Home Podcasts Pearls On, Gloves Off: The Legal Innovation Podcast
Pearls On, Gloves Off: The Legal Innovation Podcast

Pearls On, Gloves Off: The Legal Innovation Podcast

Mary O'Carroll 99 Episodes Oct 13, 2026

Join Mary O'Carroll as she sits down with General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers, and industry pioneers to tackle the debates reshaping legal services and technology. Presented by Workday.

Episodes

#105 - Disrupt Yourself First: How Redgrave Is Rebuilding the Law Firm Model
#105 - Disrupt Yourself First: How Redgrave Is Rebuilding the Law Firm Model Oct 13, 2026 01:04:31 Mary sits down with Erica Zolner, Britney Colton, and Ray Mangum of Redgrave LLP, an information law firm that runs nothing like a traditional firm. They dig into what happens when lawyers and technologists work side by side, how AI turned 600,000 contract PDFs into a risk picture in five days, why disrupting yourself beats waiting to be disrupted, why clients still hold on to the billable hour, a
#104 - Flight Simulators for Lawyers: The Rise of the Legal Engineer and How the Profession Learns
#104 - Flight Simulators for Lawyers: The Rise of the Legal Engineer and How the Profession Learns Sep 29, 2026 55:26 Mary sits down with Stanford Law's Adam Sterling and Irene Liu to unpack the school's new Legal Engineering Academy. They dig into what a legal engineer actually is, why the legal apprenticeship model has been broken for years, how AI-powered 'flight simulators' could compress a decade of experience into months, why AI may be pushing demand for young lawyers up rather than down, and what the legal
#103 - The Lawyer Personality Unpacked: What the Data Says After 32 Years of Research
#103 - The Lawyer Personality Unpacked: What the Data Says After 32 Years of Research Sep 15, 2026 01:15:54 Mary sits down with Dr. Larry Richard, psychologist, former lawyer, and the foremost researcher on lawyer personality, for a return visit that goes even deeper than their first conversation. They dig into the seven personality traits that make lawyers uniquely wired for the law and uniquely challenged by everything else, why nine out of ten lawyers are thin-skinned, why empathy has dropped 50% in
#102 - Inside Crosby: The AI Law Firm Rethinking How Legal Work Gets Done
#102 - Inside Crosby: The AI Law Firm Rethinking How Legal Work Gets Done Sep 1, 2026 57:18 Mary sits down with Ryan Daniels, Co-Founder and CEO of Crosby, for a rare look inside one of legal tech's most talked-about AI native law firms. They dig into why Ryan built a law firm instead of a legal tech company, how fixed fee pricing completely changes the unit economics of legal services, why Crosby lawyers are evaluated on speed not hours, how they're building a data moat from every contr
#101 - Ford's Warning Shot: Adapt or Get Left Behind
#101 - Ford's Warning Shot: Adapt or Get Left Behind Aug 18, 2026 51:10 Mary sits down with Darth Vaughn, Associate General Counsel and Managing Director of Policy and Legal Ops at Ford Motor Company, for a candid conversation about what it actually looks like when one of the world's largest legal departments stops waiting and starts building. They dig into why the billable hour model is structurally broken, what Ford actually expects from its outside counsel, why AI
#100 - The Future of Legal Is Already Here - A Conversation with CLO Eric Greenberg
#100 - The Future of Legal Is Already Here - A Conversation with CLO Eric Greenberg Aug 4, 2026 58:55 Mary sits down with Eric Greenberg, EVP, Chief Legal Officer, and Corporate Secretary at Cox Media Group, for a milestone 100th episode conversation about what it actually takes to lead a legal department through transformation. They dig into why AI governance is really an anthropology problem, why buying software is the beginning not the end, the future of big law and outside counsel relationship
#99 - Who Is Sandstone? Inside Legal Tech's Most Talked-About Company
#99 - Who Is Sandstone? Inside Legal Tech's Most Talked-About Company Jul 21, 2026 54:20 Mary sits down with Nick Fleisher, Co-Founder and CEO of Sandstone, to pull back the curtain on legal tech's fastest-rising company. They dig into why great software still matters in the age of AI, how Sandstone is solving the permissions and context problem that's plagued in-house legal for years, why law firms will never out-build tech companies, and how an AI-native team is redefining what it m
#98 - Anna Richards
#98 - Anna Richards Jul 7, 2026 51:26 Mary sits down with Anna Richards, Head of Community at Brightflag, to catch up on what's actually happening on the ground in legal ops right now. They dig into the shifting skill sets legal ops leaders need, how to think about building a tech stack from scratch, and why the job keeps getting harder even as expectations keep climbing. This episode is presented by Workday. Join Mary's Substack Comm
#97 - The Senior Talent Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
#97 - The Senior Talent Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About Jun 23, 2026 52:43 In today's episode, Mary sits down with James O'Dowd, CEO and founder of Patrick Morgan, to explore what legal can learn from the PE and AI disruption already reshaping accounting and consulting. James breaks down why governance is the real unlock private equity brings, how compensation models are shifting away from legacy profit-sharing, and why cultural buy-in ultimately determines whether any o
#96 - Curating AI Tools for a Global Law Firm
#96 - Curating AI Tools for a Global Law Firm Jun 9, 2026 53:57 In today's episode, Mary sits down with Ilona Logvinova, Chief AI Officer at HSF Kramer, to talk about what it actually takes to turn a global law firm into an AI native organization. They cover why the Chief AI Officer title means something different from innovation, what it takes to build a forward deployed legal engineering function, and why the real edge isn't buying technology - it's the peop
#95 - Legal Will Lead The AI Revolution
#95 - Legal Will Lead The AI Revolution May 26, 2026 59:39 In today's episode, Mary sits down with Aine Lyons, Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel and Chief Strategy Officer at Workday, to talk about what it actually takes to build a modern legal department. They cover why Aine deliberately designed Workday's function without a traditional legal ops silo, what it means to reskill every lawyer in the department, and why guardrails and governance
#94 - Who Needs Associates? Pierson Ferdinand's Partner Only Model
#94 - Who Needs Associates? Pierson Ferdinand's Partner Only Model May 12, 2026 54:24 In today's episode, Mary sits down with Michael Pierson and Joel Ferdinand, Co-Chairmen of Pierson Ferdinand, and Christina Wojcik, their Chief Innovation Officer. Together, they break down what it actually takes to build the law firm of the future and why buying AI tools without rethinking your structure, culture, and compensation model is the wrong place to start. This episode is presented by Wo

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