E54 - Who Will Win AI for In-House Counsel? Ross McNairn, CEO Wordsmith.ai

Why are some general counsel suddenly becoming the most influential executives in the C-suite? In this episode, Zach speaks with Ross McNairn, founder and CEO of Wordsmith, about why AI is fundamentally changing the role of in-house legal teams. They discuss how legal departments are evolving from cost centers into strategic operators, why generic AI chatbots aren't enough for enterprise legal work, and how the next generation of legal technology will help GCs measure ROI, manage legal operations, and reduce reliance on outside counsel. The conversation also explores why traditional CLM systems have fallen short, the emergence of legal engineering, and what the future of corporate legal teams looks like in an AI-native world.  

In this episode:

•⁠  ⁠Why AI is turning general counsel into technology leaders inside their organizations •⁠  ⁠Why enterprise legal teams need more than ChatGPT to transform their workflows •⁠  ⁠How legal departments can finally measure ROI and demonstrate business value •⁠  ⁠Why traditional CLM systems failed and what comes next •⁠  ⁠How legal engineering is becoming one of the most important new roles in corporate legal

  Follow Along: Ross - https://x.com/rossmcnairn?lang=en, https://www.linkedin.com/in/rossmcnairn Zach - https://x.com/ZachAbramowitz?lang=en, www.linkedin.com/in/zachabramowitz   Subscribe to Zach’s newsletter https://www.legallydisrupted.com/   Engage Killer Whale Strategies https://www.killerwhalestrategies.com