Nicole Nehama Auerbach

By Nicole Nehama Auerbach

The “edge effect” is the place where two habitats or ecosystems meet. They say that in this space — at the edge — the most unique and diverse species can be found. I am drawn to that edge, and it figured prominently in my decision to create and now lead ElevateNext, Elevate’s integrated law firm. 

I am no stranger to edges – even precipitous ones. I spent the first 15 years of my career at an AmLaw 100 firm in Chicago where I was a partner in the litigation department. In 2008, I co-founded Valorem Law Group, a law firm designed to take a bite out of the “that’s-how-we-have-always-done-it-before” manner of practicing litigation.  Our goal was to provide clients with an alternative to the billable hour  (at a time when no one had yet heard of alternative fee arrangements). Our small firm garnered national acclaim as one of the pioneers of the AFA movement, and now alternative fees are commonplace. In 2016, Valorem was named one of the “Top 22 Firms at AFAs” by BTI Consulting, alongside some of the oldest and largest firms in the country.  That was incredibly rewarding, but like all edge species, we have to continue to evolve. Our new target is simplifying the delivery of legal services at scale and combining lawyers with technology to streamline the practice of law.  Enter ElevateNext.

Why Did We Create ElevateNext?   We know that clients care about outcomes and they prefer to get them simply and cost-effectively.  We also know that most legal matters may need lawyers for some parts of the work, but not for all. We also saw that legal service providers like Elevate were starting to handle every aspect of legal service delivery imaginable – from building large, scalable teams, to providing legal operations, document review, project management, consulting, technology, and AI, and doing so at a substantially lower cost than law firms or keeping the work in-house. 

Until recently, in many jurisdictions in the U.S., legal service providers could not own law firms. Therefore, they could not provide legal advice or representation in court or for certain matters, but as a law firm, we could.  We formed ElevateNext (the law firm) to sit alongside Elevate  so collectively, we could give clients the lawyer-led solutions they wanted with the benefit of everything else Elevate offers in the mix.  In 2021, Elevate obtained an Alternative Business Structure license (ABS) in Arizona, allowing it to own ElevateNext outright there.  This is a game-changer in the legal industry because it allows customers to go to one place — Elevate, for all aspects of its work, including those aspects that require licensed lawyers.  Whether working through the ABS or not, the lawyers in ElevateNext handle the legal advice, counsel, oversight, and escalation, while Elevate provides the operations, process, non-legal professionals, and technology. Together, we seamlessly deliver legal services more effectively, less expensively, and with better outcomes.  We chose Elevate because we believe it is the best legal service provider, hands down.  Together, we are customer-centric and laser-focused on “delighting” our clients. ElevateNext has been named one of the Best Law Firms in commercial litigation from 2021 – 2024 by U.S. News & World Reports and Best Lawyers. 

Our Edge:   Our “edge effect” is at this intersection of law firm + legal service provider.  No one else is providing these combined services in one model.  We believe what we have created today will be the go-to model of tomorrow — an amazingly unique habitat that blends the practice of law and the business of law.  Also, as an “edge model” firm — some of our best clients are other law firms.  In fact, as this ABA Journal article explains, we have seen that the combination of ElevateNext  + Elevate can be a true benefit to traditional law firms trying to compete in today’s legal arena. 

Today I am particularly enamored with creating unique service offerings that combine AI with lawyers to substantially reduce the cost and time spent on routine parts of litigation matters.  For one of our Fortune 50 clients, I helped develop an AI tool to streamline responding to written discovery requests. The implementation of the tool allows lawyers to save more than 30% of the time it previously took to create the first draft of objections and responses to interrogatories, document requests, and requests to admit.  I have also created an offering we call the “Testimony Taskforce” — a team of lawyers and paralegals powered by a testimony intelligence tool that allows us to provide valuable insights from a large volume of deposition or trial transcripts to increase the likelihood of success in litigation and substantially reduce the cost of previously manual tasks.

The typical bio stuff:   Here’s the required bio stuff about me….  I have practiced in federal and state courts across the country for more than 30 years. I am a certified arbitrator on the roster of the American Arbitration Association and am particularly drawn to complicated cases, innovation, and fashioning creative but workable solutions. Strategy is my favorite, but creativity and team-building are probably my biggest strengths.  Though I adore lawyering, building new legal models and disrupting the status quo is just as much of a passion.   I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to do a large amount of both in my career. 

In 2023, I was selected as a “Woman in Law” honoree by Law Media Publishing. In 2022, I was named “One of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois” by SuperLawyers. I was named,  a “2019 Notable Gen X Leader In Law” by Crain’s Chicago Business, and in 2017, “One of the Most Influential Women Lawyers in Chicago.”   In 2017, I obtained one of the top 11 verdicts in Illinois after a 6-week federal jury trial affirmed on appeal for a client who spent 21 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. In 2018, I helped obtain a $10 million settlement for two more civil rights clients.  I co-founded the Coalition of Women’s Initiatives in Law, which now has chapters in Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. and I now sit on the National Board.  I am part the Executive Leadership Team of Elevate, the Advisory Board for the Institute of Inclusion in the Legal Profession and NovusLaw, and am a fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and the American Bar Foundation.

I’m thrilled that on this current path, I get to walk next to many others who default to thinking differently. Collectively, we will continue to swing our machetes until what was once an “edge” habitat is simply a well-trodden path for all.