The 2026 Future of AI & Technology Forum

We’ll open the forum with a concise look at the latest data and research from Thomson Reuters Institute on AI adoption across legal and professional services. This brief grounding session is designed to establish a shared baseline before shifting into deeper discussion and debate for the day ahead. 

Presenters: 

Rawia Ashraf, Head of Product, CoCounsel Transactional & GCO, Thomson Reuters   

Bryce Engelland, Enterprise Content Lead, Innovation and Technology, Thomson Reuters Institute 

As AI moves from novelty to embedded capability, leaders face a new challenge: determining which technological shifts will meaningfully reshape client value, operating models, and risk—and which will fade as short‑term hype. This session takes a forward‑looking view of the AI and emerging technology landscape, examining how regulation, platform consolidation, client expectations, and cross‑functional impacts are shaping the next phase of adoption. Panelists will explore how firms are balancing innovation with accountability, where leaders still see unresolved risk, and what strategic questions firms should be asking now to stay ahead of both market and client demands. 

Moderator:

Johanna Kalb, Dean, School of Law, University of San Francisco 

Panelists: 

Brooke Daniels, SVP, Market Lead, Harbor 

Thom Hutchison, Director of Data Science & Artificial Intelligence, Husch Blackwell LLP 

Jennifer Reeves, Vice President, AI Governance and Integration Lead, American Arbitration Association 

Turning AI enthusiasm into measurable results remains one of the most persistent challenges facing firms. In this interactive, hands‑on session, participants will work through realistic professional services scenarios to estimate time saved, value created, and risk introduced through different AI use cases. Facilitator(s) will guide teams as they pressure‑test where automation, agents, and AI‑powered assistants genuinely enhance performance, deciding where human judgment must remain firmly in the loop. Through team-based challenges and rapid debriefs, participants will walk away with a sharper sense of the most efficient AI utilization tactics. Expect team challenges and a bit of friendly competition as you discern a quantifiable outlook on the role of AI in real client work and internal operations. 

In this candid fireside conversation, our facilitator will sit down with two clients of legal and professional services firms to hear directly how buyers are evaluating AI‑enabled services today. As firms invest heavily in new tools and automation, this session offers a rare look at what clients actually value, expect, and are willing to pay for. The discussion will focus on how clients assess quality, risk, transparency, and trust in an AI‑augmented environment, highlighting what has strengthened client relationships, what has fallen flat, and what will increasingly differentiate firms as AI becomes table stakes. 

Moderator:

Rawia Ashraf, Head of Product, CoCounsel Transactional & GCO, Thomson Reuters

To close the content portion of the day, we’ll turn the floor over to the room. Throughout the forum, attendees will have the opportunity to submit pointed, real‑world questions about AI, emerging technology, and professional services, from operating models and client demands to talent, ethics, and vendor strategy. In this moderated fishbowl format, a rotating group of participants will respond to questions live, creating an unscripted dialogue that surfaces practical lessons, divergent perspectives, and unresolved tensions. The goal is not consensus, but clarity: a chance to pressure‑test ideas and assumptions in an open, intellectually honest exchange shaped directly by those in the room. 

Moderator:

Ray Meiring, CEO, QorusDocs  

Please join us for cocktails and light bites as we bring the day’s conversations to a close.

Rawia Ashraf, Head of Product, CoCounsel Transactional & GCO, Thomson Reuters