Ed Walters on Blogs as Secondary Law and the Future of Legal AI
On the latest Real Lawyers podcast, the vLex Chief Strategy Officer joins Kevin O’Keefe to talk cited blogs, Vincent AI and how writing still wins work
October 9, 2025
In this episode, Kevin talks with Ed Walters—Fastcase co-founder and now chief strategy officer at vLex—about how consistent publishing drives referrals in an AI era, why blogs function as secondary law and how Vincent AI keeps answers grounded in sources lawyers can click and verify.
They also cover Ed’s path from the White House to Fastcase to vLex, what the vLex combination means for access to legal knowledge and why ClioCon stands out.
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Episode outline
- 00:02 — Kevin’s cold open: why your next blog post can be cited, findable and the thing that gets you hired
- 00:57 — Ed joins and sets the table
- 01:16 — Ed’s path into publishing: book nerd roots, newsroom experience and why that shaped Fastcase
- 03:26 — Early career: White House work and lessons on clear writing that carries into legal tech
- 11:23 — Research reality for clients: how lawyers actually find answers across Westlaw, Lexis and the open web
- 15:25 — Blogs that behave like sources: structure, clarity and consistency so posts can be used in real matters
- 17:01 — “Blogs are secondary law”: what that means, how courts and lawyers treat citable commentary
- 21:03 — Writing that wins work: publish for one client’s question, then let search and sharing do the rest
- 24:28 — Referrals meet Google: why posts that answer specific questions bring steady inbound
- 26:01 — Fastcase + vLex: why the combination happened and what it unlocks for access to legal knowledge
- 27:35 — Bringing secondary law into vLex: surfacing LexBlog posts next to primary law with proper citation
- 29:22 — Vincent AI overview: answers grounded in sources you can click, built for legal workflows
- 31:46 — LLMs in practice: reducing hallucination with retrieval and transparent citations
- 33:50 — What Vincent sees: case law, regulations, briefs and high-quality commentary inside one research flow
- 34:51 — Citation UX matters: link depth, pinpoint support and why “because the model said so” is not enough
- 36:21 — Prompts vs product: designing tasks and guardrails so lawyers get repeatable results
- 38:49 — How LexBlog will surface in vLex: coverage, tagging and pathways from posts to primary authority
- 40:00 — Industry events that work: why ClioCon feels different when it centers learning and community
- 42:20 — Reputation flywheel: publish useful posts, get cited, earn trust, turn trust into referrals
- 43:10 — The citation lens: posts as durable knowledge when they carry dates, links and authority signals
- 44:24 — Jack Newton’s role: product vision, community building and setting a high bar for the conference
- 45:15 — What attendees want from events now: sessions that show the work and people who share playbooks
- 48:11 — Community over spectacle: how that standard should guide vendors, journalists and publishers
- 50:41 — Practical takeaway: a simple weekly publishing habit that compounds into expertise and business
- 51:19 — Wrap and pointers to where to find Ed’s work and learn more about Vincent AI
Key takeaways
- Publishing builds reputation that AI cannot replace
- Blogs become research inputs when they are citable and discoverable
- Vincent AI prioritizes sources lawyers can click and check
- Platform combinations matter when they preserve legal knowledge, not just aggregate it
- Conferences like ClioCon work when they center community and learning over spectacle