Akerman LLP is seeking a Director of Artificial Intelligence to lead the firm's AI strategy and innovation agenda, driving the discovery, evaluation, and implementation of AI-powered solutions across legal practice areas and business operations to improve legal workflows, enhance client service delivery, and increase operational efficiency.
Requirements
- Expertise with technologies such as generative AI (e.g., LLMs), NLP, contract analysis tools, legal analytics platforms, and RPA solutions.
- Generative AI APIs (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, etc.)
- Legal-specific AI platforms (e.g., Kira, Harvey, Vincent AI, Co-Counsel. Lexis+ AI)
- Workflow and automation tools (e.g., Power Automate, UiPath)
- Microsoft 365, iManage, SharePoint, Co-Pilot
- 10+ years of experience in legal innovation, technology strategy, or AI solution development, ideally in professional services or Am Law 100 context.
- Proven track record of successfully delivering AI/automation projects within complex environments.
Responsibilities
- Define and execute the firmwide AI roadmap, aligned with strategic business goals and legal service delivery models.
- Identify emerging AI technologies and assess their applicability to legal practice areas such as litigation, M&A, regulatory, and intellectual property.
- Lead the implementation of intelligent automation tools (e.g., document automation, robotic process automation, NLP-based tools) to streamline internal processes and reduce manual effort.
- Leverage AI to enhance knowledge management, matter lifecycle efficiency, document review, and client collaboration platforms.
- Establish protocols for responsible AI use in line with data privacy, ethical, and regulatory standards applicable to the legal industry.
- Collaborate with cybersecurity, risk management, and compliance teams to evaluate risk exposure in AI-driven applications.
- Build and lead a multidisciplinary team of technologists, researchers, attorneys, and external vendors.
Other
- Serve as a thought leader internally and externally, educating stakeholders on the role of AI in the evolving legal market.
- Partner with legal practice groups to explore and pilot AI applications tailored to their unique workflows—e.g., contract analysis, due diligence, legal research, litigation analytics.
- Develop use cases in collaboration with partners and practice innovation leads, with clear ROI and business justification.
- Support practice innovation labs and client-facing AI initiatives.
- Facilitate cross-departmental collaboration among IT, KM, legal operations, and other administrative teams.
