Aurora Bryant, 40, currently holds the position of senior legal data intelligence lead at Relativity, a New York–based company focused on leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle complex legal challenges. Her professional evolution, verified by Business Insider, marks a notable departure from a longstanding career in law, predominantly concentrated at the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
Early aspirations to practice law were sparked in Bryant during her childhood through John Grisham novels, which ignited a passion for justice. This foundation guided her throughout her education and career choices. She pursued economics at Tulane University in New Orleans and supplemented her academic experience by working as a file clerk at a local law firm. Following this, she attended Northwestern University in Chicago, earning her law degree in 2010.
After law school, Bryant worked at the same New Orleans law firm where she had clerked, subsequently moving to a nonprofit organization. In 2011, she joined a civil rights group in New Orleans, focusing on litigation involving housing and lending discrimination within Louisiana. This formative period honed her skills in advocating for underserved communities and reinforced her commitment to civil rights law.
The apex of her legal career came in 2015 when Bryant secured a coveted role as a trial attorney with the DOJ's Civil Rights Division. Relocating to Washington, D.C., she embraced a position that carried a nationwide scope. The role involved pursuing cases that aimed to rectify unlawful discrimination across the country, a mission Bryant found both meaningful and fulfilling.
Despite its rewards, Bryant encountered significant operational challenges at the DOJ, principally resource constraints that hampered access to modern technologies. This deficit in technological tools generated workflow bottlenecks and inefficiencies that she found increasingly frustrating. These challenges prompted her to explore how advancements in technology, particularly artificial intelligence, could be integrated into legal workflows to improve efficacy.
Although Bryant initially possessed limited awareness of AI—aside from sensationalized media stories regarding fraudulent legal briefs—her involvement in DOJ eDiscovery groups introduced her to the application of technology in managing electronically stored information relevant to legal cases. Starting in 2018, her attendance at industry conferences deepened her understanding of AI's potential in transforming legal procedures.
In 2023, Bryant transitioned within the DOJ to an eLitigation Counsel position, where she focused on developing standardized templates, guides, and best practices to streamline eDiscovery functions. This role underscored her growing interest in procedural innovation but also heightened her awareness of the limitations imposed by the department's constrained technological resources.
Recognizing that her aspirations to drive technological integration could not be fully realized within the DOJ framework, Bryant began exploring new opportunities. By mid-2025, she accepted her current role at Relativity, embarking fully on a career in legal technology. This move signified a deliberate pivot into an emerging and rapidly evolving sector.
At Relativity, Bryant collaborates with multidisciplinary teams—including data scientists, engineers, product leaders, and designers—to ensure that generative AI tools are tailored to the practical needs of attorneys and legal case teams. Her work draws heavily on her extensive legal background, aiming to optimize product capabilities for investigative and litigation applications. Remarkably, she recently engaged in basic coding, reflecting her commitment to acquiring new skills integral to her role.
Bryant emphasizes that aligning one’s career transition with personal goals and passions is critical. For her, this meant leveraging her legal experience to facilitate innovative technological solutions in civil rights investigations rather than continuing in a confrontational litigation environment. She regards her career shift not as a risk but as an opportunity to pioneer in a novel domain.
She highlights the broader necessity for legal professionals to adapt to evolving technologies, likening current AI adoption to the historic integration of computer use in daily tasks two decades ago. Her journey underscores the imperative of stepping outside comfort zones to embrace innovation, a process she finds empowering and invigorating.
Looking ahead, Bryant anticipates continual learning opportunities, from advancing her technical skills to embracing unforeseen developments within the intersection of law and AI. Her narrative offers a compelling example of how legal practitioners can navigate mid-career transitions to remain relevant and impactful in a technology-driven landscape.