LegalTechTalk 2026: AI Governance, eDiscovery & the Future of Digital Trust – Jeffrey Shapiro – E10

You can hear Rob and Jeffrey discussing:

Connect with Jeffrey Shapiro here:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtshap/

Transcript

What happens when the brightest minds in legal, technology, and innovation come together to shape the future of our profession? Welcome to the Legally Speaking podcast Legal Tech Talk 2026 miniseries. As the UK’s number one legal podcast and show ranked in the top 1% of podcasts globally, we’re delighted to be returning as the official media partner for Legal Tech Talk for the third time. Having supported this event since the beginning.

We’ve witnessed firsthand how it has become Europe’s largest legal technology conference, bringing together the people, ideas, and innovations transforming the legal industry. Across this special series, we’ll be speaking with some of the world’s leading legal professionals, founders, technologists, change makers to explore what’s next for law. Because our mission remains the same. Inspiring legal minds, transforming legal futures. Let’s get into it.

Welcome to the Legally Speaking podcast recording live at Legal Tech Talk 2026. Joining me now is another fantastic guest. Please kindly introduce yourself, name, title, and organization. Thanks so much, Rob. Jeff Shapiro. I’m the managing director for Europe at Haystack ID. I joined Haystack in February of this year. I’ve been living in London since 2013. have worked at Magic Circle Law Firm, a big four consultancy.

And now I’m at Haystack, really excited by it. Absolutely, and a wealth of experience. And this year’s theme at Legal Tech Talk has been a lot around transformation. And so what’s the biggest single shift you’re seeing in the legal industry right now that legal leaders can no longer afford to ignore it? Well, let’s look at the agendas from Legal Tech Talk 2025 versus 2026. Yeah. 2025, a lot of it was around should we do something with AI? Yeah.

Obviously the market’s moved and it’s no longer should, it’s how. How do we best do it? How do we break down communication silos that exist within corporates and law firms? And that’s the biggest shift that I’m seeing. Couldn’t agree more. It’s definitely moved on and you can see by the scale of the conference as well and the the brands, the organizations, the key people. You’re touching on twenty twenty five Legal Tech Talk to Twenty Twenty Six Legal Tech Talk. What’s brought you back and what’s been a highlight thus far?

Beyond all of the amazing things that the event organizers do, from the masseuses to the Betha style saxophone music, it’s really around the people. Yeah. if AI was going to solve all of our problems, we wouldn’t need all of these people here discussing how to use it appropriately, defensively, in an integrated manner. so really what it is is about being able to access this amazing community.

seeing solo practitioners up to Magic Circle and and AMLA 100 law firms is really exciting. Seeing the corporates here. and when I say corporates, there could be some single founders, right? In addition to the megacorps. And being able to have those types of conversations are incredibly valuable. Could not agree more. Let’s talk about the problems now. There’s loads of problems in the world, but what’s one problem within the legal industry or challenge you are passionate about solving and why should people care?

Great question. Okay, so one of the things that I care about most is looking at the corporate structure and understanding that there are, again, I I mentioned it earlier, silos. Yeah. How do we break down those silos so that we are able to access data in a way that is intelligent and isn’t just being accessed because a bad thing has occurred. Let’s look at the power of data to establish good things.

as growth engines within corporations. Incredibly valuable there. So how do we use, for instance, Gen AI to get as close to the corporate firewall as possible without owning the data to really derive data intelligence. That’s a problem that I’m really excited about solving, and is something that at Haystack is is what we’re doing. And yeah, doubling down and doing a great job of it. We’ve talked a lot about thus far tech, automation, innovation. But what if we get this right? What’s gonna be the human

impact of this. How is it going to improve the life of lawyers, legal clients, perhaps overall society? Yeah, I don’t have a crystal ball. Yeah. And I think anybody who says that they know where things are going to go in even twelve months, it’s a fool’s errand. Yeah. I do think that what people are gravitating towards is authenticity and genuineness. The human to human connection is incredibly important. And

It becomes even more so as we still exist in a hybrid working environment. So that is I think the key thing. Can you work with people that you trust? How do you earn that trust and how do you maintain it? Could not agree more. So so important, particularly in the world of law. Okay, you’ve got the attention now of every law firm leader, global managing partner, general counsel, lawyer, legal operations of professional, tuning in, watching, listening to this episode.

What’s one action they should take in the next ninety days to better prepare for the future? One action. EU AI Act implementation, right? it’s happening in August. Yes, there are going to be some changes that have recently been announced. are you prepared for that? We’re all talking about and using Gen AI. You need to maintain your compliance with the myriad regulatory frameworks that exist across Europe and globally that you’re operating in.

Very sage advice. Thanks for sharing. What’s one belief that you hold about the legal profession, legal technology or the future of law that many people may disagree with?

I think law is a bit like a bagel. Okay? All right. I’m from New Jersey, so I love everything in bagels. Whenever I go home, I fly back with a one or two dozen in my suitcase. the legal profession can appear to be very hard on the outside, like the crust of a bagel. But when you get into a good bagel, it’s warm and gooey and fuzzy. That to me is what’s really important about the legal profession.

Getting beyond people’s defensive barriers and getting to really know them so that you can then deliver what we want to do. Could not agree more. Okay, before we let you go, the Legally Speaking podcast is all about inspiring legal minds, transforming legal futures, having conversations with change makers, people working on doing the doing, implementing the change and making the change in and around the world of law. My question is this: what’s one skill, behavior or mindset you believe will separate tomorrow’s leaders from everyone else? Curiosity. Okay.

You have to be aware of what you’re unaware of. You have to continue growing and learning. You have to get out there and network. So listen to this podcast, attend conferences like Legal Tech Talk. I generally find that across the legal industry there are really generous people with their time. Utilize them. Could not agree more. Could not agree more. Okay, if people want to know more about yourself, your organization.

What you’re working on, where do they go? Feel free to share any websites, any social media handles. We’ll also share them this episode for you too. Yeah, we’ve of course got haystackid.com. You can find me on LinkedIn, Jeff Shapiro. there are a lot of Jeff Shapiro’s on LinkedIn, so try and find this face. and yeah, one other spot would be ASAIDS UK. I’m on the board of directors with some fantastic women. between Amy, myself, Erica.

Emily and Nikki. so please if you’re interested in e-discovery and legal technology, find us on ACEDs UK as well. There we have it. Just needs me to say, Jeff, thanks so much for joining me live here at Legal Tech Talk in London to talk all things, future of law and more from all of us here on the Legal Speaking Podcast, wishing you lots of continued success over an hour. Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. If you like the content here, why not check out our world leading

Content and collaboration of the Legally Speaking Club over on Discord. Go to our website, www.legallyspeakingpodcast.com. There’s a link to join our community there. Over and out.