AI for law firms: An interview with NetDocuments CTO John Motz

From paperwork to platforms, legal technology has long promised transformation but often delivered incremental change. Now, as artificial intelligence moves from experimentation to everyday use, the transformation is finally arriving — not with fanfare but woven into the tools lawyers already use.

John Motz has witnessed this kind of inflection point. The CTO of NetDocuments spent years in fintech and AI startups before joining the Utah-based document management company three years ago, drawn by what he saw as an industry on the cusp of reinvention.

In this conversation, he explains why embedding intelligence directly into workflows matters more than flashy standalone tools, how semantic search is finally giving lawyers what they’ve wanted for decades and what happens when a generation raised on AI enters a profession built on precedent.

What is your role, and what led you there?

I’m the CTO at NetDocuments, and I’ve been in the role for about three years now. Before that, I spent a number of years in product engineering, had some time in fintech, and worked with a couple of AI startups. When I first spoke with the team at NetDocuments, what really drew me in, aside from the people, was the opportunity. The legal technology space was clearly on the edge of something big with AI, and I’d seen that kind of inflection point before in other industries. It felt like the right moment to lean in and help drive meaningful innovation.

Legal professionals are often vocal about paperwork and inefficiency. Did that play into the appeal?

Absolutely. Legal is an industry that’s done things the same way for a very long time, and those are exactly the environments I enjoy working in. You have a real chance to change how work gets done.

Not so long ago, even email was viewed as risky or inappropriate in legal contexts. Eventually, though, it became unavoidable. AI feels like it’s been on a similar journey, and now we’re at the point where more people are leaning in than holding back.

How open are law firms to adopting AI today?

I genuinely haven’t spoken to a single customer who isn’t open to it. They do, however, have a lot of questions, and rightly so. Our position has been that the document management system is the secure place where legal work happens, and AI should be embedded directly into those workflows. The legal AI market is crowded, and it can feel overwhelming for customers. Our role is to help them think about adoption in a methodical way, identify the first areas where AI can drive efficiency and support them through that process.

You launched new AI capabilities last year. What’s stood out so far?

Rather than treating AI as a separate tool where you ask a question and get an answer, we see it as a layer of intelligence embedded across the platform. Semantic search, for example, changes how people work in a document management system (DMS) — moving from keyword searches to typing contextual queries and getting responses in natural language. Legal professionals have wanted this for decades.

Does that help address concerns around “shadow AI”?

Yes. When AI is just there, naturally embedded, it becomes part of the workflow, much like satellite navigation in a car. You don’t think about it until it’s gone. That’s how I see AI in legal workflows evolving. Our focus is on identifying the moments where it feels natural and genuinely helpful, which then drives organic adoption.

Looking ahead, how do you see AI agents being used?

It all comes down to context. That’s why semantic understanding is so critical. It allows us to take huge volumes of information, like a thousand-page document, and distill them into meaningful, digestible context. From there, agents can support tasks such as understanding how a particular clause has been handled over the past decade, analyzing opposing counsel, or redlining and tracking changes across large document sets. Some of this is already live, and it will continue to grow as we learn alongside our customers.

How closely do your teams work with lawyers in developing these tools?

Very closely. We’re investing not just in technology but in people, hiring lawyers who work directly with customers to understand real-world workflows. Our engineers spend a lot of time with legal professionals, watching how they actually use the software. That context is invaluable. Engineers are great at solving problems, but they need to see those problems firsthand.

How do you personally use AI day to day?

I don’t write production code, but I use AI a lot for concepts, summarization and research. I’ll often experiment with agents in the evenings. Sometimes it’s incredibly productive, sometimes less so, but what’s remarkable is how much better it’s getting, almost week by week.

How do you see newer generations interacting with it?

They use it every day in college and high school. That raises valid questions, particularly in professions like law, about how people learn and develop early in their careers. Some firms insist junior lawyers do the work without AI; others are fully embracing it. But from what I’ve seen, speaking with students, they’re all using AI already, and many institutions are encouraging it. This next generation will come into the workforce expecting AI to be part of their daily workflow.

Finally, how do you take your coffee?

Black. Preferably an espresso.