50 - Balancing Innovation, Efficiency, and Resistance to Change with Neill Pemberton

Jan 8, 2025

Neill Pemberton, an Associate Partner at IBM Consulting and expert in Generative AI for professional services, dives into how AI is transforming the legal industry. He discusses the challenges of cultural resistance to innovation and how smaller AI models can enhance efficiency while addressing privacy concerns. Neill highlights the importance of integrating AI in manageable, low-risk ways to build trust within law firms, and he emphasizes the shift from traditional AI to generative AI. This conversation offers invaluable insights for legal professionals looking to navigate the evolving tech landscape.

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ANECDOTE

Neill's Career Path

Neill Pemberton's background includes working at Denton's, a startup, and now IBM Consulting.
His role involves leveraging IBM's technology and partnerships to improve legal businesses.

INSIGHT

Smaller Models, Big Impact

Smaller AI models, like IBM's Granite series with 8 billion parameters, can be highly effective.
These models offer advantages in speed, cost, and energy efficiency compared to larger models.

ANECDOTE

Small Models and Privacy

A patent attorney used small, downloadable LLMs for patent applications, prioritizing privacy.
He deleted and downloaded fresh models for each application to avoid storing sensitive data.

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In this episode, Ted sits down with Neill Pemberton, Associate Partner at IBM Consulting, for a thought-provoking exploration of how AI is reshaping the legal industry. From leveraging smaller, greener models to overcoming cultural resistance within law firms, Neill shares his expertise in navigating the dynamic landscape of legal technology. Whether you're curious about the shift from traditional AI to generative AI or looking for strategies to maximize ROI on AI adoption, this conversation offers valuable insights for law professionals at every level.

In this episode, Neill shares insights on how to:

Integrate AI into legal workflows effectively
Balance innovation with cost efficiency in law firms
Navigate the shift from traditional AI to generative AI in legal practice
Use small AI models to address privacy and energy concerns
Overcome resistance to change within law firms

Key takeaways:

IBM’s Granite AI models use only 8 billion parameters, proving that smaller, efficiently trained models can achieve high performance while reducing costs and energy consumption, making them ideal for enterprise applications.
Law firms can maximize the value of generative AI by integrating it with their existing labeled data, enabling more accurate and cost-effective workflows for tasks like clause identification and document review.
Incrementally introducing AI through low-risk, back-office functions like internal policy management or HR tasks allows firms to build confidence in the technology while avoiding the risks associated with client-facing errors.
Overcoming lawyers’ deeply ingrained "lone wolf" mindset requires strategic leadership and innovation teams to create a culture that prioritizes collaboration and long-term investment in transformative technology.

About the guest, Neill Pemberton:

Neill Pemberton is a former solicitor in England and an expert in the use of Generative AI in professional services. After 10 years at the global law firm Dentons, Neill joined Orbital Witness, where he became Head of Legal Innovation and grew the Legal Engineering team from one qualified lawyer to seven in just two years. Neill is now an Associate Partner with IBM Consulting.

“We use our own models, but we use others too. We use Llama and all sorts in our day-to-day work, and we find we can get good results using small models. So I think it's about how you use it, rather than what it is that you use.” – Neill Pemberton

Connect with Neill Pemberton:

Website: https://www.ibm.com/us-en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ibm

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neillpemberton/

Connect with Ted Theodoropoulos:

Website: https://getinfodash.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedtheo

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@getinfodash/podcasts