs, and maintain oversight. This session explores practical strategies for governing AI tools and agents while turning compliance and risk management into a competitive advantage.
Anna Guo
Founder
Legal Benchmarks
Elgar Weijtmans
CTO
Legal Benchmarks
How to benchmark legal AI (and filter out the bullsh*t)
How do you know whether an AI tool is genuinely effective or simply well marketed for legal work? This session presents data-backed findings from Legal Benchmarks’ independent testing of AI tools and models on real-world legal research and analysis tasks.
We will explain how we design benchmarks that reflect how lawyers actually work, why measuring the quality of legal AI outputs is particularly difficult, and what our findings mean for anyone building, purchasing, or evaluating these tools.
WORKSHOPS
Get hands-on in practical sessions designed to help you level up your skills and ideas.
Stuart Whittle
Chief Technology and Innovation Officer
Weightmans
Catriona Wolfenden
Product & Innovation Director
Weightmans
Building productised services and technology offerings that clients want to buy
This session explores the skill sets and methodologies that product and innovation teams need to be able to combine legal expertise, technology and modern service delivery into productised services that clients want to buy and that lawyers can deliver and scale.”
Chris Gamble
Founder
Polaris Consultants
The masks we wear: Understanding the barriers to deep trust and team performance
The session will be centred on our framework for high-performing team from which trust is the foundational element. We’ll explore how many teams display superficial/transactional trust and make the case that what we really need to build is deep trust. A key barrier to this are the ‘psychological masks’ we wear which we will unpick and encourage the group to do a bit of self-reflection on before leaving with some tangible takeaways. “
Saideh Ahmadloo
Global Lead Counsel
Kraft Heinz
Evan Bush
J.D. Candidate, FSU College of Law
LEXGIT
Lost in legal tech & AI? Find your path with LexGit
Legal Tech and AI don’t usually fail because of the technology. They fail because legal teams lack the operational, governance, and change foundations needed to make them work. In this interactive workshop, participants will use the LexGit framework to identify maturity gaps, uncover barriers to progress, and create a practical roadmap for successful adoption.
Jon English
Director of Content Innovation
LexisNexisUK
Fluent. Confident. Wrong. A discipline for lawyers in the age of cognitive surrender.
As AI becomes more persuasive, the biggest risk isn’t bad technology, it’s unquestioned trust. Research shows that while AI can improve decision-making when it’s right, it can also lead users astray when it’s wrong, often increasing confidence either way. In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn a simple framework for challenging AI outputs, sharpening your judgement, and avoiding the trap of cognitive surrender. Because just because it’s fluent doesn’t mean it’s right.
Noorin Gulam
Athlere Mentor
Young Sport Trust
Leon Major
Nebula Sales and Marketing Consultant
KLDiscovery
The high performer's playbook: Coaching peak performance in yourself and others
Olympic weightlifter, 2026 Commonwealth Games athlete and current British Champion Noorin Gulam joins KLDiscovery’s Leon Major in this science-based workshop that takes the pillars of the athlete’s journey and applies them to life as a high performing lawyer. Grounded in neuroscience, nutrition and recovery research, you’ll walk away with practical tools to become a high performer yourself or to coach one. Come prepared to get involved.
Alisa Grafton
Founder and Educator
Great Networking
The partnership ladder Is changing: Developing Gen Z lawyers for the future of law firms
Gen Z lawyers are redefining traditional career paths, creating new challenges for leadership, talent development and succession planning. This practical workshop explores how firms can nurture the next generation of talent by building on Gen Z’s strengths while developing the commercial, interpersonal and relationship skills essential for long-term success in the profession.
Susie Lochiel-Owen
Founder + Creative Director
Out of Line
Catriona Hastings
Founder + Creative Director
Out of Line
Original Intelligence by Out of Line
As AI reshapes the legal profession, uniquely human skills such as judgement, creativity, curiosity and navigating ambiguity are becoming increasingly valuable. Through a series of interactive interventions, this session explores how individuals and teams can strengthen original thinking, improve collaboration, and make better decisions in an AI-driven world.
Gregory Campbell
Principal Solutions Architect
Everlaw
AI Lab: Practical AI you can apply tomorrow
Get hands-on with AI in a live case environment and explore practical workflows for investigation, early case assessment and fact development. This interactive workshop will showcase transparent, verifiable AI in action and provide reusable prompts, workflow patterns and immediate next steps for legal teams looking to accelerate AI adoption.
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Hear diverse perspectives on the issues shaping the future of legal.
Claire Clark
Managing Partner
Mills & Reeve
Christian Bartsch
CEO
Bird & Bird
John Wood
Managing Partner
TLT
Leading the modern law firm: New operating models, clients, and cultures for 2026
This panel will bring together managing partners who are navigating firm‑wide transformation, operational redesign, and the evolving expectations of both clients and teams. The discussion will centre on practical leadership insights: what’s changing, what’s working, and what will define successful firms over the next five years.”
Jenni Tellyn
Knowledge Management Consultant 3Kites Consulting
Caroline Doherty de Novoa
Co-Chief Knowledge Officer Freshfields
Hayley Harris
Global Chief Knowledge and AI Adoption Officer
Pinsent Masons
Beyond KM systems: Embedding knowledge where work happens
A conversation with senior knowledge and capability leaders on how KM is evolving in practice. As AI, new delivery models, and rising client expectations reshape legal work, traditional approaches are being challenged. This discussion will focus on what’s actually working; from embedding knowledge into everyday workflows and supporting AI adoption, to building the skills, behaviours, and operating models modern teams need. It will also explore how KM leaders are balancing innovation with trust, governance, and reliability as they lay stronger foundations for the future.
Henry Goodwin
General Partner
Leo Capital
Tamara Steffens
Managing Director
TR Ventures
Dr. Thomas Barothy
CEO
PartnerLex AG
Evaluations and ROI: The unlock for the potential to be fully realised: What VCs are thinking about
A look at how investors are assessing legal tech as the market matures. This panel explores what’s changed over the past 12–24 months, what credible ROI looks like in practice, and how VCs are evaluating product maturity, defensibility, and scalability, including why some businesses still struggle to grow and where capital is becoming more selective.
Karen Jacks
Chief Technology Officer
Bird & Bird
Coming soon
Coming soon
Inside the IT function: How technology leaders are shaping the modern law firm
A candid conversation with IT Directors and senior technology leaders on what it really takes to deliver legal tech at scale. From navigating tool selection and integration to managing risk, security, and governance, this session focuses on the practical role IT teams play in turning strategy into reality – and driving adoption across the firm.
Brittany Casey
Vice President, Customer Success & Enablement
CS DISCO
Elizabeth Aneshansley-Leier
Vice President, Professional Services
CS DISCO
Panel: Enablement over excitement: AI adoption stories from real professionals
What does “successful AI adoption” actually look like in practice? This panel breaks down where AI is working in real legal workflows, how teams are measuring impact, and what they’d do differently.
ROUNDTABLES
Join intimate, small-group discussions (~20 attendees per session) to dive deeper into key topics.
Victoria Tomlinson
Founder and CEO
Next-Up
Louise Ballard
Co-founder of atheni.ai and Co-author of Expiry Date Never
Roundtable: Who trains tomorrow's legal leaders?
As AI reshapes traditional career paths, law firms and corporates face a critical question: how do future partners and GCs develop judgement, leadership and decision-making skills that only come through experience? This senior roundtable explores new models for building, retaining and transferring expertise in the AI era.
Pauline Hughes
Founder and CEO
Gains
The silent tax: How fear in legal culture costs you more than you think
When people don’t feel safe to speak up, risks surface too late, poor decisions go unchallenged and talented lawyers disengage. This roundtable explores how legal teams can build a culture of trust, candid feedback and healthy challenge, creating stronger decisions, higher engagement and better business outcomes.
More sessions coming soon!
Come to learn. Leave with new ideas and new friends.
5000+
attendees
250+
speakers
150+
sessions
Countless
conversations
Session formats
Whether you want big-stage inspiration or practical advice you can take back to work tomorrow, we’ve got something for you.
Keynotes
Big ideas and fresh perspecives from legal leaders, innovators and industry changemakers
TED-Style talks
Fast-paced sessions packed with practical insights and real-world lessons
Workshops
Roll up your sleeves and work through challenges with experts and peers
Roundtables
Small-group discussions tackling the biggest issues facing legal teams today
Product demos
See the latest tools and technology in action
Ask-me-anything
Honest conversations with legal leaders, founders and industry experts
Panel discussions
Hear diverse perspectives on the issues shaping the future of legal
Location: The Old Truman Brewery
When: Wednesday 14 - Thursday 15 October 2026
Address: 15 Hanbury Street, Shoreditch, London, E16QR
Address: 15 Hanbury Street, Shoreditch, London, E16QR
Venue entrance (via Ely's yard):
