Director, Legal Industry Programs

Summary of the Role 

Thomson Reuters is the most trusted name in legal intelligence. CoCounsel — our AI platform for legal professionals — is built on that foundation: verified legal content, responsible AI design, and a 150-year track record with the legal profession. As AI adoption accelerates across law firms and legal departments, the legal profession is actively working out what responsible, competent AI practice looks like. State bars are issuing ethics opinions and mandating CLE credits. Bar foundations are building AI programming. Pro bono and access to justice organizations are exploring what AI means for legal aid delivery. The legal innovation community is growing rapidly and shaping how firms buy and adopt technology. 

The Senior Director, Legal Industry Programs builds and leads TR's institutional presence across the professional legal community — bar associations, access to justice organizations, specialty and affinity legal groups, and the legal innovation ecosystem. You'll develop the programs, partnerships, and community relationships that make CoCounsel the AI platform the legal profession publicly recommends, teaches, and trusts — not just uses. 

About the Role: What You'll Do 

• Bar Association Programs Build TR's presence as a substantive partner to state, local, and specialty bar associations — developing co-branded CLE programs on AI competency and ethics, supporting bar AI task forces and ethics committees with content and expertise, and establishing CoCounsel as the named platform in bar-endorsed AI training.  
• Pro Bono and Access to Justice Develop CoCounsel's role in the access to justice ecosystem — partnering with legal aid organizations, pro bono programs, and public interest law groups to extend AI-assisted legal services to underserved communities. Build the programs and proof points that establish TR as the company using AI to expand access to legal help. 
• Specialty and Affinity Legal Communities Build relationships and programming with specialty and affinity bar associations — including those representing diverse attorney populations — as well as practice-area focused legal organizations where AI adoption decisions are being made at the community level.  
• Legal Innovation Ecosystem Cultivate TR's presence in the growing legal innovation practitioner community — chief innovation officers, legal tech leads at major firms, and the legal AI influencer ecosystem that shapes how the profession thinks about adoption. Develop programming, forums, and content partnerships that position CoCounsel as the platform legal innovators recommend to their peers. 
• Institutional Activation Build the mechanism that routes program outputs — bar association endorsements, co-authored ethics frameworks, pro bono case studies, community program outcomes — into TR's marketing, communications, and sales teams so that institutional credibility shows up in every customer conversation. 

About you 

• 8+ years in legal industry programs, bar association work, legal aid, access to justice, professional services, or a closely adjacent field — with direct experience building programs and institutional partnerships, not just managing events 

• Genuine existing relationships — or a specific, fast path to building them — within bar associations, legal aid organizations, specialty legal communities, or the legal innovation ecosystem 

• Understanding of the bar association landscape: how state bars operate, how CLE accreditation works, how ethics committees and task forces function, and how organizations at this level make partnership decisions 

• Comfort at the intersection of institutional relationship-building and commercial accountability — you understand that the goal of every program is ultimately credibility that drives pipeline 

• Strong written communication: you can write a CLE co-sponsorship proposal and a community program pitch in the same week 

• Genuine commitment to access to justice as a program priority, not j