K&L Gates names partner to lead global AI strategy
Mon, 11th May 2026 (Today)
K&L Gates has created a Global AI and Innovation Partner role and appointed Seattle-based partner Jake Bernstein to the post, placing its AI strategy under the leadership of a practising partner.
Bernstein will lead the firm's global artificial intelligence strategy, governance and innovation operations. His remit includes AI platform selection, workflow development, and data and knowledge management, in coordination with the firm's technology and security teams.
The appointment formalises responsibility for the firm's AI plans under one partner at a time when legal businesses are weighing how to introduce AI tools into client work while maintaining oversight and internal controls. K&L Gates has already rolled out its main AI platform, Legora, across all practices and offices. It also uses Vincent, Westlaw Advance, Relativity Analytics, CoCounsel, and Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Bernstein will also serve as co-chair of the firm's AI Solutions Group alongside Shiau Yen Chin-Dennis, who oversees leadership coordination and AI-linked revenue growth, and Guillermo Christensen, who is responsible for global policy, cybersecurity and geopolitical issues.
Partner-led model
The structure reflects a decision to place AI leadership within the partnership rather than treat it solely as a technology or operations matter. The aim is to tie decisions on deployment and supervision more closely to day-to-day legal practice.
"Jake's appointment reflects a deliberate choice about how this firm leads in AI: with a practicing partner, accountable for outcomes, working in close partnership with our technology and security functions," said Stacy Ackermann, global managing partner of K&L Gates. "Agentic AI is moving from concept to deployment in months, not years. The market demands a partner driving this work who is in the practice every day, who understands what clients need, and who can move at the pace this moment requires."
The firm's focus on governance has also included external certification. In March, it earned ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification for its AI Management System, making it one of the early law firms to gain that standard.
In Australia, the new role is being presented as part of a wider effort to bring a more consistent framework to how lawyers use AI tools. Regional managing partner Jason Opperman linked the appointment to practical changes in the Australian practice.
"Jake's appointment is a significant step forward, particularly for our Australian practice which is embedding market-leading AI solutions. Having a practicing partner leading our global AI strategy ensures that what we deploy is practical, client-focused, and directly relevant to how our lawyers work day-to-day. For our teams across Australia, this means faster access to tools, clearer governance, and a more consistent approach to using AI to deliver better outcomes for our clients," said Opperman.
Wider rollout
Through what it calls its AI Forward framework, K&L Gates has set an internal expectation that lawyers should use AI tools in their own work within firm policy. The emphasis suggests the firm sees AI as a routine part of legal practice rather than a specialist function reserved for selected teams.
That stance comes as law firms face growing pressure from clients to show how they are using AI in legal work, how they supervise outputs, and how they manage risks around confidentiality, accuracy and data handling. By putting a practising lawyer in charge, K&L Gates is seeking to connect those questions directly to fee-earning practice and client delivery.
Bernstein's practice sits at the intersection of technology, privacy and contracting. He is a partner in the Technology Transactions and Sourcing and Data Protection, Privacy, and Security practice groups, and his work covers data privacy and cybersecurity compliance, software agreements, AI and machine learning addenda, responsible AI frameworks, technology licensing and IT outsourcing.
He also serves on the firm's general counsel team on AI and technology matters and holds CISSP and CIPP/US certifications. He is an active user of the firm's AI platforms in his own practice, supporting the firm's argument that AI leadership should come from lawyers using the tools in live matters.
The next stage of development will involve systems that can plan and carry out multi-step workflows on a matter, raising fresh questions about review and accountability. "The AI ForwardSM posture is straightforward: lawyers should be using these tools every day, on their own work, within governance the firm has built and certified," said Bernstein. "What's coming next, agents that can plan and execute multi-step workflows on a matter, makes supervision the central partner-level question of the next 18 months. The firms that build that fluency now will lead what follows. The firms that wait will not."