Renée's leadership extends well beyond operations. While I focus on external-facing initiatives such as content, programs, and strategic vision, she oversees the core business functions of the company, including finance and HR, and is instrumental in driving our growth.
Leaving Wachtell wasn't an easy decision - it's one of the great law firms in the world, and I learned an enormous amount there. But it wasn't about leaving something behind; it was about being intentional about what came next.
The legal profession rewards endurance, precision and control. It also quietly normalizes stress, isolation and overextension. For patent practitioners and other IP lawyers, the pressures are uniquely acute: compressed prosecution deadlines, high-stakes litigation exposure, often unrealistic client-driven budget constraints, regulatory whiplash at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), and increasingly complex technologies layered with global filing and prosecution strategy.
This may be the last year that law firms can expect billing rate increases to drive financial stability, according to a new survey of more than 800 senior finance and legal professionals in large firms across North America, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Technology company BigHand's 2026 finance report suggests that firms can no longer rely on traditional measures of profitability, as clients are demanding more efficiency and predictability amid the increased adoption of artificial intelligence across the legal profession, according to Law.com.
I'm incredibly proud of the firm and what we've accomplished in the last year. We had certainly, the year before, a historic year financially, and this year was also historic in being one of our best financial years in history.
A long-time client has asked Kinney to help identify a private equity/finance attorney to join as a partner in the firm's lucrative group. No book required. The client is a top Am Law firm.
Lindsey Halligan, the former insurance attorney who spent some time "masquerading" - to use a federal judge's words - as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia attempted to ramrod criminal cases against Donald Trump's political enemies and failed spectacularly. Halligan botched the grand jury process, submitted an indictment that the full grand jury never saw, and got two cases dismissed simultaneously.
With so many options out there, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and confused about where to begin. To help you make sense of it all, "Adventures in Legal Tech" welcomed Jess Birkin, a solo attorney who gets a heck of a lot done in her unique practice niche by leveraging AI and business planning. Goals Versus Themes It's been a decade of upheaval. For lawyers, this reality complicates setting specific goals, because they are likely to be upended by outside events.
From law firms to in-house legal teams, the rules of value are being rewritten. The question is: Who's ready to lead the change? In the first episode of 2026 for the UpLevel View podcast, Stephanie Corey and Ken Callander sit down with Rita Gunther McGrath, Columbia Business School professor and Wall Street Journal columnist, to talk about how AI is forcing professional services to price outcomes instead of hours.
