management systems, Josh sees opportunity and responsibility.“ AI is an incredible legal tool, but a human with judgment still needs to check the work,” he says.“ My concern is that over-reliance on AI might erode the human ability to think deeply and make judgment calls over time, and those are exactly the skills required to check AI’ s output effectively. I tend to treat AI like a sharp, eager junior associate: it can get you to a strong starting point, but you have to review and scrutinize the output for accuracy and understand how it got there.”
Technology aside, Josh remains convinced that relationships drive outcomes.“ I once heard a guest speaker at West Point advocate the principle of‘ leadership by walking around,’ and that has stuck with me,” he says.“ You can only get so much done from behind a desk; you get a lot more done by talking things through in person. Clearlake has a strong culture of in-office collaboration, which is one of the firm’ s strengths. Every day has a handful of impromptu meetings, but those meetings are where the magic happens.”
Those conversations are likely to stay central as Clearlake continues to grow and broaden its platform. As the firm marks its 20th anniversary, Josh’ s priorities remain straightforward.“ We have several interesting transactions underway, and my focus stays the same: giving our deal and fund teams the support they need to move quickly and execute efficiently. I’ m excited to see where the platform grows from here.” ■
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP _____________________________________
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP( www. simpsonthacher. com) is one of the world’ s leading international law firms. The firm was established in 1884 and has approximately 2000 lawyers. Headquartered in New York with offices in Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Palo Alto, San Francisco, São Paulo, Tokyo and Washington, DC, the firm provides coordinated legal advice and transactional capability to clients around the globe. Simpson Thacher is proud of its longstanding relationship with Josh Robinson, Vice President & Associate General Counsel at Clearlake Capital, and values the opportunity to support Clearlake’ s continued growth and success. modern-counsel. com 83