Roundtable on Artificial Intelligence in Legal Practice

The second annual AI Roundtable will bring together AI industry leaders, legal practitioners, and law school faculty to explore how AI is transforming legal practice.  The theme of this year’s roundtable is “Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers for an AI-Integrated Practice” and we will be focusing on what we can do as a law school to make sure our students are ready to practice in this new environment.

AI Industry Representatives

Janea Ivory, Customer Success Manager, CoCounsel and Westlaw AI

As a Customer Success Manager for CoCounsel and Westlaw AI, Janea partners with mid-size law firms across the country to drive adoption, optimize workflows, and deliver measurable value from CoCounsel’s legal technology solutions. Janea specializes in onboarding, training, and ongoing support for firms transitioning to digital-first legal operations.

Andrew Keck, Forensic Expert, lineal   

A 25-year veteran of the digital frontline, Andrew Keck is an expert in eDiscovery, Digital Forensics, and Cybersecurity. Over two decades of refining workflows across the entire EDRM lifecycle, supporting counsel and corporations through complex litigation and sensitive investigations. Known for a clinical approach to forensics and a strategic approach to data management, Andrew Keck ensures that technology serves as an asset, not a liability, in the courtroom.

Joshua Medina , Legal Director, Justicia Lab

Joshua is a fulcrum for equitable, community-driven justice who has expertly designed, managed, and scaled innovative justice programs—from cultivating nascent legal services and running nonprofit legal immigration programs embedded in multiple states, to creating regional networks as an Equal Justice Works Fellow and then building national capacity as a Board Member. In his work with Justicia Lab, he leverages his energetic skillset in strategic program management, inventive and inclusive legal advocacy, and a commitment to holistic, equitable justice efforts shaped by marginalized communities amplified by innovative digital solutions. From national advocacy hubs to grassroots legal clinics, he ensures that justice movements and solutions are collaboratively developed and place power and knowledge directly into the hands of the people.

Kara Peterson, Co-Founder and CEO, Descrybe

Kara Peterson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Descrybe, a purpose-built legal AI platform designed to make serious legal research more accessible, transparent, and trustworthy. She is an active voice in the legal tech and ethical AI communities, focused on the risks of deploying general-purpose AI in high-stakes legal contexts and the role purpose-built tools play in protecting both practitioners and the public. Kara is the co-host of Building AI Boston, a top 5 Apple podcast, and co-leads the Boston Chapter of AI2030, an initiative focused on harnessing AI for broad human benefit.

Gabriel Quek, Senior Director and Head of Partnerships, Legora

As Head of Partnerships at Legora, Gabriel brings a combination of technology, management consulting, and legal expertise to the AI sector. At Legora, Gabriel drives strategic product integrations with partners that reinforce Legora's position as the premier AI platform for the legal industry, while also spearheading law school partnerships to shape the next generation of lawyers in responsible AI adoption. Previously, Gabriel was a Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he specialized in partnership, channel, and product strategy within the technology sector. Gabriel began his career as a litigation attorney, spending nearly seven years in commercial litigation and international arbitration. Gabriel holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a JD from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law.

Jen Stringfield, Subject Matter Advisor - Artificial Intelligence, Intellectual Property, Data Security & Privacy, LexisNexis

Jen is a seasoned legal professional with a deep understanding of legal technology as it relates to the practice of law. She is a subject matter expert in Intellectual Property and Data Security & Privacy at LexisNexis. Over her extensive tenure at Lexis, exceeding a decade, Jen has emerged as a key player in the intersection of law and technology. She possesses a wealth of experience in Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications within the legal landscape, contributing to advancements in legal tech and the integration of AI into legal practice. Before her tenure at LexisNexis, Jen practiced as a litigation attorney in the Chicago. Jen holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Legal Practitioners

Merisa K. Bowers, Esq., Director of Marketing and Loss Prevention & Outreach Counsel, Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Co. (OBLIC); City Councilmember, City of Gahanna

Merisa is a lawyer, public servant, and advocate for people-centered and risk-balanced leadership. At the Ohio Bar Liability Insurance Company, she helps thousands of attorneys navigate risk, professional responsibility, and emerging challenges like AI while leveraging technology for efficiency and technical execution. She also serves on Gahanna City Council, where she leads with a commitment to transparency, inclusion, and practical problem-solving. With degrees from the University of Cincinnati (B.A., Political Science) and Case Western Reserve University (J.D., cum laude), Merisa is known for building trust, making complex issues accessible, and keeping people at the center of every decision.

Scott Brown, Shareholder in Charge, Columbus, Roetzel & Andress, LPA

Scott Brown helps creative agencies, tech companies, and growing businesses protect their brands and navigate complex transactions. He has guided clients through eight-figure equity raises, managed legal strategy for companies from startups to Fortune 100 enterprises, and handled hundreds of trademark registrations. His practice is focused on general counsel services for creative and tech companies, business sales and acquisitions, and brand protection. Scott is a 2011 graduate of Moritz.

Susan Choe, Executive Director, Ohio Legal Help

Susan started her career as a legal aid advocate specializing in civil rights, housing, and community economic development. Prior to her current role, she served as the General Counsel for the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation. Susan also worked in several leadership capacities at the Ohio Attorney General's Office (AGO), including playing a key role in responding to Ohio's foreclosure crisis as Section Chief for Consumer Protection. In that role, she served as lead counsel for the AGO on the 2012 National Mortgage Settlement and Multistate Executive Committee, resulting in over $380 million in consumer relief for Ohioans and more than $90 million for foreclosure prevention, neighborhood revitalization, and other efforts. Additionally, Susan served as the Section Chief of Civil Rights for the AGO, providing counsel and guidance to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on cases involving employment, housing, credit, and public accommodation discrimination. She concluded her service at the AGO by leading the implementation team for casino gaming in Ohio, serving as counsel for the Casino Control Commission, the Racing Commission, and the Lottery Commission. Prior to her role with the AGO, Susan taught in the clinical programs at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University and served as the Director of the Student Housing Clinic. Susan is the recipient of several awards honoring her leadership and commitment to expanding access to justice, including the Nettie Cronise Lutes Award and the John C. and Ginny Elam Pro Bono Award. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry and Economics and a J.D. from The Ohio State University.

Chip Cooper, Founder, Cooper Elliott

A fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and a nationally recognized plaintiff’s attorney, Chip has tried cases throughout the United States. His practice focuses on complex litigation, including wrongful death, medical malpractice, and business fraud, and he has secured numerous multi-million-dollar jury verdicts and settlements in state and federal courts. 

Chip has taught trial skills to both law students and experienced trial lawyers. His cases have been featured in leading publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Modern Healthcare. 

Kathryn Lowry, Chief Information Officer, BakerHostetler

Katherine Lowry is the Chief Information Officer at BakerHostetler, where she drives digital transformation, operational efficiency, and secure growth through data, innovation, and emerging technology. A recognized leader in legal tech and AI, she co‑created and leads IncuBaker and has been honored by the Financial Times, Relativity, and the College of Law Practice Management for her impact on legal innovation.

Seth Metcalf, General Partner for Global Operations at OH.io Ventures

Seth Metcalf has spent two decades at the intersection of law, government, and technology. From serving as Deputy Treasurer for the State of Ohio to scaling Bold Penguin as CFO and General Counsel through a $500M acquisition, Seth has consistently operated where legal judgment meets business execution. He presently leads operations at OH.io, an AI-forward go-to-market platform helping B2B SaaS companies scale in the U.S.

Alison Mortinger, Founder and Managing Partner, Mortinger & Mortinger LLC.

Alison is a founder and partner of Mortinger & Mortinger, a Columbus-based Data and Intellectual Property Law Firm.  She also teaches Introduction to IP at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law. Prior to founding the firm, she was an in-house IP Law Counsel for IBM for 25 years in various roles across business units including serving as their first Trade Secret Counsel and handling high profile Mergers and Acquisitions matters. She received her B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Law. She is a registered patent attorney.

Steve Mortinger, Founder and Managing Partner, Mortinger & Mortinger LLC.

Steve Mortinger is a recognized technology law expert with over thirty years of international experience, specializing in intellectual property, transactional matters, and regulatory compliance. While serving as the first Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Data at IBM Corp., Steve designed and implemented a rigorous process for the review, tagging, cataloging, and onboarding of third-party data for use in AI and other sensitive business domains. Steve teaches a seminar on Big Data Law and Policy as an Adjunct Professor at the Moritz College of Law.

Shawn Organ, Partner, Organ Law LLP

 Shawn Organ is a trial lawyer who enjoys all aspects of trial work, thus making the formation of a litigation boutique in 2010 one pinnacle of professional accomplishment. The other pinnacle was induction into the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2025. From serving as a federal law clerk for the Honorable George C. Smith to teaching trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, Shawn’s passion has been trial work. After his federal clerkship Shawn was an associate, then partner, at Jones Day in Columbus for 17 years.  There he defended some of the nation’s largest entities, including banks, automotive companies, retailers, and healthcare companies, in class actions and complex commercial disputes throughout the United States.

In forming a litigation boutique, Shawn now represents both plaintiffs and defendants in state and federal court and has had the privilege of recently representing, among others, the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association, Govenor Mike DeWine, Senator Jon Husted, Sony Music, and two Ohio licensed cannabis operators in highstakes litigation.

Bruce Paige, Partner, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

Bruce is a partner in the Vorys Columbus office, a member of Vorys' AI Steering Committee, and the chair of the firm’s M&A practice group.  He has advised Fortune 1000 corporations, local and regional health care providers, private equity firms and their respective portfolio companies, and various state instrumentalities, in the structuring and negotiation of joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions involving both private and public companies.  He serves as corporate counsel to a number of closely-held businesses and nonprofit corporations, and in the course of such representation, frequently negotiates and prepares general corporate and commercial agreements.  Bruce has been an early adopter of AI tools in his practice and has delivered numerous presentations on the use of AI in mergers and acquisitions and is collaborating with Stanford's Legal Innovation through Frontier Technology Lab (liftlab) in its development of a tool that simulates M&A transactions.  

Moritz Faculty

Claudia André, Professor, Moritz College of Law

Claudia André is a visiting assistant clinical professor at Moritz College of Law, where she teaches Legal Writing I and II and participates ex officio on the AI Committee. She was a co-teacher for Moritz’s AI and the Law course in the fall of 2025, focusing on AI and legal writing.

Serina Bravo, Assistant Director of Student Affairs, Moritz College of Law

Dr. Serina Bravo has extensive experience in higher education working with law students via admissions, recruitment, academic advising, registration, student leadership development, event planning, and alumni relations. Dr. Bravo enjoys advocating and collaborating with law student affairs professionals across the nation through the National Association of Law Student Affairs Professionals (NALSAP) and the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). As a scholar-practitioner, her professional and scholarly interests include first-generation college students, first-generation professionals, international students, international education, college access and retention, and student success.

Rebecca Fordon, Law Librarian

Rebecca Fordon is Assistant Director for Innovation, Research, and Instruction in the Moritz Law Library. In her role, she leads the strategic delivery of the library’s reference and research services, as well as the strategic evolution of the library’s instructional program to ensure it meets the evolving practice, technological, and licensure needs of students.   

Professor Fordon teaches and speaks about legal research and legal tech, including generative AI. At Moritz, she developed and teaches a legal tech course called 21st Century Lawyering and is a member of the AI@Moritz faculty committee. Additionally, Fordon is a board member of the Free Law Project and one of the creators of AILawLibrarians.com. 

Previously, Professor Fordon was Faculty Services Librarian at UCLA School of Law’s Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library, where she also taught Advanced Legal Research. And prior to joining law librarianship, she was a partner at Brown Rudnick LLP in Boston where she counseled clients in bankruptcy and complex commercial litigation. While in Boston, she clerked at the Massachusetts Court of Appeals for the Honorable Andrew R. Grainger.

Professor Fordon received her BA magna cum laude in Zoology and Humanities from Ohio Wesleyan University. She also earned her JD magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law, and her MLIS from UCLA. She is a member of the American Association of Law Libraries and the Ohio Regional Association of Law Libraries.

Kat Geddes, Professor, Moritz College of Law

Katrina Geddes is a scholar of intellectual property law and information capitalism. Her scholarship analyzes how emerging technologies expose deficiencies within existing doctrine and challenge the normative and epistemological foundations of our legal system. Her research has examined law's response to the social, cultural, and economic consequences of predictive algorithms, machine learning systems, and generative AI models.

Professor Geddes currently teaches courses in copyright, contracts, and AI law. Her research has been published in the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts, the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law, the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media, and Entertainment Law Journal, the Loyola University Chicago Law Journal, and the Journal of Intellectual Property Law. Professor Geddes has two forthcoming publications in 2026: The New Art Forgers (Arizona State Law Journal) and Engineering Semiotic Democracy (FIU Law Review).

Prior to joining Ohio State, Professor Geddes was a Postdoctoral Fellow at NYU School of Law and Cornell Tech, and a Research Fellow at Harvard Law School, where she taught copyright as part of Harvard Law School's CopyrightX initiative. Prior to academia, Katrina worked as a junior associate at King & Wood Mallesons in Sydney, Australia, and as a law clerk to Justice Robert Macfarlan on the Court of Appeal of New South Wales. She holds a JSD from NYU, an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, an LLM from Cambridge University, and an LLB from the University of New South Wales.

She is an affiliated fellow at Yale Law School's Information Society Project.

Amy  Schmitz, Professor,  Moritz College of Law

Professor Amy J. Schmitz is a full professor at The Ohio State Moritz College of Law and Program on Dispute Resolution as the John Deaver Drinko-Baker & Hostetler Endowed Chair in Law and Director of JusticeTech at The Ohio State University.  She also is affiliated with The Ohio State Program on Data Governance and the Divided Community Project. Before teaching at Ohio State, Professor Schmitz taught at the University of Missouri School of Law and Center for Dispute Resolution as the Elwood L. Thomas Missouri Endowed Professor of Law, starting in 2016. Previously she was a Professor at the University of Colorado School of Law for over 16 years. Prior to teaching, Professor Schmitz practiced law with large law firms in Seattle and Minneapolis and served as a law clerk for the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. Professor Schmitz teaches courses in Law and Technology/JusticeTech, Contracts, Lawyering and Problem-Solving, Online Dispute Resolution (ODR), Arbitration, International Arbitration, Social Media and Conflict, and Uniform Commercial Code. She has been heavily involved in Arbitration and LegalTech teaching and research for a long time, is a Fellow of the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution, serves on the Education Committee and the AI Ambassadors Program for the AAA-ICDR, is on the Board of Directors for the International Council on Online Dispute Resolution, and the Editorial Board for the International Arbitration peer-reviewed Journal. She was the long-time Co-Chair of the ABA Technology Committee of the Dispute Resolution Section and the ODR Task Force, and now is on the Beyond the Page Task Force of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section.  Professor Schmitz is also an elected member of the American Law Institute and the 2023 winner of the Association of American Law Schools Technology, Law and Legal Education Section Award as well as the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Scholarly Achievement Award in 2025.

Professor Schmitz has delivered over 185 presentations and hosts The Arbitration Conversation, a highly regarded webcast (100 episodes on YouTube) that moved to a podcast (17 episodes and more coming). She also is a researcher with the ACT Project exploring AI and dispute resolution at the Cyberjustice Laboratory in Montreal, Canada, and is heavily involved in discussions and research around technology, dispute resolution, and access to justice. She has published over 90 articles in journals and books, is a co-author of Resolving Disputes: Theory, Practice and Law (Aspen 2021), the book with Stipanowich, Arbitration: Theory, Practice and Law (Aspen 2022), a book with Martinez, Digital Dispute System Design (Aspen 2025), and a book with C. Rule, The New Handshake: Online Dispute Resolution and the Future of Consumer Protection (ABA 2017), and, The Arbitration Conversation: Insights and Wisdom from Experts in the Field (ABA 2024). She has received the Inst. for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) Award for one of her articles as well as the CPR Book Award in 2023 and again in 2025. Amy has been an Expert Consultant on two USAID Projects, two Fulbright Specialist grants, and does research, teaching and presentations throughout the world.

Ric Simmons, Associate Dean, Moritz College of Law

Ric Simmons is the Associate Dean for Faculty and Intellectual Life and the Jacob E. Davis and Jacob E. Davis II Chair in Law at Moritz. He teaches Evidence, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Computer Crime and Surveillance.

An accomplished legal scholar, Professor Simmons’ research focuses on the intersection of the Fourth Amendment and new technology. He has written about the use of big data in the criminal justice system, searches of cell phones and other electronic devices, and hyper-intrusive surveillance devices. He has also written about the privatization of the criminal justice system and the role of the prosecutor. Professor Simmons is the author of Smart Surveillance: How to Interpret the Fourth Amendment in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge Press 2019), and Private Criminal Justice: How Private Parties are Enforcing Criminal Law and Transforming Our Justice System (2023), and he has co-authored four casebooks and two hornbooks. His scholarship has also appeared in leading legal journals, including the Duke Law Journal, the Boston University Law Review, and the George Washington Law Review. 

Before coming to Moritz, Simmons was an acting assistant professor at New York University School of Law. Before that, he clerked for the Honorable Laughlin E. Waters of the Central District of California and then served for four years as an assistant district attorney for New York County.

Professor Simmons is a national expert on the grand jury and served on the Ohio Supreme Court’s Grand Jury Task Force. He has also been a recipient of the Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching and has won the Morgan E. Shipman Outstanding Professor Award six times.

Todd  Starker, Professor, Moritz College of Law

Todd Starker is an experienced legal professional and clinical professor at Moritz. He regularly teaches Legal Analysis and Writing, Transactional Practice, Contractual Due Diligence, Accounting and Finance for Lawyers, and Introduction to U.S. Legal Systems. 

Prior to joining the faculty at Moritz full time, Starker clerked for the Honorable Alan E. Norris of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, practiced at the international law firm of Squire Patton Boggs, and taught Appellate Advocacy at Moritz as an adjunct professor.

In his practice, Professor Starker represented clients of all sizes in corporate, real estate, financing transactions, and securities offerings, each ranging from a few hundred thousand to several billion dollars. He also represented the United States Department of the Treasury in dozens of transactions in connection with its Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and Hardest Hit Fund.

Professor Starker is a true Buckeye, graduating three times from The Ohio State University, earning a J.D. from Moritz, where he served as editor in chief of the Ohio State Law Journal, an M.B.A. and a B.A. 

Dennis Hirsch, Professor of Law and Professor of Computer Science, Moritz College of Law

Dennis Hirsch is a Professor at The Ohio State University where he holds a joint appointment in the Moritz College of Law and the Department of Computer Science and is a core faculty member of the Translational Data Analytics Institute. He directs the OSU Program on Data and Governance which focuses on the governance of advanced analytics and AI, and co-directs the OSU Responsible Data Science Community of Practice, a community of over 100 researchers focused on the ethical and just use of advanced analytics and AI.  Professor Hirsch teaches courses on privacy law, property law, and on the law, policy, ethics, and management of AI.

A graduate of Yale Law School, Professor Hirsch is a recognized expert on the governance of advanced analytics and AI, having testified on this topic before the US Senate Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law and before the Federal Trade Commission. His 2020 Maryland Law Review article was one of the inspirations for a bill introduced in the US Senate: the Algorithmic Fairness Act of 2020. Professor Hirsch was the Principal Investigator for an Ohio State research study on business data ethics management. He subsequently founded the Ohio Data Ethics Working Group for organizations seeking to improve their data ethics management programs. He has published dozens of articles and book chapters, and an award-winning book, and has given more than 100 scholarly presentations. In 2010, he served as Fulbright Senior Professor at the University of Amsterdam where he taught privacy law and researched Dutch data protection codes of conduct. He returns to the University of Amsterdam each summer to teach in its Summer Course on Privacy Law and Policy. 

Professor Hirsch has served as Chair of the AALS Committee on Defamation and Privacy, Reporter for the Uniform Law Commission Drafting Committee on Employee and Student Privacy, member of the Ohio Attorney General’s Task Force on Facial Recognition, member of the Smart Columbus Privacy and Data Security Board, and as Associate Dean for Faculty and Student Development at Capital University Law School (2005-2007) where he served on the faculty. He practiced law with Sidley Austin and with Porter Wright Morris & Arthur.

Deadline for lunch is Thursday, May 7th