In an era where technology is fundamentally reshaping the legal landscape, staying informed about emerging trends and innovations has never been more crucial. To help legal professionals navigate this evolving terrain, we're thrilled to launch the vLex Innovator Q&A Series, featuring in-depth conversations with winners of the prestigious Fastcase 50 award who are driving change in the legal industry.

Our inaugural interview features Colin Levy, a prominent legal tech influencer, the Director of Legal and Evangelist at Malbek, and adjunct professor at Albany Law School. Through our wide-ranging discussion, Colin shared valuable insights with vLex’s Chief Strategy Officer, Ed Walters, on the intersection of law and technology, the transformative impact of AI, his predictions for 2025, and more.

Watch the full interview with Colin Levy

Legal Industry Insights from Colin Levy

The Journey Into LegalTech

Colin's path to becoming a legal tech pioneer reflects the changing nature of legal practice itself. In the search for his first legal role after graduating law school, he encountered a striking disconnect between traditional legal practice and the technological advancement happening in other industries. Rather than accepting this status quo, Colin turned his observation into opportunity.

"I quickly saw the disconnect between what I was doing and technology's impact upon other industries," Colin recalls. "That prompted me to want to reach out to others to either confirm that A, I was crazy to even be thinking about that, or B, that I actually wasn't crazy and that there are other people thinking about these things as well."

This curiosity led to a journey of community building and knowledge sharing that ultimately landed him his dream role at Malbek. As Director of Legal and Evangelist, Colin's responsibilities span traditional legal work, technology implementation, and industry thought leadership and education.. "Because I am the director of legal, effectively the general counsel, I kind of do whatever is asked of me from the legal side," he explains. His daily activities range from contract negotiations and data privacy matters to marketing initiatives and product development input, exemplifying the evolving role of in-house counsel in the digital age.

The Role of AI in the Evolving Relationship Between In-House and Outside Counsel

Colin offers a nuanced perspective on AI's role in legal practice, emphasizing its function as an augmentation tool rather than a replacement technology. He points out that AI excels particularly in handling data-intensive, repetitive tasks that would be time-consuming for human lawyers, such as contract analysis, document review, and trend identification in large datasets.

The integration of AI is reshaping the traditional dynamics between corporate legal departments and outside counsel. "Clients want to have a better understanding of how it is being used," Colin notes. "They are not opposed to it being used. They just want to know how and why so that they can be a better judge of the work product that they are receiving and have a better sense of where it is coming from and who is doing it."

This shift has created an interesting tension in the industry. While some routine work may be moving in-house thanks to AI tools, Colin stresses that complex matters requiring sophisticated judgment and emotional intelligence still necessitate external expertise. "Because generative AI is not great at some really sort of heavy-duty contextual matters that require a high degree of judgment and even in some cases emotional intelligence... the relationship with the outside law firm is what is going to matter more."

Colin Levy's Predictions for 2025

Looking ahead to 2025, Colin shared three compelling predictions that suggest significant changes in legal technology and practice.

First, he anticipates the emergence of more sophisticated multimodal AI models capable of simultaneously processing text, audio, and visual information. "We're getting closer, inch by inch, to where we're able to talk with one of these tools, and it will just do exactly what we ask it to do," he explains, though cautioning that we're not quite there yet.

His second prediction focuses on the evolving relationship between law firms and clients regarding AI usage. Colin expects increased scrutiny and demands for transparency about how firms implement AI tools, driven by clients' growing awareness of AI capabilities and concerns about cost efficiency.

Finally, and perhaps most significantly, Colin predicts a fundamental shift in what it means to be a lawyer. "We're going to see lawyers be more sort of project managers and builders, and less of just sort of the traditional lawyer who gets called by a client in an emergency," he states. This evolution will require legal professionals to develop broader skill sets encompassing technology, process improvement, and solution design.

What's Next?

We're grateful to Colin Levy for sharing his valuable insights and helping us launch this series with such a thoughtful discussion of legal technology's present and future. To connect with Colin and follow his ongoing work in legal innovation, you can find him on LinkedIn.

Stay tuned for our next interview with Wendy Butler Curtis, Chief Innovation Officer of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, where we'll explore her groundbreaking work in legal innovation through the lens of data, technology, and legal operations.

Authored By

Jeff Cox