After a decades-long career of communicating with clients and speaking to juries, Lori Cohen never expected to lose the one tool on which she so often relies, but that's exactly what happened a year ago when she awoke one day and was unexplainably voiceless.

Doctors couldn't immediately offer a clear cause, and no cure has yet been identified. But that doesn't mean Cohen has given up—she has merely modified her legal practice.

Cohen, the Atlanta-based vice chair of Greenberg Traurig, who also co-chairs the firm's global litigation practice, is a finalist for The American Lawyer's 2024 Attorney of the Year honor.

In an ironic twist, the loss of her voice led Cohen to adopt for personal use a technology that many law firms—including hers—are beginning to deploy for business purposes: artificial intelligence.

"I'm very lucky that AI was coming along at this time when I needed it personally," Cohen said.

Luckily, Greenberg Traurig was just beginning to put together an AI task force, and Cohen approached a friend in the technology department to inquire about the possibility of creating an "AI Lori," as she called it.

The program was a success, and Cohen has been able to tap into an AI platform that recreates her own voice, which was done through a cloning process. Other apps offer more of a "robotic" voice, she said, so she prefers using the technology with her replicated voice.

Cohen said she was recently able to argue a "very lengthy summary judgment motion" by creating a PowerPoint presentation and presenting an argument utilizing her AI "voice."

Cohen, who started her legal career in 1990 at Alston & Bird, came from a blue collar family in South Boston. A reading of "To Kill a Mockingbird" cemented her decision to pursue law.

"I always loved to advocate, and was somehow drawn to the idea of advocating for others," she said.

"I could envision myself being in the courtroom like Atticus Finch," she said. "Stepping into a courtroom and owning it. Using my strategy, brains, creativity and passion to explain what was right and just to a jury."

Early in her career, Cohen was assigned to do commercial litigation, but she quickly realized she wanted to find a practice area where she could "cut her teeth faster." She soon moved into medical malpractice defense work, and by the time she was a fourth-year associate, she was trying cases and using those experiences to "get out there, develop business, speak at conferences, write articles, and make a name for myself," she said.

"I worked very hard to make a name for myself and met a lot of extraordinary people in this industry," Cohen added.

In 2005, she began developing and growing her medical device defense practice, and has enjoyed much success to this day.

"I think the practice of law can be very challenging," Cohen said. "You must find joy and excitement in it and be ever enthusiastic about it.

"Your job as an attorney is to help your clients overcome adversity," she continued. "Clients have been a very important part of advancing my career."