Shaping the Future of Law through AI
Danielle Benecke, LLM ’15, is at the forefront of legal innovation as the founder and global head of Baker McKenzie’s Applied AI practice. Her team develops AI-native legal and compliance solutions for complex, high-stakes challenges faced by global enterprises. Recognized as one of the most exciting roles in the legal sector today, Benecke’s work is redefining how legal expertise is delivered.
Previously a Legal Design Lab fellow at Stanford Law School and a mentor with CodeX’s AI and Law program, Benecke has long been engaged in the intersection of law, technology, and design. Her current focus is less on traditional legal efficiencies and more on solving previously unsolvable problems using AI.
Redefining Legal Services with Technology
Benecke emphasizes that the most pressing issues for clients today go far beyond conventional legal tasks. “What keeps our clients up at night isn’t contract redlining,” she explains. “It’s navigating geopolitical uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, cybersecurity risks, and fragmented regulatory systems.”
These are not narrowly defined legal problems. Rather, they require cross-border, multidisciplinary approaches that integrate legal analysis with data and business decision-making. Benecke sees this systems-based thinking as the future of the legal profession, where lawyers are expected to blend legal acumen with technical and strategic insight.
Advice for Aspiring Legal Professionals
For students entering the legal field, Benecke offers a clear message: broaden your knowledge base. “This is one of the most critical times to join the profession,” she says. “We now have the opportunity to tackle regulatory and risk challenges that were previously out of reach.”
Her team, for example, leverages AI to conduct compliance audits for multinational organizations. These audits are performed through modular workflows that analyze data across jurisdictions and industries, combining legal expertise with technological tools for greater accuracy and speed.
“The next generation of impactful lawyers will be those who understand how law, data, tech, and strategy fit together,” Benecke asserts.
Continued Engagement with CodeX
Benecke remains closely involved with CodeX, Stanford’s legal tech center, as a speaker and mentor. She credits her time at Stanford—and specifically, the Law, Science, and Technology program—for shaping her current career path. During the early 2010s, as machine learning began transforming industry, she realized that deploying AI in high-stakes scenarios required a deep understanding of legal risk, technical feasibility, and commercial applicability.
“Stanford was pivotal,” she says. “It showed me what was technically possible and gave me the tools to think systemically about legal services.”
Innovating Legal Practice
After graduating, Benecke joined her firm’s innovation efforts, collaborating with Baker McKenzie’s Chief Innovation Officer to envision AI-driven service models. This initiative coincided with the release of the seminal “Attention is All You Need” paper, which revolutionized machine learning. Her early experimentation with AI applications in legal services proved prescient and has since become foundational to her team’s approach.
Today, Benecke considers herself very much a practicing attorney, albeit in a nontraditional capacity. “We design workflows that integrate legal judgment with AI models and domain-specific data,” she explains. “AI is now part of how we scale legal expertise and address complex client needs.”
Foundations in Economics and Policy
Benecke’s academic background in law, economics, and political science at the University of Sydney has also deeply influenced her professional outlook. “Understanding markets, institutions, and policy has shaped how I see the evolution of legal structures in a technological age,” she notes.
Her interdisciplinary foundation enables her to navigate the multifaceted challenges facing modern legal systems and to build scalable, AI-enabled solutions that reflect both legal precision and business realities.
A Personal and Professional Partnership
Benecke is married to Sam Schroeder, LLM ’15, a fellow Stanford alum and active member of the CodeX community. Interestingly, the couple met in Australia and applied to Stanford independently. Schroeder also graduated from the Corporate Governance program, further reflecting the couple’s shared passion for legal innovation.
Inspiration and Thought Leadership
When asked about influential figures in her field, Benecke cites legal scholar Daniel Katz, among others. She also praises the ongoing contributions of the CodeX community, including Roland Vogl’s leadership, Pablo Arredondo and Jake Heller’s work at Casetext, and Dr. Megan Ma’s efforts with SLS’s frontier models lab. Stanford law professor Mark Lemley remains a key voice in the discourse on law and technology.
“The best ideas come from working closely with real problems,” Benecke emphasizes. “Every AI service we’ve built started with a client pain point—a broken workflow, a compliance gap, or a strategic decision bottleneck.”
Recruiting the Next Generation
Though Baker McKenzie is not yet among the top 20 law firms employing Stanford Law alumni, Benecke is determined to change that. She is actively involved in the firm’s recruitment efforts and frequently returns to campus to connect with students.
“We’re hiring,” she says enthusiastically. “And we want more Stanford grads—especially those who bring systems thinking, legal insight, technical curiosity, and practical problem-solving. That’s exactly what this moment demands.”
As the legal profession continues its evolution, leaders like Danielle Benecke are charting a new course—one defined by innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a commitment to solving the most complex challenges of our time.
This article is inspired by content from Original Source. It has been rephrased for originality. Images are credited to the original source.