Esther Bowers

Esther Bowers is the firm’s Chief Practice Innovation Officer, serving in key leadership roles on the firm’s Operating Committee and Practice Technology Committee. As a member of the Operating Committee, she helps drive strategic initiatives and leads enterprise-wide projects that strengthen legal operations, advance innovation priorities, and enhance client service across practices. In her role on the Practice Technology Committee, Esther focuses on the strategic, ethical, and secure use of AI and emerging technologies, guiding firmwide adoption to modernize and elevate the client delivery model. She designs and leads cross-departmental, multidisciplinary task forces composed of attorneys and executive leaders to implement innovative solutions that improve collaboration, consistency, and client value.

She leads the firm’s award-winning Practice Innovation initiatives, which integrate AI-enabled workflows, alternative staffing models, tailored pricing approaches, and knowledge infrastructure to deliver efficiency, transparency, and value to clients. Under her leadership, the firm’s innovation programs have earned seven national industry awards and nominations recognizing excellence in AI adoption, technology-enabled collaboration, and modern legal service delivery. Esther is widely recognized as a thought leader in AI-enabled legal services and regularly partners with clients to explore responsible, practical applications of emerging technologies.

Before joining Honigman, Ms. Bowers was the Director of Client Service Initiatives at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, where she led the firm’s client-facing services, including value-added offerings, legal project management, and client feedback programs. Esther co-created and implemented the firm’s legal project management program, training and advising attorneys on process improvement and client value. She also spearheaded the firm’s client service program, designing and implementing customized service plans for key clients and driving initiatives to enhance client satisfaction and engagement.

An active participant in the legal innovation community, Ms. Bowers serves as Co-Chair of the 2026 and 2025 LVNx Conferences for the Legal Value Network (LVN) and is a member of multiple advisory boards. Esther regularly presents at industry events and authors topics including generative AI, legal project management, and client value strategies, having presented for organizations such as the American Bar Association (ABA), Attorneys’ Liability Assurance Society (ALAS), Practising Law Institute (PLI), Legal Value Network (LVN), Legal Marketing Association (LMA) and more. Her thought leadership has been featured in publications such as Law360, The American Lawyer, and Thomson Reuters Legal Executive Institute.

Esther earned a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds certifications in Legal Project Management from LawVision and a White Belt from the Legal Lean Sigma Institute LLC, and she has completed advanced training in generative AI technologies.

Education

News

Press Releases

Events

Presenter, ALASTech, Common Ground – Advancing Change and Reducing Risk (March 2026)

Presenter, HotShot, AI Training Trends: How Law Firms are Preparing Lawyers for the GenAI Era Webinar (January 2026)

Featured speaker, Legal Value Network, LVN Spotlight (October2025)

TED Speaker, Tech Pilots: Piloting Without Panic, Legal Geek North America Conference (June 2025)

Profiled, Harvey Innovation Leader’s Spotlight (June 2025)

Presenter, Practical Application of AI, SOLID Chicago (March 2025)

Presenter, Litera, Annual Sales Conference (February 2025)

Presenter, AI in Action, Cowen Café Webinar, (November 2024)

Presenter and Moderator, Detroit Auto Summit, Thomson Reuters (October 2024)

Presenter, Legal Value Network Webinar, Maximizing ROI: Harnessing Data for Strategic Talent Management (September 2024)

Presenter, Legal Value Network Annual Conference, Practical Tips and Lessons Learned from a Generative AI Pilot Program (September 2024)

Presenter, Legal Value Network Annual Conference, Redefining Law Firm Productivity: New Metrics for a New Era (September 2024)

News Article, The American Lawyer, At Least 2 Midsize Firms Are Using Mysterious AI Startup Harvey (August 2024)

Presenter, Thomson Reuters Institute Webcast, Thriving in Tomorrow’s Legal Market: Future-Proofing Strategies for Law Firms (June 2024)

Presenter, SOLID Midwest, The Evolving Role of the CINO (April 2024)

Presenter, Cowen Café, Strategies for Effective Technology Rollouts (April 2024)

Presenter, Thomson Reuters COO/CFO Law Firm Forum, The Money Tree: Investments in Professional Talent Development (October 2023)

Guest Lecturer, UC Law San Francisco speaking about legal tech (May 2023)

Presenter, SOLID West (March 2023)

Presenter, Legal Value Network Annual Conference, The Future Ready Lawyer 2022: Key Industry Trends & Insights (September 2022)

Presenter, Autologix, Life Beyond LPM: Practice Management (July 2022)

Presenter, Above the Law, What About the Client? Leveraging Legal Tech to Deliver Concrete Value (October 2021)

Presenter, Sandpiper Partners, Managing Profitability, Pricing and Data Analytics (June 2021)

Speaker, Leveraging Latitude Podcast, Legal Operations (June 2021)

Presenter, Global LPM Summit, Using Project Management to Drive Better, More Accurate Data, Legal Strategy and Lower Costs (June 2021)

Moderator, Legal Value Network, Intrapreneurship in Legal (May 2021)

Presenter, Legal Value Network, Off The Clock Podcast (May 2021)

Speaker, LiteraTV, Future of Law Bootcamp (April 2021)

Presenter, Practicing Law Institute, Project Management for Lawyers (February 2021)

Presenter, Legal Value Network, The Road Ahead in 2021: Furthering Collaboration Across the Legal Ecosystem (February 2021)

Presenter, LMA Annual Midwest Regional Conference, Creating a Client-Centric Culture (June 2019)

Contributing Author, ABA The Power of Legal Project Management, Second Ed. (August 2018)

Presenter, Practicing Law Institute, Project Management for Lawyers 2018 (February 2018)

Presenter, LawVision Legal Project Management Roundtable, Case Studies in Implementing Legal Project Management (November 2017)

Presenter, ABA Law Practice Division – Innovative Law Webinar Series, Reducing Mistakes and Satisfying Ethical Requirements with LPM (November 2017)

Presenter, ALAS Annual Firm Administration Conference – Opening Session, Practically Speaking: Implementing Project Management at Your Firm (August 2017)

Presenter, LMA P3 Podcast Series, Client Engagement (April 2017)

Publications

Practice Innovations: Law Firm Pricing as a Strategy, Not a Utility, Thomson Reuters Legal Practice Management (October 2022), Co-Author

Legal Project Managers: Where to Find These Unicorns (August 2019), Co-Author, LPM Institute Advisory Board Blog

Sell! –Driving LPM Adoption Using Proven Sales Tactics (March 2019), Author, LPM Institute Advisory Board Blog

The Power of Legal Project Management, (August 2018), Contributing Author, ABA Second Ed.

Client-Centric Service Means Business Solutions (July 2018), Contributing Author, Kate Harry Shipman Blog (re-published by Chicago Law Daily Bulletin and Akron Legal News)

LPM and the Millennial Lawyer (May/June 2018), Contributing Author, LMA Strategies Magazine