Bridget M. McCormack, the former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court who joined the American Arbitration Association in 2023 as its president and CEO, helping to spearhead the AAA’s innovation efforts, particularly with regard to its adoption of generative AI, has announced she is stepping down from that role.
Steve Errick, the AAA’s chief development officer, will move into the role of interim president and CEO starting Oct. 2 as the AAA’s board of directors conducts a formal search for a new CEO.
A press release issued by the AAA this morning did not say where McCormack is going, but provides a quote from her saying that an opportunity came along that she could not turn down.
“An opportunity came along that sits at the intersection of work I have cared about throughout my career: access to justice, institutional innovation, and the potential of technology — especially AI — to fundamentally improve how our justice system serves people,” McCormack said.
“The chance to build something focused specifically on judges, at this moment in the evolution of the technology, felt like an opportunity I could not turn down.”
A spokesperson for the AAA said McCormack’s new organization will be making an announcement in the coming weeks.
The timing is interesting, given that her move to build something focused on judges comes just two weeks after Clio announced its move into developing technology for judges and its hiring of Casetext cofounder Pablo Arredondo to lead that effort. Judges, it seems, are having a long-overdue moment.
During McCormack’s tenure at the AAA, the press release says, it significantly increased its annual cases filed to more than 580,000, expanded its mediation practice and international footprint, and launched a variety of technology-forward partnerships, tools and products, including the AAA AI Arbitrator.
She was twice on my LawNext podcast, first in 2024 talking about the AAA’s embrace of generative AI and again in 2025 talking about the launch of the AI Arbitrator, both times joined by Diana Didia, the AAA’s chief information and innovation officer.
She also had me on her AAAi Podcast, for an episode on how AI is changing the legal industry, along with her cohost Zach Abramowitz and guest Timo Karakashev, Cosmonauts founder.
In her earlier role as chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, McCormack was a leading voice on modernizing the court and justice systems to expand access to justice.
Errick, who is taking over as interim CEO, joined the AAA in 2023. He is a legal tech and publishing veteran who was formerly chief operating officer at Fastcase and head of the Legal Research Information Division at LexisNexis.
“I leave with tremendous confidence in the AAA’s future,” McCormack said in the press release. “The organization is strong, its mission has never been more important, and it has an exceptional leadership team and talented colleagues throughout who are deeply committed to its success.”