As AI adoption spreads across the workforce, employees are feeling pressure to become proficient as companies push for quick and efficient implementation. This adoption also comes with growing anxiety about the impact of AI on job growth and security. Goodwin is one of the largest law firms in the country and received a 5-star rating on Newsweek’s Greatest Workplaces for Women ranking. Chief People Officer and Assistant General Counsel for Employment Heidi Goldstein Shepherd told Newsweek that AI is key to the firm’s strategy to be “the first elite industry-built law firm that fuses legal excellence and strategic advisory services.”
As an apprentice-based industry, Shepherd said Goodwin encourages young lawyers to grow by “sitting at the knee of the person more senior than you and really learning from them.” While she acknowledges that “AI is going to change that,” Goodwin is working to preserve that model and added that she’s “not overly worried people are going to be left behind. We work really closely with our women to ensure that they are progressing in their careers,” she said. “We want to make sure that we are offering them opportunities to off ramp and on ramp as they're both leaving and coming back [from parental leave]. And, ideally, some of these AI tools will really help with that experience.”