Artificial intelligence is beginning to change not just how lawyers work, but what parts of the job remain distinctly human. In this episode of New Law Order, we speak with Jason Boehmig, founder and CEO of Ironclad, about how AI and legal technology are reshaping the structure of the legal profession.
Boehmig explains to hosts Joel and John that software is increasingly taking over the mechanical work of law—document manipulation, contract routing, approvals, and data extraction—freeing lawyers to focus on judgment, strategy, and legal reasoning. While this promises massive benifits to lawyers and their clients, the shift raises uncomfortable questions: if AI tools can dramatically increase speed and accuracy, at what point does failing to use them begin to look like malpractice? And as contracts and legal documents become structured datasets, where is the line between practicing law and analyzing legal data?
Drawing on his experience building technology for legal teams, Boehmig explains why many important innovations in legal tech have emerged outside traditional law firms. When legal work is decoupled from the billable hour—as it is inside corporate legal departments—the incentives shift toward efficiency, automation, and system design. That environment has become a laboratory for new ways of organizing legal work.
The conversation also explores what these changes may mean for the profession itself. Boehmig predicts fewer traditional junior lawyers performing repetitive work and the emergence of new roles—“legal engineers,” technologists, and data specialists—working alongside attorneys. Much like finance evolved from human traders to a hybrid world of traders and quantitative engineers, the legal industry may be heading toward a similar transformation.
Guest: Jason Boehmig is the founder and CEO of Ironclad, an AI contracting company used by legal teams at many of the world’s leading technology companies. A former lawyer at Fenwick, he founded Ironclad after teaching himself to code and becoming convinced that software could fundamentally reshape the way legal work is performed.
For more conversations with the figures reshaping the legal business, subscribe to New Law Order. For a CLE-eligible version of this interview and more legal analysis, visit www.talksonlaw.com. For questions or comments, email newlaworder@talksonlaw.com.
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