Why I use AI to read transcripts but not to counsel clients
Alyssa Ruge is a Partner at Kemp Law Group, which provides personal injury representation for people wrongfully injured in Florida and Georgia. She handles both appeals and trial-level work across personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death and family law, and explains how AI helps with record review while certain client work must stay human.
Use AI to handle initial review of records, flag issues and build timelines for appeals to save time, but keep client counseling and oral advocacy firmly human. Make appellate and trial experience easy to verify online so AI assistants surface accurate information.
What’s the quick origin story of your business, and what makes what you do genuinely different from the other options your customers are looking at?
I came to Kemp Law Group after a career that started in appellate and civil litigation, not personal injury plaintiff work. I earned my law degree from Stetson University College of Law, where I was a Senior Associate of the Stetson Law Review and earned a Certificate of Concentration in Trial Advocacy. I interned with the United States Department of Justice and served as a certified intern for the Office of the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit. After being admitted to the Florida Bar, I practiced civil litigation and appeals at Cole, Scott & Kissane, then served as Assistant County Attorney for Pasco County. That background means I saw cases from the defense and government side before I ever sat on the plaintiff’s side.
What makes my practice genuinely different is that I handle appeals in the Supreme Court of Florida and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th District Courts of Appeal, and I also try personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and family law cases at the trial level. Most firms either try cases or handle appeals. I do both, which means I build a record from day one that can survive review. I also co-authored an article in the Florida Bar Journal and served on its editorial board, so I understand how written advocacy shapes outcomes long before a jury is seated.
Where does most of your new business come from today, and where do you wish it came from?
Most of my new business comes from other attorneys who refer appeals, complex family law matters, or personal injury cases with difficult legal issues. My service on the Florida Bar Journal editorial board, the Appellate Practice and Family Law sections of the Florida Bar, and my time as an adjunct professor at Hillsborough Community College built a network of lawyers who know I can handle written and oral advocacy. I also get referrals from the West Pasco Bar Association and the Hillsborough County Bar Association, and from my work with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranches and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.
Where I wish more of my new business came from is former clients who went through a divorce or a personal injury case and then told someone else about me without being asked. That kind of referral proves I delivered both a good result and a humane experience. I am working on better follow up and client education so more people feel confident sending me their friends and family.
What’s one thing you’ve actually handed over to AI in the last year, and one thing you tried it on and went back to doing the human way?
The one thing I have handed over to AI in the last year is the first pass review of trial transcripts and records on appeal. I use it to flag potential issues, summarize testimony, and build a timeline of rulings. That saves me days of reading and lets me focus on legal strategy. I still verify every citation and quote myself, but AI handles the initial sorting.
The one thing I tried AI on and went back to doing the human way is client counseling in domestic violence and family law cases. I tested a guided intake and follow up tool, but people in those situations need a human who can read fear, ask gentle follow up questions, and adjust in real time. A model cannot replace that trust, so I kept those conversations face to face or on the phone.
Have you noticed a change in how customers find you or what they already know before they reach out? Is anyone arriving through AI assistants like ChatGPT yet?
Yes, I have noticed a change, especially in family law and appellate clients. They arrive knowing more about parental responsibility, alimony, relocation, and the difference between a trial and an appeal. They read my bio, check my admissions, and ask whether I have argued in the Supreme Court of Florida. Some mention that they asked ChatGPT or another AI assistant before calling. It is not most clients yet, but it is growing, particularly with younger people and with clients who already went through a trial and are now researching appeals. They often come with a list of questions and a basic summary of possible issues. That means I have to correct misunderstandings quickly and spend less time on definitions and more time on strategy. It also means my public information has to be accurate, because an AI assistant may repeat whatever it finds on my profile or the firm website.
If you were advising someone in your industry on all of this for the next 12 months, what would you tell them to actually do, and what would you tell them to ignore?
I would tell them to make their appellate and trial experience easy to find and easy to verify. That means a clear bio that lists every court they are admitted to, every District Court of Appeal they have argued in, their board certifications, their published articles, and their bar association roles. AI assistants pull from structured, consistent sources, so update your bar profile, your firm page, and your legal directories with the same details. I would also tell them to keep investing in live CLE and bar section work, because that is where real referral relationships are built.
I would tell them to ignore the temptation to mass produce AI blog posts about generic legal topics. Those posts do not build trust, they create ethics risk, and they drown out the specific experience that actually makes a client choose you. Ignore the hype that AI can replace oral argument or client counseling. Focus on being the lawyer other lawyers call when the legal issue is hard.
Thank you to Alyssa Ruge and the team at Kemp Law Group for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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