The Geek In Review Anastasia Boyko on Advisor Mode, Training Lawyers for the Post-Pyramid Firm
Anastasia Boyko joins us this week for a wide-angle conversation about AI adoption, leadership, and the uncomfortable truth behind “we are watching what peer firms do.” A Yale-trained tax lawyer with experience spanning Axiom, legal education, and innovation leadership, Boyko argues that precedent-driven instincts are turning into a liability when the underlying rules of the market are shifting in real time.
The episode opens with lessons from the Women + AI 2.0 Summit at Vanderbilt and the “AI competence penalty” narrative. Boyko’s central principle for law firm leaders is simple, stop copying the competition and start operating with intention. Strategic planning matters more than tool shopping, especially when uncertainty makes leaders freeze, over-index on fear, or chase noise instead of outcomes.
From there, the conversation sharpens into client reality. Boyko shares what she is hearing from in-house leaders, and it is not comforting for firms. Legal departments are working to reduce dependence on outside counsel, business partners inside companies often accept “good enough,” and the models keep improving. The risk is not losing to a peer firm; it is losing the client relationship because the work stops feeling necessary.
A major theme is talent and the apprenticeship gap. Boyko argues firms underinvest in people, even as they spend aggressively on software stacks. AI can help junior lawyers with coaching and confidence, but it does not replace mentorship, judgment-building, or context. The skills that matter now include client advisory, operational thinking, critical judgment, and the ability to solve problems across a complex system, not only perform discrete tasks in a vacuum.
The episode closes on legal education and the future value of the JD. Boyko urges students to be selfish about learning AI, especially when faculty guidance comes from avoidance or philosophy rather than experimentation. Looking ahead, she predicts the JD’s value shifts upward, away from rote production and toward proactive advisory work, relationships, anticipatory counsel, and wisdom-driven judgment. In other words, fewer fire drills, more looking around corners.
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[Special Thanks to Legal Technology Hub for their sponsoring this episode.]
Email: geekinreviewpodcast@gmail.com
Music: Jerry David DeCicca