Joe Stephens
Steno
J
oe Stephens has built a career at the
intersection of legal practice, education,
and technology innovation. As Director
of Legal Solutions at Steno, Joe works
across product, engineering, sales,
and marketing teams to ensure AI-
powered litigation tools are designed around the
realities of trial practice rather than abstract
software features. At the same time, Joe serves
as Chief Public Defender of the Caprock Regional
Public Defender Office and as a Clinical Lecturer
at Texas Tech University School of Law, creating a
rare feedback loop between product development,
active litigation, and legal education.
Joe's work focuses on bringing advanced legal
technology to the practitioners and communities
that often have the least access to it. He deploys
AI-powered litigation tools in high-stakes federal
civil rights litigation while also using them to support
indigent criminal defense clients across rural West
Texas. By applying the same tools in both plaintiff-
side litigation and under-resourced public defense
work, Joe has built a model that routes innovation
toward underserved communities while training
future lawyers to use AI responsibly and ethically.
LINKEDIN / joestephens01/
2026
WINNER
ILTA AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE 2026
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