AI‑Powered Legal Research and Writing: Practical Tools, Ethical Guardrails, and Real‑World Strategies to Work Faster and Smarter

Dan Gibson | Davis Hartman Wright LLP

Dan Gibson is a partner at Davis Hartman Wright. His practice focuses on appeals and civil litigation. Martin-Dale Hubbell has awarded him an AV rating, SuperLawyers recognizes him as a rising star, and Business North Carolina has named him to its Legal Elite for appellate practice.

Gibson attended Wake Forest University School of Law and now teaches legal writing, North Carolina constitutional law, and appellate advocacy as an adjunct law professor there.

Cecilia Zinti | GC AI

Cecilia Ziniti is the founder and CEO of a legal AI company, GC AI, built based on her experience as a 3-time General Counsel and AI expert. For two decades, Ms. Ziniti has driven product and company success across major tech shifts and turned early technologies into iconic products that millions of people use every day.

As a three-time executive team member for venture-backed tech companies including software unicorn Replit, Ms. Ziniti has led all aspects of operations for hypergrowth. She has architected and closed partnerships with blue-chip companies like Google and Amazon and quarterbacked $300M+ in venture capital rounds from top-tier investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Index, and JP Morgan.

As the founding lawyer on Amazon Alexa and an early team member at Cruise, Ms. Ziniti understands tech adoption and how to earn public and regulator trust. Ms. Ziniti’s strategic insights make her sought-after by founders and have earned her global media appearances including on CNN and NPR. Before Amazon, Ms. Ziniti was an intellectual property litigator and technology transactions attorney and represented Apple at Morrison & Foerster, an Am Law 20 firm. Ms. Ziniti is an inventor on four US patents. She has invested in and advises dozens of breakout and unicorn companies, including Replit, Instrumental AI, and Seek AI. Her first tech job was as an online community moderator in London.

Jack Luellen | Buchalter Law Firm

Jack Luellen is a Special Counsel in the Firm’s Denver office and a member of the Energy & Natural Resources practice group. He concentrates his practice on energy law, with a particular emphasis in oil and gas law, litigation and real estate law. In his energy law practice, Mr. Luellen represents oil and gas companies, representing interests in the E&P and midstream sectors. Mr. Luellen routinely negotiates, drafts and closes agreements for the purchase and sale of oil and gas assets, as well as surface use, processing, marketing, transportation and joint operations agreements.

He frequently works with companies and capital providers in connection with debt and equity financings and related corporate governance matters, including corporate structure and formation. Mr. Luellen’s practice also includes all aspects of commercial and business litigation where he has successfully represented clients in a wide variety of matters including insurance coverage, breach of contract, intellectual property, real estate, and employment matters.

Session I – The AI-Powered Lawyer: Real Tools for Better Legal Work & Writing | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• Smarter prompting for legal professionals: How to frame questions and requests to get better AI outputs for research, writing, and document analysis
• Transforming legal workflows with AI: Real examples of AI accelerating contracts, memos, and compliance work without sacrificing quality or control
• The rise of in-house AI: How corporate legal teams are reducing costs, training junior staff, and moving faster by integrating secure legal AI
• Hands on prompts with chat based legal AI: Getting started, inputting a prompt, reviewing a document, clause generation, and collaborating with AI

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Responsibly Using AI to Assist Research & Writing | 2:10pm – 2:55pm

• Ethics and AI
• Legal writing an AI
• Research and AI

Break | 2:55pm – 3:05pm

Session III – Beyond the Basics: An Analytical Approach to AI Legal Research and Discovery | 3:05pm – 3:50pm

• An analytical approach to AI legal research
• Effective use of AI in discovery
• Evaluating and auditing AI outputs in legal work
• Training young lawyers and law students to use AI tools