How Aubrey Bishai Builds a People-First Innovation Culture

In our Innovation Spotlight series, we interview innovation leaders about how they approach their jobs and how they’ve implemented and deployed Harvey.

In this edition, we chat with Aubrey Bishai, Chief Innovation Officer at Vinson & Elkins LLP.

Aubrey is focused on ensuring the effective implementation of significant projects and tools that impact the services of Vinson & Elkins. She leads a department responsible for AI adoption, project management, research and competitive intelligence, and marketing technologies.

During her tenure she has also held several senior business development and marketing roles, including as Global Director of Marketing Services. Aubrey has developed proposal processes, conducted client and industry programming, project managed technology infrastructure implementations, and launched digital strategies and analytics. She is passionate about law firm strategy, efficient processes, emerging technology, collaborative teams, and top-notch client service.

What does innovation mean to you, and how does it shape your day-to-day work?

I’ve spent more than two decades in professional services, with 15 of those here at Vinson & Elkins. My roles have spanned proposal management, digital marketing strategy, client programming, major firm technology rollouts, space planning and real estate, and vendor management. So, I approach innovation from both a strategic and operational perspective, always with client service as a central driving force.

To me, innovation is about finding better ways to serve our clients, to work together, and to grow as professionals. And it's about putting people at the center of everything we do.

At Vinson & Elkins, we've built our brand around delivering excellent work and exceptional service to our clients. And to stay true to these commitments, we believe in constantly growing more creative, more efficient, and more forward-thinking. That’s our innovation priority.

What are you passionate about outside of work, and how do those passions influence your professional life?

I’m a mom to three vivacious daughters — ages 14, 10, and four — and wife to a film director husband. We can be found soaking in all the art, culture, architecture, and food our beloved NYC has to offer. I also serve on the board of my co-op, as class parent, and in the community.

Life outside of work is a daily blend of creativity, problem solving, and character building. It’s fair to say I manage it all in the same way I handle complex work projects: one step at a time.

What excites you most about being an innovation leader today?

There’s a tendency these days to equate innovation with technology — to think of adopting the latest tech as the only viable means of innovating. Now, don’t get me wrong: Tech is extraordinarily important. But we view innovation through a broader lens.

Whether we are overhauling a business process or evaluating emerging technology, people are at the center of our innovation strategy — as is teamwork. One thing we know is that, no matter how well we plan or execute, success depends largely on how the people affected by a change feel about it — and how much they work together to embrace it. To tackle challenges and find new and better ways of doing things, we bring together cross-practice and cross-functional teams of people. Those who are always ready to learn, experiment, and grow. This delivers a diversity of thought, experience, and insight that enables us to solve complex problems.

I'm fortunate to be a part of the leadership team at a firm that fosters a culture of innovation. It’s the seamless alignment of people, process, and technology — and a deep connectedness to each other and to our clients — that drives our success. And it’s this shared commitment that makes my work so rewarding.

What led you to select Harvey — and what are you hoping to achieve with it?

The world is evolving rapidly. And generative AI is impacting the legal profession in myriad ways. Our clients are innovating too, and they expect more agility, more insight, and more alignment from their legal partners. We want to meet the moment — not just react to it.

We selected Harvey for a few key reasons. First, Harvey is legal domain-specific, meets our rigorous information security standards, and can be used by our people in compliance with our professional obligations and client expectations. Second, it can be used across all practices and business teams. Third, Harvey is straightforward to use, with an easy UI.

Taken together, it’s a platform that can serve both the generative AI novice, as well as those who want to engage more deeply in agentic workflows or complex analysis. We’re a large, full-service law firm, and as such, Harvey hits a lot of marks in support of our practice and business needs.

What training or change management approaches have been most effective in driving adoption?

GenAI adoption is not just about having the right technology — it's about having the right mindset. One that embraces constant evolution, that's open to change, and that sees responsible use of generative AI technology as an enabler, not a barrier. We’re focused on this mindset in our adoption strategy, and Harvey has been a great support.

Ongoing, small-group, and hands-on training has been most effective. Going deep on one topic and really getting into use cases helps guide our users effectively. We’ve received great feedback on our Harvey Roadshows, monthly Office Hours, Prompt-a-thons, and practice group Deep Dive sessions.

Our proactive approach ensures responsible AI adoption through governance, training, and direct client engagement. All of our efforts are geared to ensuring that Harvey and any GenAI tool is used ethically, securely, and effectively. We aim to create feedback loops to continually share insights — what’s working, what’s not, what requires more focus — and enhance our usage as GenAI evolves and Harvey’s product roadmap develops.

Can you share specific use cases where Harvey has made a meaningful impact?

Our attorneys especially like the ability to query documents (both individually and across multiple documents in Vault), and they use document summarization with frequency. Some of our favorite Harvey use case examples involve streamlining otherwise manual processes, and quickly finding needed information across large document sets.

What does success look like to you with GenAI, and what outcomes or data points are you tracking?

We aren’t alone in navigating the impacts of AI — we’re here to assist our clients in doing the same. Around the firm, our lawyers advise clients as GenAI impacts their business in both anticipated and unexpected ways. So it’s critical we stay ahead of the curve and remain nimble on behalf of the firm and our clients.

It’s been instructive to see the exponential growth in the number and types of queries across the Harvey’s Assistant, Draft, and Vault tools — by practice group, office, and rank. Ultimately, we want our attorneys feeling confident in their responsible use of AI within their daily workflows. The way to get there is to stay curious, train and give it a try. Tracking the numbers shows us we’re on the right path, and collecting feedback enables the sharing of successful use cases across teams.

As an early adopter of GenAI, what are 1–2 key lessons you've learned along the way — and what practical advice would you offer to organizations just beginning their own journey?

We’ve learned that adopting GenAI is less about teaching individuals how to use tools and more about shifting mindsets regarding habits and workflows. Put another way, GenAI is more than just technology; it’s a different way to view your work. Adoption efforts need to be focused on both aspects.

Innovation isn’t just an initiative — it’s part of our culture. That means more collaboration across teams. More experimentation. More space to ask “How might” and “What if.”

Hands-on training is key to people engaging with and using the tools. Collecting those early wins and creating forums to share use cases are essential, and help us to internally market the use of the technology.

What do you think the most significant impact of GenAI will be on the legal industry of the future?

I believe that applications of GenAI within legal workflows will enable attorneys to be more efficient and effective in various tasks, freeing them to spend more of their time doing work that only they can do as top-tier experts in their fields.

This has deep implications for the apprenticeship model of associate training, the firm’s management of knowledge, developing and maintaining client relationships, providing pro-bono services… I think the list could go on.

I’ve often said that for all the focus on technology, legal work remains a deeply human endeavor. Curiosity, creativity, and communication are still the forces that drive relationships. AI simply gives us the ability to scale those qualities.

The firms that succeed will use AI to empower people and transform workflows, turning data into direction and information into deeper client connection.