The mystery of Bridget M. McCormack’s destination has been solved. Last week, I reported that McCormack, current president and CEO of the American Arbitration Association and former chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, was leaving her job for an undisclosed opportunity that, as she said at the time, “I could not turn down,” teasing only that it involved “the chance to build something focused specifically on judges.”
The timing seemed telling, as I noted then. Just two weeks earlier, Clio had announced its move into developing technology for judges and its hiring of Casetext cofounder Pablo Arredondo as senior vice president, judiciary, to lead that effort. Could her announcement, so soon after, be mere coincidence?
Turns out, it was not. Today, Clio made it official, announcing that it has recruited McCormack to join the company as general manager, judiciary, “to help build the future of court technology.”
Clio’s dual hirings of McCormack and Arredondo to drive its expansion into the courts is one of those situations where one plus one adds up to a whole lot more than two.
McCormack’s track record on justice-system innovation traces back to her time as chief justice in Michigan and carries through to her tenure at the AAA, where she spearheaded its adoption of AI and its development of products such as the AI Arbitrator. (Listen: An AI Arbitrator? The Latest Innovations from the American Arbitration Association, with CEO Bridget McCormack and CTO Diana Didia.)
Arredondo, who led Casetext’s development of a strong of innovative products, including CoCounsel, the first GPT-4 AI legal assistant, first turned his attention to the challenges facing the judiciary while at Thomson Reuters, which acquired Casetext for $650 million in 2023. (Listen: Why Legal AI Pioneer Pablo Arredondo Is Joining Clio to Build Technology for the Courts.)
“The judiciary represents one of the largest opportunities to strengthen how the legal system works, and we are building for it with long term ambition,” said Jack Newton, Clio’s CEO and founder.
“Bridget understands this market at a level very few people do. She has led courts, worked across the justice system, and knows what it takes to earn the confidence of the institutions we want to serve.”
Leading Market Strategy
When McCormack begins working at Clio in October, her role will be to lead the market and commercial strategy for Clio’s judiciary business. She will report directly to Newton.
Arredondo will lead product development and strategic direction for the judicial division. He will report to Clio’s chief product officer John Foreman.
Clio’s push into developing technology for the courts comes at a critical time for the judiciary.
For decades, courts have been suffocating under the pressure of weightier and weightier caseloads and inadequate funding for the staff and technology to manage those caseloads. Driving those caseloads has been the steady increase in the numbers of self-represented litigants (SRLs), who, according to a 2018 study, make up 72 percent of all parties in state courts – meaning only a quarter of litigants are represented by lawyers.
The advent of AI has only exacerbated that problem, providing SRLs with the tools to more easily research legal issues and prepare legal filings.
Many believe the courts are ill-prepared for the AI era and that the need for technological solutions has never been greater.
On the Michigan Supreme Court for nearly a decade, including four as chief justice, McCormack saw that pressure firsthand, Clio said in its announcement of her hiring, and that experience has helped shape her view of where AI can have the greatest impact.
“Millions of people rely on courts at moments when the stakes are highest, often without meaningful legal support,” said McCormack. “The opportunity now is to give those institutions better tools to meet that responsibility.
“If we do this well, the impact won’t be about efficiency. It will be the strengthening of the public justice system’s service to the people who depend on it, and the corresponding growth in public trust.”