CMS UK today announces the launch of a dedicated group bringing together specialists from across the firm to focus on the future of its legal service design, delivery and technology for clients. The UK group comprises part of a CMS global tech and innovation group led by Executive Partner, Duncan Weston.
The new UK group, called CMS By Design, will be led by Executive Partner Paul Stevens with key specialist leads including John Craske (Head of Legal Service Design and Delivery), Jane Challoner (Head of Tech Innovation), Razvan Cretu (Head of IT), Elle Todd (partner and Head of Digital and Data), and Jo Witham (Head of Client Management).
It will report to Senior Partner, Penelope Warne, and Managing Partner, Stephen Millar and work with a small Advisory Group composed of partners from the firm’s key sector groups, business service specialists, external advisors and, importantly, clients.
In addition to driving the future of legal services and technology, By Design will be responsible for delivering four client services set out in more detail below: Mix, Digital Academy, Instinctive Understanding and Developers on Demand.
Commenting on the launch of CMS By Design, Penelope Warne, The Senior Partner at CMS, said:
“Technology, processes, resourcing and new products are essential components of innovation. At its essence, however, our approach centres on how we think differently about delivering legal services to clients in the day-to-day and in more ambitious leaps forward too. CMS By Design helps us continue to build a culture of innovation which will accelerate the way we create new, tailored and better services for and in collaboration with clients. This will also enhance the careers of our people and help us continue to build a successful, global, future-facing law firm.”
Paul Stevens, UK Executive Partner, mandated by Penelope Warne and Managing Partner Stephen Millar to spearhead innovation in legal service delivery at the firm, added:
“Our client insight programme tells us many in-house legal teams are perplexed by the plethora of legal tech and the hype around innovation. They are waiting to see promises deliver practical results. Our CMS By Design group draws together diverse talent from across the UK firm to focus on people, processes and technology designed to deliver practical benefits to clients now and anticipate their needs in the future. It is holistic, integrated and practical.
“We were the first law firm in Europe to use Brainspace; among the first to use Kira on billion dollar, multi-lingual transactions like HP’s acquisition of Samsung’s printer business; we are supporting legal tech start-ups like Apperio through our equIP programme; and we are building bespoke legal technology for major energy companies. Over the last two years, the firm has also invested significantly in our innovation and legal services team, which now includes 124 paralegals, legal project managers and designers, developers, legal technologists, data scientists and legal operations specialists. That growth will continue. Clients are benefiting as a result.”
The CMS By Design group will also help demystify legal technology to focus on the practical benefits of new technologies to the firm and its clients. As mentioned, it is also responsible for delivering four key client services as follows:
Mix is how CMS UK deploys its people, processes, technology and resources tailored precisely to specific client needs, legal, regulatory or commercial. Collaboration with clients lies at the heart of the approach, led by John Craske, Head of Legal Service Design and Delivery, which draws on the firm’s growing pool of legal project managers, designers, product managers and 90+ paralegals across its Legal Service Units in Glasgow and internationally. CMS used Mix successfully on the £1bn+ HP acquisition of Samsung’s printer business.
Developers on Demand, led by Jane Challoner, Head of Tech Innovation, and Razvan Cretu, Head of IT, gives clients access to a team of legal tech developers, designers and operations specialists who will recommend specific legal tech solutions ‘out of the box’ or in unique combinations to help clients run their legal teams, processes, transactions and panel firms more efficiently. CMS By Design will also deploy software developers (in-house or outsourced) to work with clients to create bespoke legal tech solutions. CMS UK has 15 developers, legal technologists and data scientists, a team that will scale up depending on client demand. Where these technologies have wider commercial potential, CMS UK will explore partnering with clients to roll these out profitably to others in the sector. The Developers on Demand approach has been used to create a contract automation portal for a large energy client.
Digital Academy, led by Elle Todd, partner and Head of Digital and Data, is a consultancy service upskilling legal teams on all things digital, approaches to risk and new styles of advising in a digital world. Global pharma giant GSK has already taken up this support. The service is rolling out to other clients.
Instinctive Understanding, led by Jo Witham, Head of Client Management, is a unique mentoring and development programme for General Counsel and in-house legal teams designed in collaboration with clients. This programme includes support on legal strategy, operations, collaboration, knowledge management, CR, building personal networks and professional and team development.
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