Main topic
Why AI is an existential moment for lawyers. For years they made the plays on the field. Now AI is the player, and lawyers are being asked to coach.
Candid conversations on the future of in-house legal leadership.Hosted by Somya Kaushik, Chief Legal Officer at Checkbox, the conversations legal leaders usually only have behind closed doors, with the GCs, CLOs, and legal ops leaders shaping what comes next.
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Listen to Open Door episode 3
Mark Allen went from Berkeley Law and Fenwick & West to USC film school and five years working on TV shows in Hollywood. Netflix then gave him a team of engineers to build legal tech from scratch, and Zillow asked him to build its legal operations and strategy function. Today he helps legal teams at Legora rethink how they work with AI.
Episode overview
Mark Allen, Senior Director of Legal Innovation at Legora, joins Somya Kaushik to talk about courage, professional identity and how AI is changing the role of the lawyer.
Guest perspective
After the darkest week of his law school career, Mark realized he didn't need entertainment law to get into entertainment. He quit his firm for film school and later built legal tech at Netflix.
Key takeaway
Mark sorts legal work into four buckets: work AI handles alone, production work lawyers review at deviations, judgment calls AI is getting better at, and major risk calls that stay with people.
What comes next
Close the door on tech aversion. Open the door to new career paths, and reimagine your operating model and the roles your team plays.
Meet your host and guest
Somya Kaushik
Chief Legal Officer, Checkbox
A former New York trial attorney turned legal tech founder turned CLO, Somya has spent her career on both sides of the table, practicing law and building the technology that changes how it's practiced. That dual lens is what Open Door is about: legal leaders who don't just manage change, but build through it.
Mark Allen
Senior Director of Legal Innovation, Legora
Mark leads legal innovation at Legora, bringing a practitioner's view into product, marketing and go-to-market to help in-house legal teams move from AI buy-in to adoption. He previously led Legal Operations, Strategy and AI for Zillow Group's Legal & Compliance organization and held roles at Netflix and Activision Blizzard. He also serves on the CLOC Board.
"AI is the player now. We all have to be comfortable being a coach."Mark Allen, Senior Director of Legal Innovation at Legora, on Open Door
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Open Door is brought to you by Checkbox, the AI front door for legal teams.
