Instead of a celebrity in a white chair talking about themselves, the opening keynote at AALL 2026 featured Federal district Judge Micah Smith talking about what he called “Aloha leadership”. Leadership based on empathy and care for others that creates lasting impact.
He also talked about why judges and lawyers with lifetime tenure or a big book of business often forget how they got there and start exercising power out of entitlement and self interest. And how hard it is for litigators to exercise this kind of leadership.
But years of litigation taught me the lawyers who succeed the most are rarely the ones who scream the loudest. Judge Smith’s talk backed that up. He also connected it directly to two problems we talk about a lot: A2J and GenAI adoption.
Lots of good stuff to think about. My post for Above the Law