Welcome to Season 15, Episode 1 of Notes to My Legal Self, the in-house counsel podcast for lawyers who want to lead. Alexandra Sepulveda, Associate General Counsel at Trust & Will, joins Olga V. Mack to explore how lawyers build legal judgment when AI does more of the thinking.
Alexandra shares her path from patent litigator to in-house counsel at General Mills, Kabam, and fast-growing startups. She explains what junior lawyers miss when AI drafts first, why judgment is different from benchmarking, and the simple habits she uses to keep her own "lawyer gut" sharp.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- What junior lawyers lose when they skip the early reps
- The human-AI-human "Oreo cookie" method for using AI well
- Why the purposeful pause is a negotiation tool AI can't replace
- The difference between legal judgment and knowing what's market
- How to spot and close judgment gaps on your legal team
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
03:34 Meet Alexandra and Trust & Will
05:11 From patent litigator to in-house counsel
09:23 The early work that teaches judgment
13:30 The power of the purposeful pause
16:02 How AI is changing legal team capacity
21:48 The human-AI-human method
24:53 Judgment vs. benchmarking
28:26 Why junior lawyers need informal mentors
32:35 Expecting senior judgment without junior reps
36:14 Redesigning law school for AI
39:00 Habits that build legal judgment
44:53 Final takeaway: stay curious
Alexandra's advice: stay curious, because no one is going to replace your gut.
Do you write your own first draft before asking AI, or let AI go first? Share your answer with us in the comments.
If you enjoy this lawyer podcast, rate and review Notes to My Legal Self on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It helps more in-house counsel find these conversations.
Want to be a guest on NTMLS or know someone who should be? Reach out! Self-nominations are acts of courage.
Like, comment, and subscribe to @NotesToMyLegalSelf so you never miss an episode.
Explore more episodes at https://www.notestomylegalself.com
INTERSECTION OF LAW AND FUN®
#NotesToMyLegalSelf #InHouseCounsel #LegalJudgment #AIinLaw #LegalLeadership #LawyerPodcast
