More Than A Lawyer with Holly Cope

In this episode, I'm talking with Dharshi Harindra, a tech lawyer, Assistant General Counsel, and Executive Coach.

She is the founder and host of the Unbiased podcast, a platform dedicated to exploring the legal industry through the lens of curiosity and leadership.

We first met at Legal Tech Talk in London in 2025, and after a brief chat for my show, she invited me onto hers to dig deeper into the "why" behind the work I do.

We talk about the transformation of the legal industry and how the widening mindset gap between generations is the primary barrier to AI adoption. You’ll hear perspectives on reclaiming your career autonomy and the importance of upskilling in an era where AI is rapidly automating junior-level tasks.

In this conversation, we explore:

The "Inside-Outside" Perspective: My journey from training as a lawyer to building a freelance career that supports a digital nomad lifestyle.

The Gen Z vs. Traditional Firm Conflict: Why law firms are no longer just competing with each other, but with the flexibility of consultancy models.

The Trust Gap in AI: Why most legal tech marketing misses the mark and how practitioners can bridge the knowledge gap.

The Global AI Skills Summit: Reflections on the November 2025 summit and the necessity of mandatory AI training for the future of the profession.

Living Intentionally: A closing question on whether your daily actions actually align with your long-term goals.

I usually spend my time interviewing others, but Dharshi gave me a rare opportunity to share my own story. I’m sharing this here because many of the themes we discussed - specifically the mindset shift required to survive the AI era - are the core of why I created this podcast. I hope you enjoy the "other side" of the microphone as much as I did.
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In this episode, I'm talking with James Smither, Global Head of Risk Management at Freshfields. James is a self-described "risk geek" dedicated to redefining how law firms perceive uncertainty as both a massive upside and a critical downside.

We talk about the "apocalyptic spectrum" of AI risks - from the common trip-ups like hallucinations and citation errors to the looming threat of quantum computing breaking modern encryption. You’ll hear why the traditional graduate recruitment model is officially obsolete and how firms must pivot to training "AI natives" who can balance technical curiosity with human scepticism.

Defining Risk 101: Why risk is the "impact of uncertainty on objectives" and why that matters for your bottom line.

The Talent Gap: The disconnect between "AI natives" who instinctively use the tools and the "analogue generation" who know how to spot their mistakes.

The End of the Billable Hour?: Why AI efficiency is creating a tangible, existential threat to traditional legal pricing models.

The Human Value-Add: Why your unique insight and reliability are the only things that will distinguish winners from losers when everyone uses the same machines.

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Each week I take what I'm hearing in conversations with legal leaders.

I analyze the market and track emerging trends in this AI era.

In my newsletter called The Future Lawyer Market Intel for the AI era

I'm focused on:

What AI is exposing
The opportunities
The blind spots
And the shifts shaping the next five years.

This is how you see the chessboard before everyone else does:

https://hollycope.my.canva.site/thefuturelawyer
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In this episode, I'm talking with Sandy MacDonald, Senior Director and Head of Legal Operations at DocuSign. Sandy is recognised for building an "ahead of the curve" team that treats AI not just as a tool, but as a collaborative digital assistant embedded into the very fabric of their workflow.

We talk about the cultural shift of AI adoption and how focusing on individual "pain points". You’ll hear perspectives on "human-in-the-loop" governance and why the most successful legal teams are moving away from "AI slop" toward high-value, verified automation that lawyers actually trust.

Overcoming the Fear of Replacement: Sandy explains that the primary cultural hurdle is fear; however, she emphasises that AI won't replace lawyers, but lawyers who use AI will replace those who do not.

The "Foot in the Door" Strategy: Instead of massive overhauls, the team focuses on "narrow use cases" such as using Gemini to generate images for presentations - to build curiosity and comfort.

"Human-in-the-Loop" Governance: DocuSign implements a strict governance model where humans remain responsible for validating every piece of AI-generated output.

Peer-to-Peer Learning Over Formal Training: Sandy shares why monthly "AI wins" segments in Town Halls are more contagious and effective than top-down mandates or formal one-hour training sessions.

Criteria for AI Adoption: How to identify the best starting points for automation by looking for tasks that are high-volume but low-risk, such as processing customer questionnaires.

The Evolution of Legal Ops: The shift in the Legal Ops role from being CLM (Contract Lifecycle Management) experts to becoming "AI evangelists" and builders who design their own custom workflows.

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Each week I take what I'm hearing in conversations with legal leaders.

I analyze the market and track emerging trends in this AI era.

In my newsletter called The Future Lawyer Market Intel for the AI era

I'm focused on:

What AI is exposing
The opportunities
The blind spots
And the shifts shaping the next five years.

This is how you see the chessboard before everyone else does:

https://hollycope.my.canva.site/thefuturelawyer
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, I'm talking with Zack Shapiro, founder of an AI-native law firm, Rains LLP. Zack is a corporate lawyer focused on startups and business law who has transformed his two-person practice into a high-leverage powerhouse serving over 200 clients. Despite describing himself as "uniquely bad at using tech tools," he has pioneered a "Claude-native" workflow that uses agentic AI to handle his legal work.

We talk about the shift from "billable hours" to "high-judgment lawyering" and how prompting is becoming the most critical white-collar skill of the next decade. You’ll hear perspectives on why most legal tech "wrappers" are actually counterproductive that most lawyers are missing.

The Power of "Bare Metal": Why Zack avoids expensive legal AI platforms in favor of direct, "bare metal" interaction with reasoning models like Claude.

Prompting as an Essay: Moving beyond simple queries to 2,000-word "context dumps" that capture the nuance of a client's specific leverage and goals.

Building Custom "Skills": How to use your own past work as a reinforcement learning environment to create agentic workflows that compound in value over time.

The Entrepreneurial Opportunity: Why now is the greatest time in history for small, AI-empowered legal teams to steal market share from rigid, legacy firms.

The Hallucination Filter: Practical strategies for using AI to check itself, ensuring that "turning your brain off" never becomes an option.

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Each week I take what I'm hearing in conversations with legal leaders.

I analyze the market and track emerging trends in this AI era.

In my newsletter called The Future Lawyer Market Intel for the AI era

I'm focused on:

What AI is exposing
The opportunities
The blind spots
And the shifts shaping the next five years.

This is how you see the chessboard before everyone else does:

https://hollycope.my.canva.site/thefuturelawyer
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm talking with:
Peter Boyce, one of the legal deputy directors in the civil service and AI lead for his agency.
Amy Cronin, senior director of legal at Skyscanner.
Alexander, Co-lead of AI Research at Thomson Reuters.
David Mazur, Vice President, General Counsel & Compliance Officer for Nestle.

In this episode, we explore how AI is reshaping entry-level roles in law firms and what it means for the next generation of legal professionals. With firms increasingly investing in AI tools for high-volume, foundational tasks, like disclosure and early-stage case preparation, junior lawyers are facing a changing landscape. This shift raises important questions about skills development, career progression, and the future of legal education.

We dive into:
The evolving role of junior lawyers: How AI is taking over manual, high-volume tasks and what that means for experiential learning.
Essential skills for the AI era: Why critical thinking and an "AI-first" mindset are becoming the most valuable human contributions in law.
Hybrid expertise: How future lawyers will need to combine legal knowledge with technical acumen to guide AI effectively.

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Each week I take what I'm hearing in conversations with legal leaders.

I analyze the market and track emerging trends in this AI era.

In my newsletter called The Future Lawyer Market Intel for the AI era

I'm focused on:

What AI is exposing
The opportunities
The blind spots
And the shifts shaping the next five years.

This is how you see the chessboard before everyone else does:

https://hollycope.my.canva.site/thefuturelawyer
New approaches to hiring and professional development: Why portfolios, business proposals, and problem-solving abilities may become more important than traditional CVs.
Opportunities amid change: How junior lawyers can add value by spotting inefficiencies and leveraging AI to deliver smarter solutions.
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