Georgetown Law Professor Jonah Perlin joins Professor Daniel Gold. and Brandon Mack discuss how generative AI is reshaping legal practice and the economy of the profession. Perlin, a professor of law and ethics, brings a historian’s perspective to a debate that usually goes something like this: See more +
Georgetown Law Professor Jonah Perlin joins Professor Daniel Gold. and Brandon Mack discuss how generative AI is reshaping legal practice and the economy of the profession. Perlin, a law professor and ethicist, brought a historian’s perspective to a debate usually based on hype.
Some discussions worth bringing up:
–> “AI will kill billable hours” – not so fast. Perlin treats rewards as time x rate. Everyone is focused on saving time. But even if your hours are reduced and your rates are increased, your compensation will remain the same. And for clients who have been paying for value all along, nothing changes. A task worth $10,000 is still worth $10,000.
–> The real risk is not efficiency. It’s a perceived value. If billable hours are decreasing, it may not be because the attorney is working faster, but because the client simply decides the work is not worth as much. That is a far more worrying outcome than efficiency.
–> The reason it was so successful was that Pearlin was neither a preacher nor a prophet. His throughline: History doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes. The core of a good lawyer persists through every rotation.
listen + see
–> Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2pVF3IVaKaEDTr19iFUAVx?si=569e1f7011aa4ae0
–> Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/neli-pod/id1750535625
–> YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NeLIPod
Save the Date: NeLI Conference | September 24-25, 2026 | UMKC School of Law
judges. partner. Leader of the legal team. It’s been 2 days. One room. Conversations that actually move the field.
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