Bridging Legal and Technology<\/strong><\/h3>\nSchorr\u2019s expertise stems from over 30 years in legal technology, including nearly eight years as director of information services at Damon Key Leong Kupchak Hastert, a prominent Honolulu law firm.<\/p>\n
Following that role, he co-founded Roland Schorr & Tower, a consulting firm with offices across the western United States that specialized in helping law firms maximize their technology investments.<\/p>\n
A prolific author, Schorr has written multiple books for the American Bar Association, including The Lawyer\u2019s Guide to Microsoft Outlook<\/em>, The Lawyer\u2019s Guide to Microsoft Word<\/em>, Office 365 for Lawyers<\/em>, and OneNote in One Hour for Lawyers<\/em>.<\/p>\nHe was also a contributing author for technology publications and served as part of the \u201cAsk the Exchange Pros\u201d team for Windows Server System<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\nThe AI Implementation Challenge<\/strong><\/h3>\nIn our conversation this morning, Foster identified a key problem among law firms that Schorr\u2019s expertise makes him well-suited to address: Purchasing AI tools but struggling to implement them effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cI read a post on LinkedIn yesterday that talked about AI being the new Peloton,\u201d Foster said. \u201cPeople buy it but they don\u2019t actually use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schorr emphasized the importance of managing expectations around AI implementation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the time when I talk to somebody, legal professional or otherwise, who\u2019s tried AI and been disappointed, it\u2019s usually because they thought it was going to be a flying car,\u201d he said. \u201cThey thought it was just going to be a big green button that said practice law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Schorr advocates for realistic expectations about AI\u2019s current capabilities. \u201cIn most cases, it\u2019s saving people 30 minutes a day, 45 minutes a day, an hour a day,\u201d he explained. \u201cThat\u2019s meaningful, that\u2019s important. It\u2019s only disappointing if you thought it was going to save you eight hours a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Tool-Agnostic Approach<\/strong><\/h3>\nWhile Schorr brings deep Microsoft expertise to Affinity, he said that his approach to consulting will be to focus on the best tool for the job rather than be platform-exclusive.<\/p>\n
While Microsoft Copilot excels at tasks like summarizing emails and comparing documents within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, other AI tools might be better suited for specific applications like legal research, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can ask Copilot to do legal research and it will try to do it, and it may even do it okay in many cases, but it\u2019s just not really the best tool for that,\u201d Schorr said. \u201cI would use an AI that\u2019s configured for legal research.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Innovation Strategy Team<\/strong><\/h3>\nAt Affinity, Schorr has joined a new innovation strategy team focused on practical applications rather than theoretical demonstrations. Foster said the team will help firms address the challenge they often face of seeing impressive demos but then struggling to translate that into actual workflow improvements.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no translation from sitting in a Zoom meeting or in a conference room and watching a demo of a product and then sitting down at your own desk and doing the next thing,\u201d Foster said.<\/p>\n
The team will focus on helping firms make incremental changes that build comfort and confidence in new approaches rather than attempting wholesale workflow transformations.<\/p>\n
Foster described the strategy as helping lawyers make small changes that compound over time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do I take small things that I do and integrate generative AI so I start to believe myself there\u2019s a different way,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause then I, as the lawyer, start asking questions: \u2018Wait, that thing that used to take me three hours, I am able to do better in an hour. What about this next thing, how do I do that differently?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Creating Believers<\/strong><\/h3>\nSchorr\u2019s move to Affinity represents a return to direct client consulting after his tenure at Microsoft. Foster said the move will be particularly valuable for creating \u201cbelievers\u201d in new technology approaches, explaining that successful AI implementation requires people who are passionate about working smarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ll never get ROI from generative AI unless you have believers that there\u2019s a better way to get work done,\u201d Foster said. \u201cAnd so you should focus on your believers if you want ROI from generative AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things that I love about Ben, is that Ben has a passion for working smarter \u2014 and showing people how you can work smarter helps you create believers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ben M. Schorr, one of the leading experts in the use of Microsoft products in legal practice, has joined Affinity Consulting Group LLC, one of the top companies in the U.S. providing strategic business and tech-implementation consulting for law firms and legal departments. Starting today, Schorr is joining a new innovation strategy team at Affinity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":126611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawsite"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SchorrJoinsAffinity-Featured-1024x576-ZJ3BSb.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}