The 2023 Legalweek Leaders in Tech Law Awards Winners Are Here!

On Monday evening, ALM kicked off Legalweek 2023 by internet hosting an awards ceremony to have a good time the third annual Legalweek Leaders in Tech Legislation Awards. These awards acknowledge probably the most revolutionary achievements of the previous yr from in-house authorized departments, legislation corporations, and the tech supplier and repair associate group in 35 completely different classes.

This yr’s submissions informed tales of laudable achievement and innovation, the consequences of which will likely be felt on the authorized {industry} for years to return. All our nominees, finalists and winners ought to be pleased with their accomplishments and recommended for the exhausting work they’ve dedicated to pushing the authorized {industry} into the long run. 

We additionally thank our exterior judging panel, in addition to the exhausting work of numerous folks behind the scenes who helped to make this yr’s awards attainable.

We’re proud to current the 2023 winners of the Legalweek Leaders in Tech Legislation Awards beneath. Within the coming weeks, you’ll have the chance to learn extra about every of our winners in a collection of Q&As.

We sit up for internet hosting these awards once more subsequent yr alongside ALM at Legalweek 2024, being held from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 in New York. Extra details about nominations for these awards will likely be forthcoming later this yr, and you may keep up-to-date with notifications by way of this link. If in case you have any questions or solutions for a class we must always embody, drop us a line at [email protected].

Legislation Corporations

Tech-Enabled Corp Division of the Yr

Winner: McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will & Emery’s Data Administration Workforce created a proprietary AI search system referred to as Kind Finder to assist analyze buy and credit score agreements, evaluate them immediately to each comparable settlement the agency has ever finished and, based mostly on a similarity rating, decide whether or not the agency has ever ready feedback or absolutely negotiated the identical type of settlement earlier than.

Finalist:

• Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Enabling Begin-Up Success

Winner: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati developed Neuron, proprietary, enterprise-grade software program to streamline, automate, and digitize the standard authorized processes alongside a startup’s journey—from formation to exit—to offer its shoppers a holistic platform to collaborate with their authorized crew and entry their authorized data and documentation at any time.

Finalists:

• Davis Polk
• Foley & Lardner
• NEXT by Shulman Rogers

Innovators of the Yr—Legislation Agency (Particular person)

Winner: Timothy Cooke, Reed Smith

Timothy Cooke conceived, developed and coded a brand new Arbitration Pricing Calculator app to rapidly assist practitioners calculate anticipated most administrative and tribunal prices of arbitration in additional than 20 currencies and for 42 worldwide arbitral establishments.

Finalists:

• Daniel Farris, Norton Rose Fulbright
• Charina Garcia, WR Immigration
• Christopher Okay. Larus, Robins Kaplan
• Kate Wegrzyn, Foley & Lardner

Improvements in Professional Bono

Winner: Davis Wright Tremaine

Davis Wright Tremaine appeared past its personal inside professional bono efforts and developed “Gateway to Good,” a first-of-its-kind platform that connects in-house counsels with curated professional bono alternatives, measurable achievements, early entry to CLE occasions, and step-by-step guides for creating world-class in-house professional bono packages.

Finalists:

• Morgan Lewis & Bockius
• Munger Tolles & Olson
• Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Improvements in Range and Inclusion

Winner: Nixon Peabody

In collaboration with Range Lab, Nixon Peabody designed the “Mansfield Rule for Workflow” (MRW), a “bias interrupter” to assist the agency’s leaders create a extra inclusive tradition associated to staffing groups and furthering associates’ profession improvement. 

Finalists:

• Eversheds Sutherland and Konexo US
• Goodwin
• Winston & Strawn

Improvements in Data Administration

Winner: Morgan, Lewis & Bockius

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius oversaw constant collaboration with product managers and engineering groups to knowledge map, set out coverage, course of, and procedures for the corporate internally and externally, thereby attaining GDPR compliance for worldwide enlargement in a brief three months.

Finalists:

• Munger Tolles & Olson
• Ogletree Deakins
• Shearman & Sterling
• WilmerHale

ESG Enablement By means of Know-how

Winner: Munger, Tolles & Olson

Munger, Tolles & Olson used the agency’s inside Combating Systemic Racism Process Pressure, facilitated by Relativity know-how, to investigate how the agency might assist tackle problems with systemic racism of their group, the authorized career and all through our nation.

Finalists:

• DLA Piper
• Shearman & Sterling

Litigation and E-Discovery

Winner: Cravath, Swaine & Moore

Cravath, Swaine & Moore’s e-discovery crew makes use of AI to establish paperwork for manufacturing with out complete human assessment, using the AI search software Reveal-Brainspace to adapt “sentiment evaluation” to guage paperwork for his or her emotional tenor. In addition they make use of a next-generation NLP software referred to as AllSearch to seek for paperwork that include phrases with a specific that means, even when there isn’t a overlap within the particular articulation. 

Finalists:

• Arnold & Porter eData Group
• Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
• Reed Smith

Rising Know-how

Winner: DLA Piper

DLA Piper developed an asset tokenization platform to be used internally and by shoppers. Named TOKO, the platform makes use of distributed ledger know-how to unravel the inefficiencies that plague right now’s capital markets, from costly and unpredictable charges to sluggish transaction speeds.

Finalists:

• Fox Rothschild
• Reed Smith
• Ropes & Grey

Regulatory Know-how

Winner: Porzio, Bromberg & Newman

Porzio, Bromberg & Newman spent practically 20 years constructing out a technology-oriented subsidiary enterprise devoted to maintaining pharmaceutical corporations knowledgeable in regards to the ever-changing regulatory panorama. Porzio Life Sciences represented roughly 30% of the agency’s total income in 2022, when it turned the primary U.S. legislation agency to promote its authorized know-how enterprise to a personal fairness portfolio firm.

Finalists:

Tech-Enabled Hybrid Work Atmosphere

Winner: Thompson Hine

Thompson Hine created their very own inside software program software to facilitate assignments between staff in varied areas and completely different time zones, streamlining the staffing course of, decreasing associate administrative time, enhancing inclusion/fairness of staffing assignments, and enhancing morale, engagement, development, and retention of associates.

Finalist:

Lifetime Achievement

Winner: Chris Boyd, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Chris Boyd first labored at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as a company affiliate from 1993 to 1997, and later rejoined as an administrative chief in 2001, main the agency’s nascent data administration {and professional} improvement packages. Ultimately, he was promoted to chief working officer in 2020. Right this moment, that once-junior affiliate now leads lawyer recruiting and retention, advertising and enterprise improvement, range, fairness and inclusion, human assets, data administration and apply administration, to call only a few of his roles.

Winner: Jack Nelson, Reed Smith

Jack Nelson has maintained a profitable industrial and sophistication motion protection apply for greater than 30 years, and has been a chief in Massive Legislation since 1998. In 2002, he co-led what was then a serious merger between Reed Smith and its legacy California agency. He went on to carry quite a few management positions all through the agency’s worldwide workplaces earlier than transitioning into administration full-time in 2016. He served as agency CLO from 2016-2022, and right now is Reed Smith’s Senior Director of Authorized Operations, the place he works with the administration crew on the subsequent era of high-level particular tasks.

Legislation Departments

Most Progressive Authorized Division of the Yr

Winner: Consolidated Edison Firm of New York, Inc.

Consolidated Edison Firm of New York, Inc.’s successful transformation initiative concerned practically 100 folks to construct on present processes to function extra innovatively, effectively, and successfully, creating better worth for its legislation division and the group as an entire, and successfully overhauling operations in 9 strategic areas.

Finalist:

• NEXT powered by Shulman Rogers

Most Progressive Authorized Operations Workforce of the Yr

Winner: OpenText Authorized Operations Workforce

The OpenText Authorized Operations Workforce stood up a authorized operations operate inside six months, to drive transformation in a 35-year-old authorized division, bringing quantitative and qualitative worth to the enterprise, growing the tempo of labor, realizing value financial savings, and instilling a development mindset.

Innovators of the Yr—Legislation Division (Particular person)

Winner: Farrah Pepper, Marsh McLennan

Farrah Pepper designed her personal function when she joined Marsh McLennan in 2018, main the corporate’s Authorized Innovation & Know-how crew. Her mission is to leverage the trifecta of individuals, good processes and know-how to drive efficiencies, high quality, financial savings, threat discount and—not least of all, in her personal phrases—spark pleasure amongst her colleagues.

Finalists:

• Henry Tang, Meta
• Jessica Vander Ploeg,OpenText
• Christina Wojcik, Citi World Authorized

Improvements in Data Administration

Winner: Alesya Nasimova, Fundbox

Alesya Nasimova of Fundbox oversaw constant collaboration with product managers and engineering groups to knowledge map and set out coverage, course of, and procedures for the corporate internally and externally, thereby attaining GDPR compliance for worldwide enlargement in a brief three months. 

ESG Enablement By means of Know-how

Winner: The Range Dividends Collective

The Range Dividends Collective is a first-of-its-kind collective amongst greater than 40 authorized departments to propel the inclusion, fairness, and variety of authorized departments’ outdoors counsel groups—broadening the scope of underrepresented legal professionals at legislation corporations who’ve entry to high-quality work, commonly work together with in-house counsel, and obtain credit score for originating consumer work.

Finalist:

Contract Lifecycle Administration

Winner: Mphasis

Mphasis carried out an AI-powered CLM software that enabled shoppers on CLM throughout all geographies, within the course of expontentially boosting CLM adoption, income and person numbers whereas decreasing authorized value.

Finalist:

Litigation and E-Discovery

Winner: Cisco

Cisco noticed the advantages of bringing e-discovery know-how in-house, and invested in two litigation help applied sciences: Authorized maintain software, used to handle custodians and issues, and eDiscovery ingestion & Evaluate, used to handle litigation knowledge for culling and assessment.

Finalists:

Distributors

New Legislation Firm of the Yr

Winner: Priori (Scout)

Final yr, Priori, an present participant within the authorized tech {industry}, launched a brand new SaaS product referred to as Scout to boost in-house authorized departments’ data of their valued outdoors counsel relationships, establish the precise staffing for tasks, observe lawyer efficiency over time and attain a variety of range objectives.

Finalists:

• LateralHub
• Lawtrades
• Syntheia

Rising Know-how

Winner: Everlaw

Everlaw launched a brand new software final yr referred to as Clustering, which makes use of AI to group paperwork based mostly on conceptual similarity. It employs unsupervised machine studying to help as much as 25 million paperwork on a single display screen, that are offered in a visually interesting format that’s distinctive to the information.

Finalists:

• Ironclad AI
• Lexis APIs
• Syntheia

Tech-Enabled Hybrid Work Atmosphere

Winner: Blue J Authorized 

Blue J Authorized got down to develop instruments to allow the hybrid work surroundings by offering attorneys the power to collaborate with one another in actual time, in a safe manner, on advanced visible constructions. The clever diagramming and visible collaboration undertaking efficiently launched in July 2022.

Finalists:

• Lawtrades,
• Elizabeth “Liz” Lugones, COO & Senior Advisor, UpLevel Ops
• Maptician

Information Privateness & CyberSecurity

Winner: TerraTrue

Final yr, TerraTrue introduced a privateness initiative referred to as Shift Left to assist corporations in all places modernize privateness packages by working with product improvement from the start—fairly than taking a siloed, reactive method to product improvement.

Finalists:

• HaystackID World Advisory
• NetDocuments

Authorized Operations

Winner: EY

EY developed a modular administration and monitoring platform that not solely permits its shoppers to speed up digital transformation of their authorized, ethics and compliance program, however scales and adapts in response to occasions or as enterprise wants develop.

Finalists:

• Epiq Authorized Enterprise Advisory
• Priori
• Shearman & Sterling
• UpLevel Ops/Confluent

E-Discovery Know-how

Winner: Reveal

Reveal launched a brand new providing that seamlessly built-in industry-leading AI-Powered know-how and unequalled knowledge visualization in a single eDiscovery platform, Reveal 11.

Finalists:

• FTI Know-how – Rising Information Sources
• HaystackID Core
• UnitedLex & Purple Wolf Vitality

Litigation Know-how

Winner: Clearbrief

Clearbrief has revolutionized the way in which litigators method briefs, by including an Add Truth Cite button into Phrase. This bridged the hole between e-discovery and the writing course of by permitting customers to add the universe of factual documents they’re more likely to reference in a given pleading, and rapidly and simply cite to the related parts of them.

Finalists:

• Everlaw
• Truth & Situation Finder on Lexis+

Deal Know-how

Winner: Syntheia

Syntheia labored with two AmLaw 50 corporations to create a product that might use novel AI and pure language processing fashions to disassemble any contract, and evaluate any two or extra paperwork concurrently, enabling legal professionals to establish variations and variances between paperwork in methods conventional redlines can not.

Data Administration

Winner: UnitedLex CDaaS

UnitedLex created a legal {industry} first in CDaaS, a way of mixing know-how, knowledge science, and knowledgeable assessment to transform advanced contract legalese into structured knowledge that gives insights to tell enterprise choices, guarantee compliance, scale back threat, and improve profitability.

Finalists:

• Trellis
• UnitedLex Vantage Intelligence Repository
• Wolters Kluwer Authorized & Regulatory U.S. – VitalLaw

Apply Administration

Winner: NetDocuments

NetDocuments acquired a standalone, no-code automation toolkit, introduced it into its personal doc administration platform, and offered a full native integration that was able to launch in simply 9 months. In 2022 they launched PatternBuilder, a no-code resolution that provides legal professionals and authorized groups a simple technique to construct automation based mostly on their very own experience and processes.

Finalists:

Regulatory Know-how

Winner: Wolters Kluwer Authorized & Regulatory U.S.–VitalLaw

Wolters Kluwer Authorized & Regulatory U.S. created VitalLaw, a new dashboard that features complete federal and state legal guidelines and laws for all 50 states, together with the dates when future legal guidelines and laws will change into efficient and redlining to rapidly assess what’s altering.

Finalists:

• LexisNexis State Internet
• Luminance

Contract Lifecycle Administration

Winner: LinkSquares

LinkSquares’ platform was onboarded to speed up and automate the work of a worldwide authorized crew of 10 industrial negotiators accountable for drafting, negotiating, and executing each contract generated by their 1,000+ member gross sales crew. The undertaking was delivered on time, getting the crew absolutely up and operating inside three months and on price range. 

Finalists:

• AXDRAFT
• Ironclad
• Luminance

Justice Know-how

Winner: LexisNexis U.S. Voting Legal guidelines & Laws Heart

LexisNexis launched the U.S. Voting Legal guidelines & Laws Heart, a free web site providing public entry to over 40,000 federal and state election and voting legal guidelines, together with adjustments to legal guidelines over time, as a part of an ongoing effort to advance transparency of the legislation, in step with the mission of their non-profit LexisNexis Rule of Legislation Basis.

Finalist:

Championing Range in Tech (Particular person)

Winner: Raad Ahmed, Lawtrades

Raad Ahmed shattered {industry} requirements in growing the range of the group on the Lawtrades platform, with 37% figuring out as a racial or ethnic minority, and greater than half figuring out as feminine. By connecting corporations with a various set of authorized expertise, Lawtrades helps to extend DEI on the planet’s high corporations.

Finalists:

• Abeer Abu Judeh, LexDock
• Mirra Levitt, Priori

Innovators of the Yr (Particular person)

Winner: Dan Rabinowitz, Pre/Dicta

Dan Rabinowitz launched Pre/Dicta in 2022, a completely new firm and product that makes use of knowledge science to be taught the decisional patterns of each federal district court docket choose, and to foretell, with 86% accuracy, rulings on motions to dismiss in industrial circumstances.

Finalists:

• David Carter, Calloquy
• Stephanie Corey, UpLevel Ops
• Mirra Levitt, Priori
• Albert Tawil, Lateral Hub

Lifetime Achievement

Winner: Sirisha Gummaregula, QuisLex

Sirisha Gummaregula began her profession as an M&A lawyer specializing in hostile offers. After 9 years, she turned AGC & Company Secretary at Quest Diagnostics, earlier than deciding to take a threat on a brand new manner of delivering authorized work. In 2006, she had the foresight to kind what we now generally name an ALSP. That firm, QuisLex, continues to be independently owned right now, and is without doubt one of the world’s longest-operating authorized course of outsourcing corporations. Gummaregula continues to be deeply concerned in serving shoppers, main groups that ship their work, and, as she places it, “breaking processes in order that we might repair them.”

Winner: Eyal Iffergan, Epiq

Eyal Iffergan has had a distinguished 25-year profession centered on advising the authorized enterprise group. In these 25 years, he has been acknowledged for his drive to ship operational experience and innovation to World 1000 firms and AmLaw 200 legislation corporations, serving to shoppers execute authorized transformation packages. In 2009, Iffergan based Hyperion World Companions with a transparent imaginative and prescient of a contemporary authorized division that transforms authorized operations right into a enterprise operate.