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The Technocat: Cat Casey

Where I interview Cat Casey, Chief Growth Officer at Reveal, whose unique journey has made her one of the most trusted voices helping legal professionals navigate AI

Hey there Legal Rebels! 👋 I'm excited to share with you the 28th episode of the 2025 season of the LawDroid Manifesto podcast, where I will be continuing to interview key legal innovators to learn how they do what they do. I think you're going to enjoy this one!

If you want to understand how to embrace AI technology without fear and see how authentic personal branding can transform your career in legal tech, you need to listen to this episode. Cat is at the forefront of legal AI adoption and brings a uniquely authentic and accessible approach to this rapidly evolving field.

LawDroid Manifesto is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Transforming Legal Practice Through Authentic AI Evangelism

Join me as I interview Cat Casey, Chief Growth Officer at Reveal and the beloved "TechnoCat" of the legal industry.

In this insightful podcast episode, Cat shares her remarkable journey from studying existential philosophy to becoming one of the most recognizable voices in legal AI. She dives deep into how she built her personal brand from scratch, overcame crippling introversion, and found her calling as an AI evangelist who makes complex technology accessible to legal professionals who might otherwise be intimidated by it.

Her stories and insights reveal how authenticity, consistency, and a genuine desire to help others can transform not just your career but an entire industry's approach to technology adoption. This episode is a must-watch for anyone interested in personal branding, career pivoting, and the practical implementation of AI in legal practice.

The Skinny

Cat Casey, Chief Growth Officer at Reveal and known as the "TechnoCat," shares her incredible transformation from a cripplingly shy philosophy student to one of the most visible and trusted voices in legal AI. Starting with existential philosophy at Harvard (which she completed in three years), Cat found her way into legal technology through an unexpected path - selling BMWs in Orange County. Her grandfather's role in creating virtual memory gave her early exposure to technology, while her father's defense contracting work taught her to think strategically about complex problems. Cat's journey through various roles in eDiscovery, from staffing to software companies to Gibson Dunn, ultimately led her to discover her true calling: helping legal professionals navigate the AI renaissance without fear. Her authentic approach to personal branding, complete with sparkles and cheeky humor, has earned her over 28,000 LinkedIn followers and made her a sought-after speaker who travels 230 days a year spreading AI literacy throughout the legal industry.

Key Takeaways:

  • Cat's background in existential philosophy and debate actually provided ideal preparation for AI evangelism, teaching her to break down complex problems and master language - the core skills needed for effective AI prompting

  • Moving 13 times during childhood across Boston, California, and Texas taught her to be a "chameleon" and translator between different cultures and viewpoints, skills that proved invaluable in bridging the gap between legal and technology professionals

  • Her grandfather's invention of virtual memory and her father's defense contracting work provided early exposure to cutting-edge technology, making her comfortable with tech concepts even without formal computer science training

  • The transition from "eDiscoveryCat" to "TechnoCat" five years ago represented a strategic rebranding that aligned with the industry's shift from traditional eDiscovery to broader AI applications

  • Building authentic personal brand requires consistency across all touchpoints, from visual elements (pink and teal, robots, sparkles) to writing style and speaking persona

  • The key to effective AI adoption is starting with low-risk personal use cases to develop prompting skills, which are highly transferable across all AI tools and applications

  • Legal professionals have a natural advantage with AI because their training in issue spotting, problem breakdown, and language mastery are exactly the skills needed for effective AI interaction

  • Work-life balance is less important than balancing activities that "fill your cup" versus those that "empty it" - focusing on what provides energy and fulfillment rather than strict time allocation

Notable Quotes:

  1. "I call it my weaponized ADHD. I get hyper-focused on things I care a lot about." - Cat Casey (05:07-05:14)

  2. "12 years old i'm sitting on a swing and i'm i'm the kid they put on the picnic table because i'm like teaching myself pre-cal in third and fourth grade so i was very good at math but i was also great with words and when you're 10 12 sitting on a swing you're kind of binary and my thought was well math means i'd be a doctor and if i mess up they're dead words means lawyer and if i mess up i can appeal" - Cat Casey (06:46-07:04)

  3. "I willed a path forward around AI, even when, you know, machine learning was before DeSilva Moore came out, before Andy Peck was advocating for it." - Cat Casey (08:47-08:57)

  4. "At this point, stopping AI and Gen AI is like trying to stop a tsunami one molecule at a time. You might succeed with the one molecule, but the water's coming fast." - Cat Casey (04:10-04:19)

  5. "I think some people are feeling like I'm behind the curb. And you don't have to just jump into what your firm has started using... what your super secret skill is going to be is that language mastery you have as a legal person applied effectively to generative AI." - Cat Casey (42:13-42:59)

  6. "Be careful who you listen to. So I, early on in my career, I aimed at the people who didn't like me. I wanted to make them like me, right? Human intuition. But I didn't realize at the time that if I aimed at the people that didn't like me, they still wouldn't like me, right? Or maybe they would, but I wouldn't like me." - Cat Casey (44:49-45:05)

  7. "I think work-life balance is a lie. If I was aiming for that, I would feel like a constant failure because I'm on the road 230 days a year writing and speaking and everything. But finding a balance on what fills your cup up versus what empties it is the secret sauce" - Cat Casey (50:04-50:16)

  8. "The humans that know how to leverage tech and take their unique native knowledge, their subject matter expertise, and marry it with technology, they're going to rule the world in a way that's even different from the last industrial revolution." - Cat Casey (48:48-49:05)

Clips

Willing a Career: Carving Out a Unique Path in Legal AI

Work Life Balance is a Lie—Find Out What Fills Your Cup

Master Prompting: The Universal AI Skill

How Sibling Roles Evolve Over Time

Cat's journey represents a masterclass in career pivoting and authentic personal branding. Her transformation from a shy philosophy student to the sparkly, confident "TechnoCat" didn't happen overnight, it took over a decade of iterative experimentation, genuine relationship building, and staying true to her core mission of helping people navigate technological change. What makes her approach so effective is the consistency between her authentic self and her professional persona, creating trust that enables her to guide legal professionals through their AI fears.

Her practical advice about starting with ChatGPT for low-risk personal tasks to develop prompting skills is particularly valuable. By treating AI literacy like learning Boolean search operators decades ago - a foundational skill that transfers across all tools - she provides a concrete pathway for legal professionals to build confidence with AI technology.

Closing Thoughts

As someone who's been watching the legal tech space evolve for years, I find Cat's story both inspiring and instructive. She embodies what I believe is the future of legal innovation: professionals who can bridge the gap between cutting-edge technology and practical implementation while maintaining genuine human connections.

What strikes me most about Cat is how she's turned her apparent disadvantages (a philosophy background, introversion, frequent childhood moves) into superpowers for the AI age. Her ability to translate complex concepts, build authentic relationships, and maintain consistent messaging across platforms shows how personal branding, when done right, isn't about creating a persona but about amplifying your authentic self.

For our Legal Rebels community, Cat's message is clear: it's not too late to embrace AI, and you don't need a computer science degree to become proficient. Your legal training, the ability to spot issues, break down problems, and master language, gives you a natural advantage in the AI era. The key is starting with low-risk experimentation and building those foundational prompting skills that will serve you regardless of which tools emerge.

Cat's prediction about the next five years, that we'll see massive acceleration in both AI capabilities and adoption, should motivate rather than intimidate us. Those who start developing AI literacy now, following her practical approach of learning through everyday use cases, will be best positioned to thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape. The future belongs to those who can marry human expertise with AI capabilities, and Cat Casey is showing us exactly how to do that with authenticity, humor, and genuine care for the people we serve.

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