Thomson Reuters

Unlocking innovation in law: The future of professionals with strategic AI adoption

Live Event Date: Oct 8, 2025

Live Event Time: 10 AM CT

Hosted by Thomson Reuters

Join us for an exclusive webinar exploring the latest insights from the Thomson Reuters Future of Professionals Report 2025. Discover how AI is transforming the legal profession, generating more opportunities for business development, and creating a widening gap between firms with and without a visible AI strategy.

Register to learn key findings on:

The ROI of AI: How law firms are unlocking up to 240 hours per professional per year and boosting revenue growth
The new competitive divide: Why firms with a visible AI strategy are twice as likely to experience revenue gains
Overcoming barriers: Addressing accuracy, security, and skills gaps to maximize AI’s benefits
The modern legal professional: Essential skills and roles for thriving in an AI-driven future

Busy at this time? Register anyway! We’ll send you a copy of the webinar recording to watch at your leisure after the event has aired.

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Zach Warren

Zach Warren leads technology and innovation content for the Thomson Reuters Institute. Zach has been writing and speaking on tech and innovation for more than a decade, and with Thomson Reuters, charts the future of professional services industries, including legal, tax, and risk & fraud, through writing, podcasts, speaking engagements, and more. Before coming to Thomson Reuters, Zach was the editor-in-chief of ALM’s Legaltech News and featured on Law.com, The American Lawyer and ALM events such as Legalweek. Zach lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two dogs, and has a bachelor’s from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and an MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

Ben Firth

Ben is the Director of Sales and Customer Success at Thomson Reuters, having joined as part of the HighQ acquisition in 2018. Leading a pan-European team, he is responsible for ensuring clients get the best from their legal tech investment. Ben has over 20 years’ experience in supporting law firms through technology and during this time, he has worked for several Legal Tech vendors — from technical and business consultancy to sales and vendor management — and has seen the landscape change drastically over the past two decades.

Valerie McConnell

Valerie is the Vice President of Solution Engineering at Thomson Reuters, where she uses her litigation and intellectual property background to advise legal professionals on how to leverage artificial intelligence in their practices. Valerie is a frequent speaker on the application of generative AI to solve common pain points in legal workflows. Before joining Thomson Reuters, Valerie served as the Vice President of Customer Success at Casetext, where she worked on the testing and development of CoCounsel. Previously, Valerie was a litigator at Jones Day. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School and studied computer science at Princeton University.

Jacob Edwards

Jacob Edwards is an accomplished litigator for a boutique firm in Atlanta, Georgia, representing plaintiffs and defendants ranging from Fortune 500 companies to closely held businesses.

Before joining his current firm, Jacob clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and practiced civil litigation at two international law firms. He has briefed appeals in several state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.

Whether in trial, arbitration, or on appeal, Jacob is known for developing creative strategies and practical solutions to complex legal disputes. Over the past year, Jacob led his firm’s committee to test and adopt AI tools and strategies to complement their fast-paced litigation, corporate, and real estate departments.

Kristina Bakardjiev

Kristina Bakardjiev is an experienced lawyer and innovation leader with a proven track record of driving digital transformation across top-tier law firms and legal departments. She brings expertise in legal strategy, AI, practice intelligence (KM), governance, and data security. As a trusted advisor to firm leadership and clients, she is a skilled team builder who excels at piloting and benchmarking emerging technologies, optimizing workflows, and strategically aligning innovation with business outcomes.

Mike Abbott

Mike Abbott is the Head of Thomson Reuters Institute – Thomson Reuters’ hub for thought leadership content, conferences, and analytics for Legal, Tax, Corporate and Government professionals. Their engagement with leadership of these organizations also includes the delivery of a series of custom research and advisory services offerings.

Prior to his role with the Thomson Reuters Institute, Mike was a Senior Consultant with Hildebrandt Consulting, helped establish the Thomson Reuters Global Account Management program – where he served as Vice President and Global Business Director – and held leadership positions in Sales & Client Management, Marketing and Strategic Marketing for Thomson Reuters in Washington DC and Minneapolis, MN.