Oz Benamram, a legal AI specialist and former knowledge management leader at Simpson Thacher and White & Case, joined Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman as the firm's first Chief AI Officer at the start of the year. The appointment, which the firm only recently announced, signals a formal push to embed AI across practice areas while keeping legal judgment in the hands of lawyers.
Benamram will continue to run his independent legal tech group, Skills, alongside the new role. His career spans two decades of building knowledge management and AI systems inside large law firms.
The role
As Chief AI Officer, Benamram leads the firm's AI strategy, governance frameworks, and enablement infrastructure. He partners with practice and business leaders to support deployment of AI solutions, business transformation initiatives, and collaboration with clients and technology partners. He also oversees data science and knowledge management functions, aiming to make the firm's collective experience and work product more accessible across practices and markets.
Pillsbury is hiring for several other senior legal tech roles, suggesting a broader investment in the function.
What the firm and Benamram said
Pillsbury Chair David Dekker said: "Oz will help us harness this transformational tech responsibly, leverage our vast data across leading areas of practice, and accelerate innovation across the firm, all in service of delivering exceptional outcomes for those we represent."
Benamram added: "The firm understands that AI can do more than just change how legal work gets done; it can expand clients' access to Pillsbury's collective knowledge, experience, and judgment. I'm excited to work alongside Pillsbury's lawyers and clients across industries and around the world to help shape a human-led AI future."
The firm stated that AI is "most powerful when used to augment human expertise," and that Benamram will apply AI tools to streamline workflows, improve information analysis, and speed up access to knowledge while ensuring that strategic thinking and client counseling remain with experienced lawyers.
Why this matters for legal professionals
Pillsbury's move reflects a pattern: large law firms are creating C-suite roles dedicated to AI, moving beyond experimentation to formal governance and infrastructure. For lawyers, this signals that AI skills are becoming part of the professional toolkit, not a side project. Professionals who understand how AI tools fit into legal workflows will be better positioned as firms restructure knowledge and data practices. AI for Legal Professionals Courses offer practical training for those who want to build that understanding without leaving their practice.
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