Gary Wingens - Chair, Lowenstein Sandler. Tracked across 26 mentions in podcasts and expert conversations analyzed by Sonic.

Gary Wingens

Leader at the law firm Lowenstein Sandler and commentator on AI's impact on the legal profession.

Claims

As speaker

Mentioned in

Key positions and views

AI will increase, not decrease, the overall volume of legal work by enabling clients to innovate and generate more intellectual property and other legal needs.

The adoption of secure, enterprise-grade AI platforms like Harvey is non-negotiable for law firms to protect attorney-client privilege and client data.

AI's current role is to augment lawyers by handling 'first layer' tasks, improving quality and efficiency, while humans perform higher-value quality control and strategic work.

Law firms should be strategic consumers of AI technology, leveraging specialized third-party platforms rather than attempting to build costly proprietary foundation models from scratch.

Despite the rapid adoption of AI, the fundamental need for junior lawyers is not diminishing in the short-to-medium term, as evidenced by unchanged hiring patterns for associate classes.

Timeline

Over 6 months ago

Lowenstein Sandler began integrating an AI tool to assist lawyers in drafting patent applications, marking a key step in their AI adoption journey.

Past 6 months

Clients independently reported a noticeable improvement in the quality of the firm's patent applications, providing external validation for the firm's AI strategy.

Early July

Wingens notes his personal AI usage cost $36 in a few days, highlighting the industry's shift from subscription to token-based pricing for enterprise AI models like Claude.

Present

The firm is now a self-described 'Harvey shop,' using the platform for litigation and other tasks, while also using AI for large-scale due diligence and fielding AI-generated documents from clients.

Near Future

Wingens anticipates a new workflow in patent prosecution where the firm's AI agent will communicate directly with the client's AI agent, representing a significant evolution in client-firm interaction.

2027

Lowenstein Sandler has already hired its summer associate class for 2027, signaling that the firm does not foresee AI-driven disruption to its junior talent pipeline in the medium term.

Podcast consensus on Wingens

Points of consensus

▶AI adoption is a strategic imperative for modern law firms to improve work quality and efficiency, as evidenced by Lowenstein Sandler's use of multiple platforms like Harvey and AI-assisted patent drafting.Jul 2026

▶Enterprise-grade, secure AI platforms are critical for law firms to mitigate significant risks, particularly the potential waiver of attorney-client privilege associated with consumer-grade tools.Jul 2026

▶AI is currently augmenting, not replacing, lawyers by handling initial review layers and drafting tasks, with human lawyers shifting to higher-value quality control and strategic oversight.Jul 2026

▶The use of AI by clients is creating new demand for legal services, such as a quadrupling of patent requests from one client, supporting the thesis that AI can be a work multiplier.Jul 2026

Points of debate

▶While AI automates lower-level tasks like initial document review, average hourly rates at top firms are increasing significantly, suggesting the economic benefits of efficiency are not being passed on as cost savings but are instead enabling a focus on more complex, higher-value work.

▶Despite the transformative potential of AI to automate tasks traditionally done by junior lawyers, Wingens' firm has not altered its hiring patterns for new associates, indicating that the feared displacement of legal talent has not yet materialized.Jul 2026

▶There is a clear tension between the best practices advocated by Wingens (using secure, enterprise AI) and the actual behavior of clients, who are increasingly using consumer-grade tools like ChatGPT to produce legal documents.Jul 2026

▶Wingens notes that both his firm and its sophisticated clients are developing and using their own AI tools, leading to a future where a firm's AI agent may negotiate or collaborate directly with a client's AI agent, raising questions about the future role of the human lawyer in these interactions.Jul 2026

Key themes

▶AI as a Legal Work MultiplierJul 2026

This theme counters the common narrative of AI as a job displacer. Wingens argues that AI's adoption, both by law firms and their clients, is generating a greater volume of more complex legal work, such as a client's quadrupling of patentable inventions due to their own AI use.

Analysts should consider that AI's primary economic impact on legal services may not be cost reduction through automation, but rather revenue growth through the creation of new service demands and higher-value advisory roles.

▶Strategic AI Implementation in Law FirmsJul 2026

This theme covers the practicalities of how a mid-size law firm like Lowenstein Sandler adopts AI. It involves selecting secure, third-party platforms like Harvey, integrating them into specific workflows like due diligence and litigation, and deciding against costly in-house model development.

The competitive advantage for law firms may not come from building proprietary AI, but from mastering the application of specialized, secure AI platforms to enhance existing legal expertise and workflows.

▶The Client-Firm AI InterfaceJul 2026

Wingens describes an evolving dynamic where clients are no longer passive recipients of legal advice. Sophisticated clients use their own AI to draft documents and review a firm's work, creating a new collaborative (and potentially adversarial) technological layer between the firm and the client.

The traditional client-service model is being disrupted, and firms that can effectively integrate their AI systems with those of their clients—potentially to the point of 'agent-to-agent' communication—will have a significant advantage.

▶Security and Professional Responsibility in the AI EraJul 2026

A major focus is the risk associated with AI, particularly the danger of waiving attorney-client privilege by using consumer-grade models. Wingens emphasizes the necessity of enterprise-level platforms that offer robust security layers and data control to meet professional obligations.

For investors evaluating legal tech, the robustness of a platform's security and data privacy features is a critical differentiator, as it directly addresses a primary barrier to adoption for law firms.

Source episodes

Suggested prompts

How does Wingens' view of AI as a 'work multiplier' challenge the prevailing narrative of AI as a job displacer in professional services? &nearr;What specific security and ethical protocols does Wingens imply are necessary for law firms to adopt generative AI responsibly? &nearr;Based on the examples provided, which types of legal work are most immediately enhanced by current AI tools, and which remain primarily human-driven? &nearr;How might the trend of clients using their own AI tools, as described by Wingens, alter the power dynamics and billing models between law firms and their corporate clients? &nearr;

Key concepts

AI in Legal Practice 1 ep Lowenstein Sandler 1 ep Legal Tech Platforms (Harvey, Claude) 1 ep Patent Prosecution 1 ep Attorney-Client Privilege 1 ep Legal Industry Economics 1 ep Client-Firm Collaboration 1 ep Due Diligence 1 ep Hiring and Staffing 1 ep

Notable quotes

“that same client who told me 2 weeks ago that they've really noticed an increase in the quality of our work product also told us that because they're using AI in their own work, they're seeing a quadrupling in the number of inventions that their, that their engineers and scientists are coming up with and the number of patent requests that they're getting internally from their engineering team has quadrupled.”

Gary Wingens · Why AI Might Actually Create More Work for Lawyers | Odd Lots

“one of the things that our clients often don't realize is that if they're using especially a consumer-grade Claude or ChatGPT, they often are losing attorney-client privilege by asking a consumer model their questions.”

Gary Wingens · Why AI Might Actually Create More Work for Lawyers | Odd Lots

“So we're almost at the point where their AI agent is talking to our AI agent.”

Gary Wingens · Why AI Might Actually Create More Work for Lawyers | Odd Lots

“We have already hired our summer associate class for the summer of 2027, and we have not changed our hiring patterns.”

Gary Wingens · Why AI Might Actually Create More Work for Lawyers | Odd Lots

Report last updated: Jul 28, 2026

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