At a moment when players across the legal marketplace are questioning how to build and use technology to their greatest business advantage, Baretz+Brunelle, the growth advisory firm to elite businesses in the legal industry, has added a pioneer in legal innovation who has the answers. Evan Shenkman, who led the first-ever deployment of generative AI at an American law firm, has joined B+B as a partner. Most recently the chief knowledge and innovation officer of the 850-lawyer firm Fisher Phillips, Shenkman is widely regarded as one of the legal industry’s best—he has been named ILTA’s Innovative Leader of the Year, Litera’s Legal Innovator of the Year, and a Lawdragon Leading AI and Legal Technology Advisor three years running.
In 2022, Shenkman and his team helped develop CoCounsel, the first generative AI assistant built for lawyers, and Fisher Phillips became the first law firm to deploy it. Known throughout the legal tech community as an invaluable collaborator, he helped design and lead early deployments of Hebbia, Verbit Legal Visor, Trellis AI, and Vincent, which sold to Clio for $1 billion. Shenkman has served on advisory boards and led design partnerships with Thomson Reuters, Tough Day, Litera, HotShot, Courtroom Insight, Page Vault, Practising Law Institute’s Innovation Council, and WashU Law School’s AI Advisory Board.
At B+B, Shenkman will advise legal technology companies, law firms, and corporate law departments on designing, monetizing, and implementing technology- and data-based innovations that help them grow.
“Every law firm, law department, and technology company we meet is trying to convert enthusiasm over AI into business results. Evan has done that better than anyone,” said Mike McNamara, CEO of B+B. “Few advisors command his level of credibility with all three audiences, making him a perfect fit for B+B.”
Among his work across all of B+B, Shenkman will guide legal technology companies on product direction and market strategy alongside Joe Borstein, a B+B partner and co-founder of LexFusion, B+B’s innovation portfolio. Shenkman also will counsel law firms and law departments on technology selection, the change management required to realize its promise, and the advantageous use of data.
Shenkman’s background allows him to understand the perspective of all parties involved in legal innovation. He practiced labor and employment law for a decade at Jackson Lewis and Ogletree Deakins, which elected him shareholder before he turned to knowledge management in 2011.
“I love helping legal techs, law firms, and legal departments become the best version of themselves,” said Shenkman. “I recognized kindred spirits at B+B and LexFusion even before GenAI swept across the legal marketplace. I am eager to use our platform to help a broad range of elite businesses adapt to and drive the change that technology tools are making possible, and on which B+B is leading the way.”
Among LexFusion’s market-leading initiatives, in January, LexFusion Intelligence launched L.E.G.A.L., a research initiative anchored by Ford Motor Company, Microsoft, and CrowdStrike that has invited more than 300 law firms to report, on a standardized basis, how generative AI is changing their legal work and cost structures.
Shenkman earned his J.D., cum laude, from Boston College Law School and his B.S. from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
About Baretz+Brunelle
B+B is a growth advisory firm to elite businesses in the new legal economy. We focus on the things that drive growth in the legal industry—reputation, talent, revenue, leadership, capital, innovation, and intelligence.
For over 20 years, we have helped our clients build market-leading reputations, merge and acquire, manage crises, hire and accelerate top talent, make transformational business decisions, improve financials and operations, raise capital, deploy technology, launch new services, secure new clients, and dominate geographies and industry niches.
Our global clients are Am Law 100 and 200 law firms, elite boutiques, alternative legal services providers, legal technology companies, private equity firms and litigation funders, legal information and analytics companies, and other leading service providers and counterparties to the legal industry.
Founded in New York, our team includes former Am Law 100 C-suite executives and lawyers, marketing and communications mavens, award-winning journalists, corporate finance experts, digital marketing visionaries, legal technology gurus, management consultants, intelligence professionals, and legal talent advisors. For more information, visit www.baretzbrunelle.com.