Caitriona Robinson has spent most of her career in the legal sector across Ireland and Canada, beginning in law firms before moving into alternative legal services. After several years at Epiq, where her work evolved from business development and marketing into product development and commercial strategy, she joined ClearyX as VP of Client Engagement. Her remit spans commercial strategy, client success, sales and marketing. A clear driver behind Robinson’s work is building technology-enabled services around genuine client needs rather than technology for its own sake, an approach that emerged repeatedly throughout the session in her emphasis on listening to in-house teams, understanding their workflows and designing solutions backwards from the problems they need solved.

Overview

The central theme of the discussion was the evolving role of alternative legal service providers. Robinson argued that ALSPs are no longer just lower-cost alternatives for lower-value work, but an established part of the legal ecosystem. The key question is now how law firms, in-house teams, ALSPs and technology providers can collaborate more effectively, as clients increasingly expect speed, data access, visibility and seamless integration with their teams.

Robinson emphasised that effective legal technology starts with client problems, not product capabilities. ClearyX developed CX Transact and CX Insight only after extensive engagement with in-house legal and deal teams to identify gaps in existing solutions.

She also highlighted how ClearyX applies this principle in practice, combining experienced M&A lawyers with technology to deliver faster, more cost-effective due diligence while improving transparency and oversight for clients.

Trust remains critical as AI becomes more embedded in legal workflows. Robinson noted that adoption depends on confidence in data security, governance and human oversight, with ClearyX building information security into its products from the outset. Rather than replacing lawyers, AI is reshaping work so that technology handles repeatable tasks while human judgement focuses on higher-value issues.

Key Takeaways

• ALSPs are becoming an integral part of legal service delivery, rather than a separate or purely lower-cost alternative.
• Client expectations are the biggest force driving change, particularly around speed, visibility, data and more integrated support.
• Legal technology should be designed around real client problems and workflows, not around what the technology can do.
• AI adoption depends heavily on trust, including information security, governance, validation and clear human oversight.
• The strongest delivery models combine legal expertise, technology and managed services rather than treating them as competing approaches.
• The next phase of legal innovation is likely to be defined by collaboration between law firms, ALSPs, in-house teams and technology providers.