Gunderson trains nine new partners to compete on relationships

On September 24, Reuters reported that Gunderson Dettmer trained nine of its newest partners in pitching, personal branding, client scenarios and firm economics as clients increasingly completed more legal work with AI. The roughly 400-lawyer firm is also developing a tool that would alert partners to client executive changes and suggest an introductory email. For innovation leaders, the program treats relationship capability as part of AI strategy rather than a separate business-development concern. Firms should measure whether relationship intelligence produces timely, useful human contact, because automated outreach without judgment can weaken the differentiation it is meant to create.