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A former BigLaw partner, comedian, and co-founder of Lawpath has said that to thrive, lawyers must cultivate purpose and integrate their interests into their work in the age of AI.
Nick Abrahams (pictured) completed a commerce law honours at the University of Queensland, but decided to pivot to a career in the entertainment industry after being a lawyer for eight years. He became an executive at Warner Brothers for one year, and what began as part-time in comedy led to him working on a Japanese TV pilot.
Two years later, Abrahams returned to law and joined Norton Rose Fulbright as global co-leader of digital transformation until late 2025. During his time at the global law firm, he co-founded Lawpath, aiming to reduce legal costs for clients through its AI services.
“The business was really focused on how we could automate legal for small businesses … I saw this massive demand for legal support from small businesses [that] weren’t going to be able to pay 500 bucks an hour …. for normal legal services,” he said during a recent episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show.
He also spoke about what brought him back to the profession. “I found the thing that I love about the law. I love the intellectual rigour of it … I love the idea that you could create your own future as a lawyer,” he said.
Despite the various risks that AI poses for professionals, including lawyers, Abrahams stressed the benefits. “I’m a big believer that the future of lawyers is unbelievably bright if you embrace AI … I don’t believe that AI replaces lawyers,” he said.
“Grinding out … 10 service agreements in a day … is not a skill that’s going to be super worthwhile into the future.”
“As AI will be able to do certain execution style tasks, [such as] chronologies [and] document revision … I think what that means is that we are going to have to look at what [the] value proposition is that we add on top of that.”
Abrahams said that while improvising on stages in Japan, he honed his negotiation skills. Improvisation teaches you to say “yes”, he said, and it enables you to think about the other person’s thinking and perspective.
“The idea of listening to people, really listening to what they’re saying, and then even if it doesn’t jive with the way you see the world, being able to say, OK, I get it … rather than saying, no, I don’t think this is right … That has been enormously beneficial … In improvising, so you go onto a stage, [it’s] a high-risk situation,” he said.
Purpose and satisfaction are key to doing what you love, another key learning that Abrahams picked up along his journey. “Regardless of the role that you’re in, you can find contentment and satisfaction out of getting good at it … [and] you’ve got to be helping someone with what you’re doing,” he said.
“What I would say is I’m very strongly driven by this idea of purpose … [which is] a critical thing … Making the most of what you’ve got and … figuring out something that you’re not bad at and getting OK at it.”
Abrahams spoke about the satisfaction he gains from adding value for clients using the experience he has gathered throughout his working life. “Take what you’ve learned and provide greater insights for your clients. And that’s [also] where your other interests and other skills become relevant,” he said.
“It’s really about … find[ing] our mission in life and chas[ing] our dreams. If we’re not doing that, then we’re not being true to ourselves.”
Carlos Tse is a graduate journalist writing for Accountants Daily, HR Leader, Lawyers Weekly.
