Shift AI Podcast The Great Legal AI Pivot with LexisNexis Technology Chairman Jeff Reihl
Dec 3, 2025
Jeff Reihl, Technology Chairman at LexisNexis, shares his insights on the company's strategic pivot to generative AI following the rise of ChatGPT. He discusses how they utilized their vast document repository to tackle hallucination issues in legal AI applications. Jeff emphasizes the importance of maintaining trust and accuracy while also transforming the roles of junior lawyers. He highlights LexisNexis's impressive ROI and explores the automation of legal summarization and partnerships with AI startups, making a strong case for AI's future in the legal field.
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From Mainframe To Modernization
- Jeff Reihl described moving from mainframe IBM assembly systems to modern platforms while leading LexisNexis modernization.
- He transformed a 40-year manual editorial process into a technology-led organization and became CTO for 15 years.
ChatGPT Triggered A Strategic Pivot
- ChatGPT's arrival forced a rapid strategic pivot across LexisNexis in early 2023.
- Jeff Reihl saw generative models as tightly aligned to lawyers' core tasks: research, document review, and drafting.
Always Ground Outputs With RAG
- Ground generative outputs in authoritative sources using RAG to prevent hallucinations.
- Provide citations and links so lawyers can validate any AI-produced case references.