Building the Law Firm of the Future: Joe Green on Innovation, Leadership, and Career Pivots

In this episode of This Legal Life, Ben Chiriboga sits down with Joe Green, Chief Innovation Officer at Gunderson Dettmer, to explore how law firms are evolving — and what it takes to lead that change from the inside. Joe traces his journey from practicing corporate law through legal tech experimentation and his time at Practical Law at Thomson Reuters. He shares how stepping outside the traditional partner track allowed him to develop the skills and confidence needed to return to Gunderson and help shape a future-ready firm. The conversation offers timely insight for law firm leaders thinking seriously about innovation, talent, and long-term strategy.

About Our Guest:

Joe Green is the Chief Innovation Officer of Gunderson Dettmer. In this role, he leads Gunderson’s innovation strategy to transform the firm’s service delivery platform and business model, with a focus on providing a more modern experience for clients, lawyers and business professionals. He was recognized by Lawdragon as one of the 100 leading AI and legaltech advisors.

Joe is a Lecturer in Law at Penn Carey Law, where he teaches a course on startups and venture capital. He has authored dozens of articles on startup-related issues, the business of law, legal technology and the future of the legal industry. He speaks regularly on these topics at industry and academic conferences, law firms and law schools, and his academic work has been cited by SEC commissioners and staff in public speeches and reports.

Joe was previously a senior associate at Gunderson and left to join Thomson Reuters as a Senior Legal Editor at Practical Law, the premier online legal know-how service for business lawyers. Joe began his legal career as a securities lawyer with Simpson Thacher in New York.

Connect with Joe:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joegreen1/