Eric Ritter

Eric Ritter:

Welcome back to The Search Bar, the podcast for law firm leaders who want smarter growth without the guesswork. Wine optional. I’m Eric Ritter, the SEO Sommelier and founder of Digital Neighbor. After 12 years helping law firms scale from the inside out, I’m here to share what actually works: smarter marketing, stronger systems, and strategies built to grow with you. If you’re running a law firm and want more than just the right leads, larger retainers and more cases closed, you’re in the right spot. And if you’re ready to put these ideas into action, check out my “Motion for Marketing Strategy” system. It starts with a free discovery session; no fluff, just a clear path forward. The links are in the show notes.

 

And today, I’m very excited to welcome an awesome guest because we’re diving into one of the biggest forces reshaping the legal industry right now: AI, or artificial intelligence. AI is changing how we research, communicate, manage cases, handle discovery, and even interact with clients. But beyond the hype, the real question is: how should law firms actually use AI responsibly and effectively? Joining me is Christopher DiBella, founding partner of DiBella Law Injury and Accident Lawyers. Chris brings a deeply personal understanding of what accident victims go through, grounded in the life-changing experience of seeing his own older brother survive a catastrophic car accident. That moment shaped not only his career path but the empathy and urgency he brings to every client. Chris, thank you so much for joining me today.

 

Christopher DiBella:

Eric, I’m really looking forward to this. Thank you so much for having us on. And quite frankly, it’s a great topic. We’ve talked about it many times, and it’s changing. I think every time I talk about it, there’s something new to talk about.

 

Eric Ritter:

That’s amazing. And we’re just getting started in 2026, so who knows where we’re going to end up here as the year goes on. Before we really get into the whole AI conversation, you know, we talked a little bit about wine here. It’s optional, you know, but before the episode, I reached out to you and kind of chatted a little bit, and you gave me really the perfect wine analogy for today’s conversation, which I thought was awesome. You said, “If we were a wine, we’d be a Cabernet Savol: reliable, relatable.” So today, we’re pouring a Cabernet Savol from Hilltop Winery of the Pac Robles. A bold wine that knows exactly what it brings to the table, just like a well-run law firm. So thank you for that recommendation, Chris.

 

Christopher DiBella:

My pleasure.

 

Eric Ritter:

Awesome. So let’s start with something a lot of lawyers don’t realize: AI is already here. It’s already part of how firms operate, whether they know it or not. So from your perspective, Chris, where are law firms already encountering AI in their daily operations?

 

Christopher DiBella:

You know, Eric, it’s got to be maybe a year and a half now. I remember coming back from a law firm growth conference summit, and this was right at the brink of when AI was taking off, and everybody in the office was kind of resistant to it. They didn’t know a lot about it; they thought AI was going to replace them. And, you know, the tagline that I always got was that you’re going to be replaced not by AI, but by somebody that’s embracing AI. And that’s really true. You know, somebody that’s, you know, immersing themselves in it, learning how to make it a better employee, learning how and where it can reduce redundancies and inefficiencies within your firm and your office, is really going to make those employees invaluable. So that’s what I would urge everyone to do. But since we started down the path of AI, it’s really evolved and continues to evolve. So we go to regular summits and conferences to learn more, to see what new tools are out there. We’re constantly trying out new ones, discarding old ones, to see what works. But we’re engaging AI products on a daily basis.

 

Eric Ritter:

And you’re an injury lawyer, so I’m curious: how is AI changing the landscape from an industry, law firm specifically?

 

Christopher DiBella:

It’s a great question. You know, we just had our 2026 summit meeting today, and a great deal of that is dedicated to: you know, what do we see for 2026? What’s on the horizon? What can we utilize? Where do we want to expend our money on some of the new AI tools that are going to be out there? And, you know, so that’s a big part of our revenue growth platform for the year. You know, from a business perspective, the law firm is a business. You know, and we talk about: how does AI help the lawyer in terms of drafting memorandums, complaints, and motions? But it’s also: how does it help grow the business? How do we use it in marketing? How do we use it in case management? How do we use it in our intake system? You know, there’s so many areas within the law firm, the business side and the legal side, that it can be incorporated. And we use it in pretty much all of them to one degree or another, depending on, you know, what is most interesting to you or your audience. I’m happy to get into it. I do carry the moniker of “I’m an MBA and a JD”. So, over the years, I’ve been practicing for about 20 years, so I am still often in the courtroom, but I also put on my CEO hat and often will see, from a business perspective, where can we integrate AI? Where can it reduce bottlenecks and make us more productive?

 

Eric Ritter:

Yeah, and I really appreciate that holistic perspective, because there’s so many different angles and aspects for every firm, like you said. Not just on the actual doing-the-work side, you know, preparing to go to court or prepare a motion, but also on the business side. So you really need to look at it from all different angles; a full 360 approach, which a lot of times people don’t do. They think, “Hey, I can only use it this way,” and they try to kind of, you know, hammer that round peg into a square hole. But you know, I really like how you said it: that there’s a lot of different applications for AI in a law firm. And just, it sounds like, just be open-minded. Right? Just be open-minded and really look where it can help reduce those redundancies and get rid of those bottlenecks?

 

Christopher DiBella:

It’s a great point. The other thing, the thing that I get, and I’ve lectured on this a few times, is there’s different segments. I’m kind of somewhere in the middle: not a new attorney, but you know, I’m not nearing the end of my career either. I’m kind of somewhere in the middle; I have plenty of years left. But you know, when I lecture and I get questions from some of the older segments of the bar, you know, they say, “Well, do I really want to invest in AI? How much money do I want to spend? I don’t want to learn this whole new platform.” And then you get the younger generation that’s already been introduced to it in law school or in undergrad, and they want to hit the ground running and take on every tool. But where do I start? And a lot of these things, you know, have a cost associated with them. And like I said, you could integrate these just in your business meetings, from AI chatbots that can take these things down, summarize them, and create to-do lists for everybody that attended the meeting, to helping you draft a legal document, to helping in your marketing, to helping your CRM and your intake system.

So it can be overwhelming. You know, and the thing that I would say to somebody that’s new is really: take a holistic view of your firm, see where the most need is, and just get started. You know, dip your toe, see how you like it, see what products are out there that might be able to best service the needs that you have immediately. And then I think once you realize the power of AI and what it can do, you’ll expand that naturally out into other areas within that firm. But I do think it could be a little daunting to say, “Oh my God, I’ve now heard Chris talk about 20 different products that could do everything from, you know, identify the caller as they come in on this automated call, give them an automated AI message, then redirect it to somebody that’s the proper person in your firm, to helping, you know, chop up this podcast in seconds and create viral clips using an AI, to drafting different marketing, helping on your social, to doing legal research”. There’s so many different facets that I think certain people can get overwhelmed and kind of just say, “You know what? That’s too much,” and shut down.

 

Find one area of your firm. It could be marketing, could be intake, it could be on the legal side. Learn about the products, take on some of those calls. And I’m happy to go offline with any of your audience members and talk through some of these things, but find that place that you have the biggest bottleneck. Maybe you can’t, you have too many demands to get out? Maybe you can’t bring in enough clients and you don’t want to hire staff to ramp up your marketing efforts? Find out what that is. Then find out some of the AI products that are dominating that space and try one. Most of these are month-to-month, you know, a lot of products, and you can try a couple, educate yourself, find out what works, what doesn’t, what works within your budget, and see if it’s really helping reduce the inefficiencies in that area. And if it is, I think what you’ll find is that some of these are actually saving you money. So, you know, even though there’s an upfront expense, you may find that they’re actually saving you manpower; they may be saving you from hiring somebody; they may be making you more efficient that now you’re able to do more with less. So maybe you now even can put off that next hire because you’ve been able to reduce your bottleneck in that area.

 

Eric Ritter:

Yeah, I love that takeaway. You know, just find somewhere where the biggest need is and just try it out. Dip your toe in the water; right, test it out. Makes a lot of sense. And I appreciate you as well offering, you know, to go offline if someone has a question there as well.

 

Eric Ritter:

I want to shift, Chris, if you don’t mind, to AI and the law, because it’s evolving so fast, you know, every day is probably something new; every week is different there. And so just curious, you know, from your perspective today: what kind of ethical or legal risks do you see when you maybe overdo it? Right, we talked about just trying it out, kind of getting your toes wet, but I’m sure there’s also people that are over-relying on it too heavily. And what kind of risks do you see there?

 

Christopher DiBella:

Well, that’s actually a great point. You have to make educated decisions and inform yourself before you pull the trigger, because one of the things that you don’t want to be doing is the wrong type of legal work on the wrong platform. You don’t want to be going and divulging private, confidential client information on, you know, public networks or public AI bots. There are closed networks. I mean, quite frankly, there’s a lot of Microsoft products, things that we have already been using, which we put into our Word documents every day, that are now cloud-based, that get shared through Dropbox, and you know, a lot of these things are out there that we’re already using client information in. I would say stay close to the behemoths in space, right? The Co-Pilots, the LexisNexis, the Westlaws, you know, the places that have a lot of these security protocols in place, that have closed-loop networks that, you know, many attorneys are already using for their legal research, and they’re now just using the AI within some of these companies to enhance what they’re already using. What the problems that you can run into is that people are just saying, “Oh, I want to go with the $20 solution on a ChatGPT,” and they’re drafting, they’re uploading client information, and they’re now sending this out. And these models are learning from that, and it’s going out into areas that they shouldn’t be getting divulged, and, you know, they’re having those types of platforms draft these confidential documents that I would not recommend. So there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. And you know, the biggest issue that we’re seeing in court. I mean, I’m subscribed to weekly periodicals within the states that I practice, national law journals, and you don’t have to look far to find the lawyers that are using these ChatGPTs and Claudes and Groks,. The problem is that some of these things hallucinate. Where they’re drawing from, they’re making up cases and they’re getting cited on a regular basis. And that’s because they’re jumping in without educating themselves as to where this information is getting drawn from.

 

Right, if you’re drawing a complaint or an opposition motion within LexisNexis or Westlaw, this is working within the framework of all of the case law and statutes that they’ve already accumulated. This is not now just ChatGPT that’s going out to the internet that is finding stuff or making stuff up. Now, it doesn’t mean that those platforms don’t, the lay person may say, “Oh my God, well, some of these things it’s referencing is accurate.” And it is, but some of it is not. So you really have to pay attention to the platforms you’re using, pay attention to the risk exposure it’s giving to you and your clients and the confidential information, and also make sure that you’re doing your due diligence. You cannot just put it out there, draft it, and expect that it’s accurate. Right? We cannot just get a work product produced and expect that it’s accurate and just wash our hands of it. No. We are responsible as attorneys for the information presented to court, and we have to do our due diligence and make sure we’re checking every citation for its accuracy, just like we would if we researched the case ourselves.

 

Eric Ritter:

Yeah, it seems like the old adage, “If you can’t trust everything that’s on the internet,” still applies; right, you can’t trust everything that comes out of AI. Do your due diligence. You know, because that’s a term we never really talked about before AI is “hallucinations,” right? Where there’s a platform that’s just making things up, which is scary. And I’m sure you’ve heard the stories as well where people are in front of a judge in court coming up with, bringing up case law that doesn’t exist, right? Just because AI is programmed in its DNA, if it had DNA, to make us happy. And if I’m saying, “Hey, find case law for this case,” it’s like, “Sure, I can make that up for you,” right? So checking your work is even more important now, and making sure, you know, is this actually accurate information? And so I like what you said there is using the tools that were created specifically for certain use cases. LexisNexis and Westlaw have great AI tools that work within a certain framework that at least is a starting point and a foundation that is usable, but then you still have to do your due diligence on your own to make sure that it applies to your unique situation.

 

Christopher DiBella:

You know, I’m old enough, Eric, that when I was in law school, I still had to go to the book and you’d Shepherdize it; you’d make sure it was still good law. And then now, some of these younger attorneys, even before AI, they’d be able to use LexisNexis and Westlaw and it was everything was at your fingertips. It was within their portal and you’d be able to do all that Shepherdizing right online. But now you’re almost one step removed because that portal is now summarizing these cases. You’re not actually even going into the cases and reading them like we used to. So you still have to pull these cases, even though they’re online, even though they’re cited. Make sure the citations are correct; make sure the referencing within those cases are correct. We still have to do our job as attorneys. You know, and listen, this is going to continue to evolve at a level where I think at some point, they’re doing amazing work already, AI, and I think at some point it’s going to continue to make us less and less involved. But we kind of have to fight against that tide because, you know, the courts have been slow to react to this; they’re now really picking up steam in terms of holding attorneys and law firms accountable for these inaccurate citations, and um, you don’t want to be the person getting called out in front of the law.

 

Eric Ritter:

No, absolutely not. Eventually, the long hammer of the law is going to come down, and you don’t want to be underneath it. That’s right. When it happens.

 

Eric Ritter:

All right. Well, that was great, Chris. And I think that’s some great takeaways there. I want to pivot and talk, come back a little bit to implementation. You talked about earlier, like, all the different places you can look: that holistic approach to use AI, also the dangers of over-reliance on AI. So when it comes to implementation, it can be done well in a firm to make it, like you said, more efficient, more profitable, more client-centered. And just curious, because I know where you are there at the firm, if you guys are rolling something out. I’m curious if you have any tips or any takeaways for the listeners, viewers out there, how maybe law firms could integrate AI into their process without overwhelming their team? Right? Because every time something new comes out, you know, it can be very overwhelming. Right? I remember my grandfather telling me, I think it was my grandfather, and um, they got computers, and you know, that was, like, an unbelievable, like, evolutionary step,. Right? Going, you’re at your desk and all of a sudden they’re putting this computer on your desk, and everybody’s just throwing their hands up like, “What do we do with this?” Right? There’s a right way to do it where you walk people through: “Hey, this is a new machine. This is what you need to do,” and not just, “Here’s on your desk, figure out how to use it.” So just curious if you have any kind of tips there for our audience out there?

 

Christopher DiBella:

Yeah, 100%.  You know, I think that unless you’re retiring in the next 5 years, AI is not going anywhere. It’s only going to become a much more prevalent force within our firm. So I would do a couple things: Dedicate a portion of your budget every year to some AI product; also dedicate a portion of your year time-wise to learning about AI. You know, following a podcast like yours, learning what some people are saying, what they’re using, and then take that and go try it on your own. You know, go reach out to LexisNexis, sit through a demo. So I would dedicate some of your time to learning about the different products out there. Find some trusted sources like your podcast and other ones out there, or it could be a book, could be somebody out there, because there are so many AI products that you can waste a lot of time on ones that are not great. So you can save yourself a lot of time by finding some good, vetted AI sources that are distributing information like you’re doing here today: to follow, learn, listen, investigate, so that you’re kind of staying up with the times a little bit about at least what’s out there and what’s possible.

 

So that when it does come time that you are able to put some marketing dollars or AI dollars aside in your firm, you at least have some idea of what’s possible. And I take a lot of people to reach out to me on a regular basis, vendors. And one of the things I’ve done as a firm owner is: there’s very few calls I don’t take. So I’m on Zooms all the time; I’m learning, I’m educating myself. And if for nothing else, it’s what I like and what I don’t like. And then it just educates me for the next call. Maybe somebody else is doing it better or cheaper. Or maybe by the next call, it’s evolved to a level that I am ready to pull the trigger. So my biggest advice is: start right away. Just like you should start right away, when’s the best time to invest? Yesterday. The next best time is now. Right? The same thing is true with AI: The best time was when AI came out; the second best time to start is now. Right? So start investing some percentage of your budget into AI now, and start investing some of your time learning about what AI can do.

 

Eric Ritter:

Love that. That’s fantastic, Chris. Thank you so much for sharing that. I want to get into the “Closing Checklist,” um, something we talked about: the five steps to responsible AI in your law firm. I’ll read out each of the five points here from the framework for adopting AI safely and efficiently in your practice, and then you can just add a sentence or two to that, Chris,. Does that work?

 

Christopher DiBella:

Yeah, that’d be great.

 

Eric Ritter:

Awesome. So let’s get into it. Number one: start with simple automations where it’s super easy, intake reminders, drafting assistance, there, in order to get AI in the law firm.

 

Christopher DiBella:

I think that’s a great point. I think it makes it less scary to get involved, and when you can identify those things that are very repeatable, easy processes within your firm and you can automate those using AI, it’s a great place to start. Awesome.

 

Eric Ritter:

Number two: create an AI use policy. We didn’t really get into it, but I think it’s so important, right? To have standards for privacy, verification, client data, even.

 

Christopher DiBella:

Yeah, I think this goes back to, we did hit on it a little bit, is when you’re identifying some of these platforms to use, make sure you’re identifying the ones that have the proper security protocols and privacy protocols that we are required to have as lawyers. So, you know, that has to be part of your AI investigation.

 

Eric Ritter:

Agreed. Yeah. So educate yourself. Like what you said, Chris, you know, you have to say “no” to many meetings, you know. I’m very similar to that; I always want to learn about new tools out there. So knowing which, you know, what questions to ask, which policies they have in place, it’s so important. Absolutely. Number three is to verify everything. Don’t trust it. Right? AI is a tool, not an authority.

 

Christopher DiBella:

100%. I mean, it cannot replace the lawyer and the job that the lawyer has to do for the client. At the end of the day, we are the person standing up in front of the judge making the argument, and you need to do it so that you understand the case and that you’ve thought everything through. You know, I think there’s going to be, you know, we have to resist the urge to just create it and it’s, you know, it does produce a product that you’re like, “Oh, I can just trust this. It looks good. It sounds good.” Um, but I think if you know, rather than saving 100% of your time, let it save 50% of your time. And the other 50%, you got to dive deep into that and investigate it. Make sure it’s accurate; make sure you don’t need to follow up in certain areas; make sure there’s no holes in the argument. Um, you know, this is what we went to law school for. So, you know, we have to put it to use.

 

Eric Ritter:

Absolutely. Couldn’t agree more. And that leads us right into Number four: Protect the human element. Right? That empathy, that strategy, that negotiation, that trust, that can’t be replaced by AI.

 

Christopher DiBella:

You’re 100% right. And you know, I’ve gone to a lot of seminars and we’ve talked about: where is AI going? And what can AI at some point just not do? And you know what they can’t do is what we’re doing right here: They can’t empathetically have an exchange about a client’s case and understand the plights they’re going through, and the sleepless nights, and the pain and suffering of the family, and be able to really relate on that and explain why we’re the right firm to work for them. So you know, anything that’s client-facing, from that initial phone call, to client follow-ups, to in-person meetings or Zoom meetings. I think we have to resist the urge of just saying, “Hey, let’s just have an AI bot reach out and say, you know, ‘How are you doing?” You know, there’s certain things you can automate, you know, “Hey, you have a follow-up coming,” just like when your dentist, “Hey, just a reminder you have a dental checkup next week.” But it can’t be, you know, “How was your MRI?” No. We need to still be involved in our client’s case, understand what they’re going through, because that is the story we’re telling. And I think something’s lost if you remove yourself from it.

 

Eric Ritter:

Couldn’t agree more. That’s perfect. Last but not least, Number five: stay educated. Right? If anything, make sure you understand the laws, the legal environment, the ethics. The AI capabilities are evolving fast and changing all the time.

 

Christopher DiBella:

Yeah. Well, you know, you’re doing a great public service here, and that’s something, there’s more and more podcasts like yours, and journals and periodicals and things that, you know, a year ago there were less, at least specific to the legal industry. So utilize this, continue to follow your podcast. I’m sure you’re going to have more things on AI. You know, maybe we’ll pop back on as things are evolving. But you know, it’s a great place to come in, check in, hear what’s the latest and greatest news, hear what’s going on, how rules have changed, how this has affected the law, how it’s getting implemented.

 

Eric Ritter:

Couldn’t agree more. Well, Chris, thank you so much for bringing such a grounded, real-world perspective to a topic that’s often overhyped. Like we said, it’s powerful, but empathy is irreplaceable. And I think you, Chris, are the perfect voice to explain how those two things can coexist in a law firm today. And if you’re a listener out there, you’re ready to scale smarter, not harder: book your free discovery session through our “Motion for Marketing Success” system today. That link will be in the show notes today. And if you enjoyed today’s episode, share it with your colleague, leave us a review. It helps more firms learn the strategies that actually work. Until next time: stay curious, stay grounded, and keep building a law practice you love. Cheers, everyone!