LexisNexis Hires Joanna Garcia for Large Law Advisory

LexisNexis has hired Joanna Garcia, a former Thompson Hine workflow director and WilmerHale discovery operations executive, to expand its advisory bench for large law firms struggling to move AI from pilot to production. Garcia joins from a two-year stint at Thompson Hine, where she ran practice-group workflow initiatives, and eight years at WilmerHale leading the firm's eDiscovery operations and collaborating with software engineers on matter management tools.

The appointment reflects a broader strategic pivot among major legal research and workflow vendors: moving beyond product feature competition toward consultative services that address the organizational and cultural barriers to AI adoption. LexisNexis has invested heavily in its Lexis+ with Protégé platform, which bundles AI-assisted legal research, contract analytics, and workflow orchestration. But features alone have proven insufficient to convert large firms accustomed to legacy workflows. The company is now building out a white-glove advisory model that pairs experienced legal practitioners with firm leadership to design implementation strategies, a model that mirrors moves by Thomson Reuters and other competitors over the past 18 months.