Vid Prabhakaran has a clear belief about AI in law: "We don't believe that AI is going to replace lawyers, but we do believe that lawyers who use AI in a sophisticated way are going to replace lawyers who don't." And when he hears partners argue that associates need drudgery work because it's foundational to their future success, he's blunt: "I think they're full of it."

As partner-in-charge of Davis Wright Tremaine's San Francisco office, Vid is navigating three major shifts: AI's impact on legal billing models, political attacks on DEI, and California's climate leadership in the absence of federal direction.

In this conversation, Vid explains how he's using AI to eliminate associate drudgery and refocus their work on strategic analysis—and why this shift will force law firms toward value-based pricing. He also shares how he's prote ...