In this episode, Ruby Powers sits down with Niki Black — attorney, journalist, and Principal Legal Insight Strategist at 8am — for one of the most data-rich conversations the show has had on AI in the legal profession.

Niki leads the 8am Legal Industry Report, now in its third year tracking AI adoption across law firms. The numbers from this year's report are striking — and not just because adoption has doubled. It's the gap between how fast lawyers are using AI and how slowly firms are governing it that tells the real story.

What we explore:

✅ The Numbers That Matter: 69% of legal professionals now use generative AI for work — up from 31% last year. Only 9% work at firms with an enforced AI policy. Only 11% have received mandatory AI training. What that gap means for your firm right now.

✅ Claude Legal in Action: Niki ran the same research query through multiple tools — one of the big two, Midpage alone, and Claude through Midpage's legal plugin. The difference was not close. A research task that would have taken 10 billable hours as an associate took five minutes — and Claude surfaced issues nobody asked it to find.

✅ The Training Gap Nobody Is Talking About: Large firms are already reducing first-year hires because AI is handling entry-level work. If law schools don't mandate AI training, apprenticeships, and practical firm management, the profession is heading toward a talent moat — no one to promote, no one to lateral in.

✅ Where Clients Are Now Finding Lawyers: Hint — it's not Google. What GEO (generative engine optimization) means for your firm's visibility and what you should be paying attention to now.

✅ How to Actually Start Using AI: Niki's practical framework for dipping your toes in — what to try, what to avoid entering, and how to think about your firm's specific tools and data.

If you're trying to figure out where your firm actually stands on AI — and where the profession is heading — this conversation is the clearest picture we've found.

📣 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

🚀 Law Firm Retreat: Design Your Future – August 2026: Stop the daily grind and start architecting your next era. Join Ruby in Denver for an intimate, 15-firm-only strategic laboratory.

👉 Secure your spot: https://powersstrategygroup.com/law-firm-retreat-august-2026/

📊 We Love Your Feedback! Help us design the next year of the podcast. Take this 2-minute audience survey: https://forms.gle/EgMgxd3tbXCsmqgp9

📌 Join the conversation in our Power Up Your Practice community!

Hosted by Ruby Powers, your guide into the heart of law practice management. Each week, learn insights from leading legal minds, trailblazing attorneys, and expert guests who provide you with actionable advice, out-of-the-box solutions, and a fresh perspective on running your firm more effectively and efficiently. Prepare to open your mind, be inspired, and power up your practice to the next level.

Watch more episodes of Power Up Your Practice on: 🌐 Website: powersstrategygroup.com 📺 YouTube: @powersstrategygroup 💬 Join our Skool Community - Power Hub: https://www.skool.com/powerupyourpractice

Connect and learn more from your host, Ruby Powers: 🔹 LinkedIn: /rubypowers 🔹 Facebook: /poweruppractice 🔹 Website: rubypowers.com 🔹 Ruby's Book: Power Up Your Practice on Amazon

Trusted Resources from Our Toolkit: • Stafi https://calendly.com/d/csbk-3y4-35w/staffing-strategy-session-stafi-ruby-powers?month=2025-07 • Filevine https://www.filevine.com/partner/powers-referral/ • CandleAI https://www.trycandle.ai/powers • Vonage https://share.vonage.com/zones/friend_landing_experience_microsite?extole_share_channel=%5C%22SHARE_LINK%5C%22&extole_shareable_code=wzq4f&referral_id=wzq4f&source=%5C%22direct%5C%22&utm_source=Power+Up+Your+Practice+by+Power+Strategy+Group&utm_campaign=a7c6feafe9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_13_07_58_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3b4d3388ea-a7c6feafe9-746189731

In this episode, Ruby Powers sits down with Erin Gerner — attorney, entrepreneur, coach, and founder of Powerhouse Lawyers — for a conversation that a lot of high-achieving women in law need to hear but rarely get to have out loud.

Erin left BigLaw, then left an in-house counsel position when she became a mom, and spent years figuring out who she was when "attorney" wasn't the first thing on her list. That journey became her work: coaching women lawyers through burnout, identity shifts, and the career decisions that feel impossible to make — and impossible to keep avoiding.

What we explore:

✅ The Success Trap: What happens when you've hit every milestone you were supposed to hit and it still doesn't feel like enough — and why the dopamine hit of achievement has a very short shelf life.

✅ The Hamster Wheel: How high-achieving lawyers end up running so hard toward the next thing that they never stop to ask whether they actually want it — and what getting still enough to hear the answer looks like in practice.

✅ What You Have to Let Go Of: Identity. Comparison. The opinions of people who aren't paying your bills. Imposter syndrome. Fear. Erin walks through what she had to put down to move forward — and why none of it is weakness.

✅ Paralysis Disguised as Productivity: The pattern of enrolling in courses, having conversations, doing research — and calling it progress when it's actually just a very convincing way to stay exactly where you are.

✅ No One Is Coming: Why waiting for the right moment, the right sign, or the right circumstances is itself a decision — and what it actually takes to take the next best step even when you can't see all the way to Z.

✅ Reclaiming Your Powerhouse Status: What it looks like in practice — not as a big production, but as the small, simple things that fill your tank back up when you've been running on empty.

If you've ever stood at the top of the hill you were supposed to climb and thought — okay, now what — this episode is for you.

📣 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

🚀 Law Firm Retreat: Design Your Future – August 2026: Stop the daily grind and start architecting your next era. Join Ruby in Denver for an intimate, 15-firm-only strategic laboratory.

👉 Secure your spot: https://powersstrategygroup.com/law-firm-retreat-august-2026/

📊 We Love Your Feedback! Help us design the next year of the podcast. Take this 2-minute audience survey: https://forms.gle/EgMgxd3tbXCsmqgp9

📌 Join the conversation in our Power Up Your Practice community!

Hosted by Ruby Powers, your guide into the heart of law practice management. Each week, learn insights from leading legal minds, trailblazing attorneys, and expert guests who provide you with actionable advice, out-of-the-box solutions, and a fresh perspective on running your firm more effectively and efficiently. Prepare to open your mind, be inspired, and power up your practice to the next level.

Watch more episodes of Power Up Your Practice on: 🌐 Website: powersstrategygroup.com 📺 YouTube: @powersstrategygroup 💬 Join our Skool Community - Power Hub: https://www.skool.com/powerupyourpractice

Connect and learn more from your host, Ruby Powers:

🔹 LinkedIn: /rubypowers

🔹 Facebook: /poweruppractice

🔹 Website: rubypowers.com

🔹 Ruby's Book: Power Up Your Practice on Amazon

Trusted Resources from Our Toolkit:

• Stafi https://calendly.com/d/csbk-3y4-35w/staffing-strategy-session-stafi-ruby-powers?month=2025-07

• Filevine https://www.filevine.com/partner/powers-referral/

• CandleAI https://www.trycandle.ai/powers

• Vonage https://share.vonage.com/zones/friend_landing_experience_microsite?extole_share_channel=%5C%22SHARE_LINK%5C%22&extole_shareable_code=wzq4f&referral_id=wzq4f&source=%5C%22direct%5C%22&utm_source=Power+Up+Your+Practice+by+Power+Strategy+Group&utm_campaign=a7c6feafe9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_04_13_07_58_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3b4d3388ea-a7c6feafe9-746189731