By Chris Caesar
law of technology
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winter 2026
technology of law
By Michael Fisch
When Vedika Mehera Ahlgren, JD ’15, director of Orrick Labs, arrived at Orrick seven years ago, the firm had implemented a bold policy: Attorneys could spend up to 50 hours of billable time on innovation projects. The policy was so successful the firm has since doubled the hours to 100. Orrick Labs, the firm’s in-house innovation team, builds custom tech solutions for its clients and lawyers. We asked what she’s learned.
You’re asking associates to trade billable work for experiments. What’s the pitch?
Innovation makes their lives better—less manual work, fewer extra hours. Plus it’s a strategic differentiator. Better for clients means better for us.
Why is this a good thing for a firm that makes its money by the hour?
We’re anticipating change will come and our goal is to be ready for it. If we add value for clients now and show that we are leaders, we believe they will look to us as the kind of outside counsel they want for the long term and as a strategic partner while they’re navigating change. We’ve already seen significant revenue growth through this approach.
What's an example of a big payoff?
We built an automated system for a high-volume litigation client handling 400-plus matters yearly. It automatically assigns cases, extracts data points, and creates status dashboards. We’ve grown revenue almost 10 times while keeping almost the same head count through efficiency gains.
How are you using AI?
We’ve built AI chatbots for complex licensing guides—marketing teams can now get instant answers about content-usage rights. We’ve also created AI knowledge repositories that surface expert-drafted resources when clients ask questions. We’re testing agentic AI that can complete due diligence tasks in minutes instead of billable hours.
How did Suffolk Law prepare you for this work?
I was one of the first students in Suffolk’s Legal Innovation & Technology program—pre-ChatGPT—where I learned document automation in Professor Lauritsen’s class. Professor MacDonagh’s Legal Lean Six Sigma class gave me additional credentials that helped launch my career. During 3L year, I automated court forms for pro se litigants at the Trial Court.
What can other firms learn from your AI implementation?
Don’t overpromise. We say: “Here’s what we think is possible with AI—let’s test it and see.” Even when technology works, adoption is sometimes the biggest hurdle. You can build tools all day long, but without constant training and champions, they’re guaranteed to fail.
What’s the hardest part?
Change management. We’ll build incredibly useful solutions that sometimes don’t get adopted because they require a complete overhaul for how lawyers work. Leadership has to make innovation a clear strategic priority. Sometimes people just need breathing room—the best ideas come when your brain is at rest. These innovation hours give people space to step back from deals and litigation to think differently. That’s when real breakthroughs happen.
Vedika Mehera Ahlgren Photography courtesy of Vedika Mehera Ahlgren