Sarah Johansson, legal product lead at Theo Ai is a Merit Scholar having graduated with an LL.M. from Georgetown and with an LL.B. from Queen Mary University London. She has spent several years working with attorneys and judges, handling everything from high-volume civil cases to cross-jurisdictional commercial fraud litigation, achieving multi-million dollar orders. Sarah is inspired by translating legal art into sophisticated technology and helping shape the litigation space into a future-looking industry. She has studied and worked in Singapore, London, D.C., and is now based in Seattle. Outside of work, Sarah enjoys experimenting in the kitchen and exploring cities on foot.

Can you give us an overview of Theo Ai and how the company has become the first predictive engine for legal cases?

Theo Ai has established itself as the very first predictive engine for legal cases by bringing together a team of experts with decades worth of experience in their respective fields spanning finance, law, and technology. This multidisciplinary foundation has allowed Theo Ai to effectively leverage AI models and emerging capabilities, rapidly evolving to meet the industry it aims to serve. What truly sets Theo Ai apart from generic AI tools is its ability to integrate seamlessly into the entire litigation lifecycle; by providing strategic insights from the earliest stages of case evaluation, even before a complaint is filed, all the way through to the critical decisions made moments before trial.

You have a diverse background across legal strategy, product development, and data analytics. Prior to Theo Ai, your work focused on operationalizing innovation in litigation and paralegal duties in law. What led you to Theo Ai and the intersection of law and technology? How has that informed your approach to product development in legaltech?

I started my legal work in courtrooms, dealing with the most outdated realities of the legal field and constantly having to question who should win the case and why. Law school taught us to anchor our idea of a winner to the letter of the law, but that looks very different in practice. I dealt daily with a range of inefficiencies, from reading documents and sending letters, to careful and meticulous research to attempt to anchor a case to a realistic resolution. There remain so many interesting nuances in the law, and many that are much more complex and challenging than what some standard contract review software could solve. This combined frustration with inefficiencies I had to work through, with a desire to identify a degree of clarity in complex litigation, really ignited my drive to be part of the solution.

My experiences have all informed my product approach by developing a solution I would have wanted to use. One that can offer direction and structure to young lawyers who benefit from a perspective to anchor their problem-solving strategy to. One that could also help senior litigation partners by merging data with legal analytics when communicating legal outcomes with non-legal stakeholders. I’m excited to provide our engineering team with the understanding they need to develop something that people love to use and rely upon. I also think it has made me acutely aware of how important it is to have legal experts contributing to legal products to build tools that are tailored to our industry.

What are the biggest challenges in designing AI products for legal professionals, and how have you addressed them with Theo’s product design?

Many technology teams lack technical individuals who also understand the law, can make quick iterative decisions, and work through problems with engineering.

This translates heavily into a lack of adoption and a decrease in recurring use. Plenty of good technology exists that is helpful to an attorney in some way but the tools often stop where the lawyer needs them most.

We have designed Theo’s product to live where lawyers work. We are not trying to teach lawyers a bunch of new tooling or inconsequential features. Right now, our product is simply one of empowering any litigation attorney with the clarity and data about their case they have never had access to before.

As Legal Product Lead, how do you address/balance the needs of legal professionals with the capabilities of evolving AI technologies?

It is truly an exercise of prioritization that constantly fluctuates between understanding needs vs. wants from the lawyer’s perspective. Discerning builds that would be technically challenging, or even impossible, from ones that are truly innovative, and embracing those innovative iterations. It’s important to remain focused on solving a single problem first, then applying that learning to iterative builds.

One example has been in document handling – most of us are familiar with the Suits-like imagery of a boardroom filled with boxes. Although this is far from most lawyers’ daily work, the image speaks to a very honest truth, lawyering is all about the documents. The capabilities of AI evolving does not necessarily mean that they are being optimized and prioritized to handle the volume and types of documents that lawyers need, and so we have had to really spearhead development of such capabilities here at Theo Ai.

How would you describe your leadership style when it comes to building product teams and working cross-functionally with engineers, data scientists, and legal experts?

I have learned that engineers and lawyers share a need for an incredible level of detail, which has pushed me to help the team to effectively and efficiently zoom in and out, making space for both the wider goal and the minutia. For enabling the team, it has been key to make room for individual passions to push the needle on how we innovate. Our engineers Alan Pogrebinschi and Justin Krivda have created some truly incredible components that are as impressive standing alone as they are crucial pieces of our full-spectrum product.

What motivates you most about the work you’re doing at Theo Ai?

What excites me most about the work I’m contributing to at Theo Ai is the opportunity to build something that professionals in the legal industry genuinely love using. Theo isn’t just a tool used to check a box, it actually makes their work more impactful. If we can give someone more clarity—if our product helps a lawyer make a better call, faster, or brings more fairness into a difficult case—that’s a win. I’m energized by solving problems that previously felt unsolvable and am able to do so alongside some of the only people with the combined legal, technical, and strategic expertise to tackle the equation, which is incredibly exciting.

A big part of my drive comes from bringing data and clarity to decisions that are often guided by instinct or a personal experience alone. As someone who has always been compelled by the (sometimes) complicated relationship between law and ethics, I’m particularly excited by the potential AI has to actually enhance ethical decision-making in the legal system as opposed to undermining it.

What legal verticals or practice areas do you see as being most ripe for AI transformation next?

At Theo AI we are already diving deeper and deeper into the land of mass torts. This vertical is highly susceptible to a legal team’s ability to quickly and decisively dismiss and prioritize those plaintiffs who have experienced real injuries from commercial products, as an example. It is a vertical that is growing tremendously and can showcase how legal verticals can become incredibly efficient and powerful with the use of purpose-built technology.

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