How I Went From a Litigation Lawyer to a Legal Engineer
Connor Molloy didn’t set out to become a Legal Engineer. His curiosity about AI and desire to improve how legal work gets done led him there.
Before joining Harvey as a Legal Engineer, I spent my seven-year career as a lawyer working in litigation and disputes. I loved the pace and problem-solving, but over time I became increasingly interested in the operations side of the profession — the business of law, not just the practice of it.
That interest led me to start thinking differently about the impact I could have on the business and toward technology and operations. I started putting my hand up for AI and transformation projects at my firm, eventually splitting my time between private practice and the Innovation team. Legal Engineering became the natural next step.
I wasn't necessarily looking for a new career. I had simply started following the parts of the work I found most interesting — the intersection of law, technology, and how the business itself could evolve and operate more efficiently. In doing that, I found an opportunity to use my legal experience in a completely different way and have an impact beyond the individual matters I was working on.
“Lawyers don't change the way they work simply because they're told a new tool can help. They want to hear from someone who understands their work, has used the technology to solve similar problems, and can be honest about where it works and where it doesn't.”
The Translator Between Law and Technology
The way I usually describe a Legal Engineer is as a translator. We sit between the people building and bringing technology to market and the lawyers who are going to use it every day. That means understanding both sides well enough to connect them: how lawyers actually work, where technology can help, and what it takes to get from one to the other.
A lot of my time is spent directly with customers, and the work can range from demoing Harvey to someone for the first time to working hands-on with lawyers who are already using it to help them unlock more. What I enjoy most is sitting down with someone, understanding the problem they're trying to solve, and working through a solution together.
“My favourite part [of the role] is helping people see a different way to work — showing them how they can practise differently while still applying every skill they already have as a lawyer.”
Recently, I met with a partner whose team had spent years developing an internal playbook around a particular client's preferences. The lawyers knew those preferences inside and out, but they were still applying the playbook manually, spending hours making small stylistic changes that took time away from advising the client on more substantive issues.
The partner wanted to find a way to use the playbook they had already built while freeing up lawyers to focus on higher-value legal work. We talked through what they were trying to achieve, spent five or 10 minutes walking through Harvey's playbook builder, built a playbook together, and then applied it to one of their live documents, all within a half-hour session.
Pretty immediately, the partner could see the possibilities for their own work and the impact Harvey could have across their team and the firm as a whole. For me, that's Legal Engineering at its best: understanding someone's work well enough to help them see a new way to approach it and then building it together.
Legal Engineering is Built on Trust
One thing you learn quickly in legal practice is how much the profession runs on trust. Lawyers work from precedent — not just legal precedent, but also the experience of people around them. They want to know what others have tried, what worked, and what didn't.
The same is true with AI. Lawyers don't change the way they work simply because they're told a new tool can help. They want to hear from someone who understands their work, has used the technology to solve similar problems, and can be honest about where it works and where it doesn't.
That's one reason Legal Engineers are in such a unique position. We understand what practice actually feels like, but we're also close enough to the technology to understand its practicalities. When a lawyer comes to me with a question about AI, they're rarely asking, "Who can sell me this product?" What they really want to know is, "Who can I talk to about how this actually works?"
Building that trust is what allows us to move beyond showing people what the technology can do and start helping them think differently about how they work.
The Skills That Matter Most
The skills that make someone a good Legal Engineer aren't necessarily the ones people expect. You need to be curious about technology, but just as important are communication, creativity, and a willingness to operate in ambiguity.
“As a Legal Engineer, you need real curiosity about the practice of law and the business of law, because the job is creative thinking more than anything else.”
I'm a disputes lawyer by background, but these days I regularly find myself working with lawyers in practice areas very different from my own. Not long ago, I was in a session with a tax lawyer asking me detailed questions about how Harvey could apply to their work. In situations like that, I’m not relying on my knowledge about the rules of evidence, I’m relying on the skills I gained as a disputes lawyer to think on my feet. It’s not dissimilar to being in a courtroom, you have to own the discussion, rely on your skillset, and be comfortable saying when you don’t know something.
My favourite parts of practice were advocacy and negotiation, the parts that involved understanding people and helping them see a different point of view. I get to use those skills every day as a Legal Engineer. The difference is that now I'm not giving legal advice, I’m helping people see a different way to work and empowering them with the skills to think differently.
Getting Started as a Legal Engineer
If you're interested in Legal Engineering, my advice is to start where you are. Look for opportunities to try new things, work differently, and experiment with how technology could improve the practice you're already in. That's essentially how I got here. I put my hand up for every AI and operations project I could, long before there was a Legal Engineering role attached to the work.
The more you explore, the more you'll start to understand what draws you to this kind of work, whether it's rethinking a process, experimenting with technology, or helping others work differently.
Legal Engineering is still a new profession, and no one knows exactly what it will look like in a few years. That's part of what drew me to it. The people doing this work today have an opportunity to help define what the role becomes.
If you want to start building the foundational skills to become a Legal Engineer, Harvey Academy’s free, self-paced Legal Engineering Certification is a great place to start. You’ll learn the core capabilities of the role and earn a shareable badge upon completion.
