Dismantling The Silos Holding Law Firms Back

Technology doesn't transform law firms. People do.

In this episode of Studio A, Will Ayers sits down with Ben Starkie, President and CEO of AAC Consulting, for a conversation on what it actually takes to move law firms through transformation without breaking what works.

Ben shares AAC’s consulting experience on navigating today’s technological changes in legal, why the biggest barrier to transformation isn't technology but the people and decision-making behind it, and how firms can align siloed operations into a unified ecosystem without forcing change faster than what people are ready for.

Tune in to hear why Ben believes the next 10 years in legal will be defined by firms that learn to use AI as a tool for higher value work and navigate the change management that comes with it.

Highlights:

• The Real Barrier To Change: Why getting partners aligned and decisions made is harder than any technical implementation and what AAC does to help firms move through it
• Siloed Operations To Unified Ecosystem: How law firms can bring Finance, IT, Legal Ops, and HR onto common ground without disrupting everything at once
• AI As A Tool Not A Threat: Why Ben believes defining guardrails is the first step to unlocking AI's real value and what that looks like for firms right now

Jump into the conversation:

(00:00) Introducing Ben Starkie, President and CEO of AAC Consulting
(02:12) What 30 years of legal consulting reveals about industry transformation
(02:59) The one thing every successful law firm has in common
(03:54) Where law firms struggle most between ambition and execution
(04:40) What builds long-term trust with law firms during fast change
(05:49) How law firms can align fragmented operations toward a unified goal
(06:59) Why forced change creates friction and how to manage it effectively
(09:12) What will define the next 10 years of legal operations