In the news release, Norm Law Appoints Former Sidley Austin Chairman, Mike Schmidtberger, as Chairman and Partner, Signaling a New Model for AI-Driven Institutional Legal Services, issued 22-Jan-2026 by Norm Ai over PR Newswire, we are advised by the company that changes have been made. The complete, corrected release follows, with additional details at the end:
Norm Law Appoints Former Sidley Austin Chairman, Mike Schmidtberger, as Chairman and Partner, Signaling a New Model for AI-Driven Institutional Legal Services
AI-Native Law Firm Adds Three Big Law Partners
NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Norm Law, LLP ("Norm Law"), an AI-native law firm built for global institutional clients, today announced the appointment of Mike Schmidtberger as Chairman, Partner, and Head of the firm's Investment Funds and Regulatory practice. The firm also named David Sorin as Partner and Head of Private Equity and Venture Capital and Mike Rupe as Partner and Head of Private Credit and Business Development.
Schmidtberger joins Norm Law from Sidley Austin LLP, the sixth-largest law firm in the world by revenue, where he spent the past 35 years. Previously, he was co-head of the investment funds practice and Managing Partner of the New York office. Then, from 2018 through April 2025, Mike served as the firm's Chair of the Executive Committee, a period where Sidley doubled annual revenue from approximately $2 billion to $4 billion. At Norm Law, Schmidtberger will work closely with clients, legal engineers, and AI engineers, and help guide the firm's long-term strategy.
"For the past decade, I've been a major believer in knowledge management, data, and AI as drivers of improving legal services. It became clear recently that in order for AI to truly add value, AI systems would need to align more closely with the context of the client and the granular workflows of the attorneys," said Schmidtberger. "When I saw Norm Law's approach of seamlessly integrating Norm Ai's AI agent platform, legal engineers, AI engineers, and attorneys, I knew this was the ideal approach and incredibly unique."
Norm Law has also appointed David Sorin and Mike Rupe as Partners. David Sorin will lead Norm Law's private equity and venture capital practice. He previously served as Partner at WilmerHale and brings decades of experience across venture financings, private equity, and M&A. Sorin founded the law firm SorinRand, which he ultimately merged into McCarter & English in 2014, where he became Managing Partner of the East Brunswick office and head of the VC and Early-Stage practice. In 2022, he and his team moved to Brown Rudnick, where he served as Global Co-Chair of the Technology group. Last year, David departed Brown Rudnick to focus on emerging business and client service models shaped by AI and other cutting-edge technologies that are transforming how legal services are delivered, a journey that ultimately led him to Norm Law.
Mike Rupe will lead Norm Law's private credit practice and oversee business development as the firm deepens relationships with asset managers and alternative investment platforms. He brings more than 25 years of experience advising private credit funds, financial institutions, and alternative capital providers in complex transactions and special situations. He previously led the Financial Restructuring practice at King & Spalding, where he built and scaled a global, cross-disciplinary team, expanded the firm's global footprint, and served as the primary legal relationship partner for major private credit platforms. In 2022, he joined Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to lead its Special Situations practice before joining Norm Law.
These significant Partner additions follow Blackstone's recent $50 million investment in Norm Ai to help launch the company's initiative to build Legal AGI. John Nay, Founder and CEO of Norm Ai, added: "These appointments mark a defining moment for Norm Law. Schmidtberger, Sorin, and Rupe bring distinguished senior leadership to the firm. Norm Law is built from the ground up combining a powerful AI platform, the practice of legal engineering that we pioneered, and seasoned expert legal judgment. This is a fundamentally better legal services model for clients, built from first principles in the age of AI."
About Norm Law
Norm Law is the first AI-native full-service law firm built for global institutional clients. Legal Engineering, a discipline pioneered by Norm Ai, where lawyers develop legal AI agents, powers Norm Law to deliver faster, more precise, and more consistent legal services.
For more information, visit https://www.normlaw.com/
About Norm Ai
Norm Ai, the Legal & Compliance AI company, has a client base with a combined $30 trillion in assets under management. Norm enables enterprises to move faster and more comprehensively in their legal and compliance processes. Norm's platform combines frontier AI, proprietary legal reasoning systems, and embedded legal and regulatory expertise. Norm Ai has raised more than $140 million, backed by Blackstone, Bain Capital, Vanguard, Citi, New York Life, TIAA, Coatue, Craft Ventures, Henry R. Kravis, and Marc Benioff.
For more information, visit https://www.norm.ai/
Contact
Prosek Partners
[email protected]
Correction: A hyperlink has been added to "Norm Law, LLP" in the first sentence and the source of the release has been updated to "Norm Law".
SOURCE Norm Law
Share this article