Jordan Furlong
@jordanfurlong.com
Legal sector analyst, consultant, author, speaker, and reformer (he/him). I publish a free bi-weekly Substack newsletter: https://jordanfurlong.substack.com/ "We have the chance to turn the pages over." Luke 12:24-32.
The sound of the '70s haunts the legal sector to this day:
October 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The sound of the '70s haunts the legal sector to this day:
New from me at Substack: What happens when the capacity to solve legal problems is no longer exclusive to lawyers, and can instead be found on every desktop and smartphone? What does it mean when legal reasoning becomes ubiquitous? We're about to find out. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-new-le...
October 28, 2025 at 2:01 PM
New from me at Substack: What happens when the capacity to solve legal problems is no longer exclusive to lawyers, and can instead be found on every desktop and smartphone? What does it mean when legal reasoning becomes ubiquitous? We're about to find out. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-new-le...
I'm hoping the full list of research questions might be included in the full report if they send it. My info comes from these two articles: www.law.com/legaltechnew... and www.legaltechnologyhub.com/contents/can.... A couple of the questions are provided below:
October 17, 2025 at 4:37 PM
I'm hoping the full list of research questions might be included in the full report if they send it. My info comes from these two articles: www.law.com/legaltechnew... and www.legaltechnologyhub.com/contents/can.... A couple of the questions are provided below:
Nikki Shaver (@nikjet.bsky.social)'s summary of the report at @legaltechnologyhub.com is important: Nobody is saying that "AI is better than lawyers" in general terms. But there are still three significant takeaways from this report that really stand out for me:
October 17, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Nikki Shaver (@nikjet.bsky.social)'s summary of the report at @legaltechnologyhub.com is important: Nobody is saying that "AI is better than lawyers" in general terms. But there are still three significant takeaways from this report that really stand out for me:
The big differentiator was "authoritativeness," which measures the strength and validity of primary and secondary sources and citations. The legal AI platforms significantly outperformed ChatGPT, as you'd expect. But both types of AI beat the lawyers (who hailed from a range of AmLaw 100 firms).
October 17, 2025 at 3:23 PM
The big differentiator was "authoritativeness," which measures the strength and validity of primary and secondary sources and citations. The legal AI platforms significantly outperformed ChatGPT, as you'd expect. But both types of AI beat the lawyers (who hailed from a range of AmLaw 100 firms).
But that first study didn't cover legal research; this one did. And the results should be a wakeup call for anyone still sleeping through the start of the legal AI era: Lawyers finished behind not only the legal research AI platforms, but also ChatGPT. (!)
October 17, 2025 at 3:23 PM
But that first study didn't cover legal research; this one did. And the results should be a wakeup call for anyone still sleeping through the start of the legal AI era: Lawyers finished behind not only the legal research AI platforms, but also ChatGPT. (!)
New from me at Substack: In the post-AI legal sector, lawyers will be called on for different functions than before. Here are three essential attributes lawyers must possess to meet that new demand. We need to start training lawyers to develop them -- now. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/three-core...
October 9, 2025 at 1:41 PM
New from me at Substack: In the post-AI legal sector, lawyers will be called on for different functions than before. Here are three essential attributes lawyers must possess to meet that new demand. We need to start training lawyers to develop them -- now. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/three-core...
Me, whenever the Harvey AI Discourse Machine powers up:
September 25, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Me, whenever the Harvey AI Discourse Machine powers up:
September 20, 2025 at 5:15 PM
My newest Substack forecasts the imminent divergence of law firms from lawyers, with firms heading toward techno-commoditization and lawyers ascending to unique law-infused client guidance -- if we give lawyers the tools to make the transition successfully. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-diverg...
September 16, 2025 at 1:18 PM
My newest Substack forecasts the imminent divergence of law firms from lawyers, with firms heading toward techno-commoditization and lawyers ascending to unique law-infused client guidance -- if we give lawyers the tools to make the transition successfully. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-diverg...
New from me at Substack: Sooner or later, AI will take over most legal task performance, which will spark an identity crisis for many lawyers. So now's the time to re-envision what lawyers could and should do beyond "legal work" and upgrade to higher roles. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-identi...
August 28, 2025 at 1:17 PM
New from me at Substack: Sooner or later, AI will take over most legal task performance, which will spark an identity crisis for many lawyers. So now's the time to re-envision what lawyers could and should do beyond "legal work" and upgrade to higher roles. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-identi...
My newest Substack is both a deep dive into the two fundamental reasons why we have lawyers, and an urgent call for the legal profession to take up the challenge of the second role by defending our society's collective aspiration and moral architecture. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/what-are-l...
July 30, 2025 at 2:28 PM
My newest Substack is both a deep dive into the two fundamental reasons why we have lawyers, and an urgent call for the legal profession to take up the challenge of the second role by defending our society's collective aspiration and moral architecture. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/what-are-l...
In fairness, I once used the AI-generated image below on the first slide of a presentation to a large law firm retreat. I literally didn't notice it until we were loading up the Powerpoint that morning. But I had the presence of mind to ask the audience, "So -- notice anything odd about this image?"
July 23, 2025 at 8:40 PM
In fairness, I once used the AI-generated image below on the first slide of a presentation to a large law firm retreat. I literally didn't notice it until we were loading up the Powerpoint that morning. But I had the presence of mind to ask the audience, "So -- notice anything odd about this image?"
Another day, another lawyer filing AI-generated fake caselaw with a court. AI is inadvertently revealing a crisis of lawyer competence, and we're the ones who'll pay the price. My newest Substack explains why the legal profession is playing with fire here. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-fallac...
May 28, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Another day, another lawyer filing AI-generated fake caselaw with a court. AI is inadvertently revealing a crisis of lawyer competence, and we're the ones who'll pay the price. My newest Substack explains why the legal profession is playing with fire here. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/the-fallac...
New from me at Substack: The only way law firms can absorb AI into their workflow and remain profitable is by switching away from the legal profession's longstanding (and terrible) definition of "productivity." Here's how to do it -- and what it will cost: jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/redefining...
May 16, 2025 at 2:16 PM
New from me at Substack: The only way law firms can absorb AI into their workflow and remain profitable is by switching away from the legal profession's longstanding (and terrible) definition of "productivity." Here's how to do it -- and what it will cost: jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/redefining...
This morning’s abomination (at Loblaws Superstore).
May 9, 2025 at 5:00 PM
This morning’s abomination (at Loblaws Superstore).
My newest Substack reports on astonishing new AI advances, but suggests lawyers should think less about whether AI can mimic their skills and more about how to create client relationships where lawyers provide trusted oversight for their clients' affairs. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/trusted-ov...
May 2, 2025 at 2:35 PM
My newest Substack reports on astonishing new AI advances, but suggests lawyers should think less about whether AI can mimic their skills and more about how to create client relationships where lawyers provide trusted oversight for their clients' affairs. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/trusted-ov...
This was obvious to me the first time I saw ChatGPT-4 in action in March 2023. The inevitable consequence of a "knowledge work accelerator" of this capacity was always going to be a fundamental undermining of time- and effort-based pricing. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/law-has-a-...
April 22, 2025 at 3:20 PM
This was obvious to me the first time I saw ChatGPT-4 in action in March 2023. The inevitable consequence of a "knowledge work accelerator" of this capacity was always going to be a fundamental undermining of time- and effort-based pricing. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/law-has-a-...
White House trade policy:
April 12, 2025 at 4:35 PM
White House trade policy:
April 11, 2025 at 12:58 PM
This kind of sums it up.
April 9, 2025 at 3:36 PM
This kind of sums it up.
I have one piece of advice for everyone come Monday morning:
April 7, 2025 at 1:12 AM
I have one piece of advice for everyone come Monday morning:
My newest Substack tackles the Trump attacks on BigLaw, the misguided responses of two top law firms, and the long-term consequence for large firms of their silence or surrender: They are burning their bridges with the next generation of lawyers. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/biglaw-giv...
April 1, 2025 at 2:45 PM
My newest Substack tackles the Trump attacks on BigLaw, the misguided responses of two top law firms, and the long-term consequence for large firms of their silence or surrender: They are burning their bridges with the next generation of lawyers. jordanfurlong.substack.com/p/biglaw-giv...
My hypothesis has been that AI will take most or all the cognitive tasks, so that what'll be left for lawyers are the human activities: building relationships, offering counsel, advocating with courage, providing judgment, etc. Here's the latest version of what I think "lawyer work" will look like:
March 28, 2025 at 3:53 PM
My hypothesis has been that AI will take most or all the cognitive tasks, so that what'll be left for lawyers are the human activities: building relationships, offering counsel, advocating with courage, providing judgment, etc. Here's the latest version of what I think "lawyer work" will look like: