Best of Pioneers and Pathfinders: Damien Riehl

This week, we're revisiting one of our most compelling conversations—with Damien Riehl, a technology lawyer, coder, and thought leader at the intersection of law and innovation. At the time of our conversation, Damien was vice president and Solutions Champion at vLex. vLex recently made headlines with its acquisition by Clio, which is a move that signals a new chapter in the evolution of legal technology. So, we thought now is an apt time to replay this conversation with Damien. His career has spanned roles at Thomson, Reuters, Fastcase, and the SALI Alliance. Our discussion touched on a wide range of topics: his early experience as a tech attorney, the complexities of confidentiality and legal AI, music copyright, and the enduring value of a liberal arts education. We hope you enjoy this encore episode as much as we did. Our guest today is Damien Riehl, vice president and Solutions Champion at vLex, a platform using artificial intelligence solutions to streamline workflows and provide lawyers with greater access to knowledge and resources. Damien was a tech attorney for more than 10 years when he made the leap to Thomson Reuters as Senior Product Strategist, where he developed innovative legal technology involving artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. Inspired by Ed Walters’ efforts to democratize the law, Damien later joined Fastcase, where he served various roles building out legal tools and systems. In his current position at vLex, Damien helps lead the design, development, and expansion of products. Additionally, Damien is part of the leadership team at the Standards Advancement for the Legal Industry (SALI) Alliance. He is also co-founder of All the Music LLC, a project that involved copyrighting 471 billion melodies and placing them in the public domain. In 2019, Damien delivered a TED Talk in which he describes this process and offers a new way to handle copyright infringement lawsuits in music. In today’s conversation, Damien discusses vLex's newest product—Vincent AI, his decision to leave practice and join Thomson Reuters, the genesis of All the Music, and the future of teaching legal research. Read the full transcript of the episode here: https://www.seyfarth.com/dir_docs/podcast_transcripts/Pioneers_Bestof_DamienRiehl.pdf