#114 The Long Way to Innovation: Reinventing a Legal Career

Joe Green has spent the last several years building one of the most ambitious AI and innovation programs in BigLaw — not by chasing the hottest tools, but by asking harder questions about how law firms actually create value and what has to change for that to evolve. He knows the real transformation won't come from product launches or conference buzz. It'll happen when firms feel actual business pressure: fewer billable hours because work takes less time, or clients demanding new ways to buy legal services.

In this episode of Lawyers Who Learn, host David Schnurman explores both Joe's innovation work at Gunderson Dettmer and the winding path that got him there. After seven years as a transactional associate — first at Simpson Thacher and then at Gunderson Dettmer — Joe was a skilled deal lawyer who struggled to feel genuinely energized by the work. The demands of managing complex, fast-moving transactions occupied every corner of his mental bandwidth, leaving little room to envision what else he might want to do. Getting to a place where he could think clearly about what came next took years of deliberate effort.

Writing changed everything. Joe discovered that co-authoring law review articles — something most practicing BigLaw lawyers never do — opened unexpected doors, eventually leading him to Practical Law at Thomson Reuters and then back to Gunderson in a completely reimagined role. Now he teaches startup/VC law at Penn Law, reads neuroscience books on his train commute, and thinks deeply about how AI will reshape legal training. His advice works for both innovation and careers: experiment with what interests you, stay ready to pivot, and trust that meaningful change rarely follows a straight line.