Inside CMS

"We need to think radically about different ways of serving clients and delivering our services to them."
PIERRE-SÉBASTIEN THILL 
Newly-elected Chairman of the CMS Executive Committee

The environment in which legal services are being delivered is changing. By necessity, the law firm of the future will be different to the one we know today. To this end, CMS is developing programmes and initiatives to be future-ready, focusing on some key areas such as digital strategy, geographical reach, sector expertise and people.

The most fundamental change is being driven by technology. Introducing sophisticated technology tools in legal practice is no longer a suggestion, but reality. Our clients expect quality and efficiency and legal expertise alone is no longer sufficient to distinguish a law firm from its competitors. That is why CMS is focusing strongly on business innovation. This means offering new high-quality services to clients, easy ways of delivering and accessing all our legal services and an evolving business structure and strategy to deliver on those requirements. 

Newly-elected Chairman of the CMS Executive Committee Pierre-Sébastien Thill said,  “We need to think radically about different ways of serving clients  and delivering our services to them. Our expert teams are working  on several projects to make this happen.”

The needs of our clients also determine CMS’s geographic expansion.  We move primarily into markets where we expect that there will be future opportunities for them. Our expansion serves one purpose: to  help our clients connect with leading legal experts worldwide, supporting their internationalisation and participation in cross-border transactions.

CMS Executive Partner Duncan Weston said, “As one of the most international law firms, CMS’s positioning in the global market is strong. Building on this, we plan to expand further in the Americas, Middle East, Africa and parts of Europe where we are not yet present. We are also in close contact with US law firms and are well-connected to the market there.”

As a firm, CMS is constantly evolving to ensure that we keep pace with the changes that our clients’ businesses are undergoing. Over the last years we have added (and will continue to add) several expert teams, from media and renewables to data protection, autotech and Blockchain.

CMS Executive Director Matthias Lichtblau said, “We recognise that our clients require sector-specific legal advice from lawyers who understand their business. That is why we continue to expand and deepen our expertise across all our offices to ensure that our clients worldwide  have access to the services they need wherever they are.”

One factor however will remain, today and in the future: our people are the basis for our success. For many years, the CMS Academy has played  a critical role by providing a range of opportunities for CMS people  to learn and practice the so-called ‘soft skills’ that are vital to a lawyer’s work. To equip them for future success, we will offer additional courses for our lawyers to help them understand what technology has to offer and how to integrate it to serve our clients.