THE PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
I investigate AI and innovation challenges when standard playbooks fail.
The investigation began in 1980 with a critical question: does insight come from imagination or computation? Forty-six years later, that question, now updated for the AI era, remains the core of the work.
I am Dennis Kennedy, Principal Investigator at the Kennedy Idea Propulsion Laboratory (KIPL). My framework is the NeoHolmesian Method: treating complex problems as investigations rather than predictions. Where most see uncertainty, I see patterns. Where most offer forecasts, I offer methodology.
THE SANCTUARY
KIPL operates from Ann Arbor, Michigan, outside the coastal tech echo chambers where most AI thinking happens. The geographic distance creates intellectual distance: room to question assumptions rather than adopt them.
The methodology: remaining in uncertainty long enough to see systems as they are, not as stakeholders wish them to be. This is the core of working with Wicked Problems: challenges with no clear solution and competing stakeholder realities.
The approach: Interpretation through Questioning, using AI as a forensic instrument to probe systems, not an oracle to obey.
The stance: Human-in-the-Loop. AI augments human insight; it doesn’t replace it.
CURRENT WORK
Teaching & Research
I demonstrate the methodology through teaching at University of Michigan Law School (Adjunct Professor, Legal Technology Literacy and Leadership) and publishing research through my LegalTech Hub column and SSRN white papers.
The Kennedy-Mighell Report
Since 2006, I’ve co-hosted The Kennedy-Mighell Report with Tom Mighell. Over 400 episodes exploring legal technology, innovation, and the intersection of law and emerging tools. It’s the longest-running legal technology podcast and serves as a laboratory for testing ideas in real-time dialogue.
Newsletter
Personal Strategy Compass explores personal quarterly offsites, strategic planning, and navigating professional transitions. Available free via Substack.
Speaking
I keynote on the NeoHolmesian Method for Innovation in the AI Era. Where most speakers offer predictions, I offer methodology audiences can apply immediately. Recent example: The Holmesian Leap, presented to the National Association of Women Judges (October 2025).
Selective Investigations
In the Holmesian tradition, I occasionally accept exceptional investigations: complex challenges where the difficulty is not finding answers but identifying the correct questions. I accept only cases where the problem is genuinely Wicked and the cost of being wrong significantly outweighs the cost of investigation. These are diagnostic inquests, not implementation projects.
Open Source Research
Unless otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), reflecting a commitment to accessible methodology over proprietary knowledge. Research protocols and frameworks are documented for public use and adaptation.
BACKGROUND
30 years at the intersection of law, technology, and innovation, from private practice to corporate counsel to academia The through-line: investigating how complex systems resist, adapt, or collapse under technological pressure.
The investigative method was forged across diverse legal and technology environments: law firm knowledge transfer (Stolar Partnership, Thompson Coburn LLP), technology adoption in solo practice, systemic payments infrastructure at Mastercard (patent inventor: distributed ledger chargeback method), and formalization of frameworks at MSU’s Center for Law, Technology & Innovation.
Recognition:
- 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award, Legal Technology
- Author: Successful Innovation Outcomes in Law (Free PDF)
- Author: The Lawyer’s Guide to Collaboration Tools and Technologies
- Former Director: MSU Center for Law, Technology & Innovation
CONNECT
LinkedIn | The Kennedy-Mighell Report | Personal Strategy Compass Newsletter | LegalTech Hub Column