MELA-2018_Winners-19April2018-28-Best-Use-of-Technology

Finalists: Clyde & Co; Microsoft Gulf (Highly Commended).

Squire Patton Boggs triumphed in the Best Use of Technology category for developing an online tool that helps clients keep pace with changes in employment law across multiple jurisdictions.

The subscription-based portal is part of a wider suite of services and products that the firm offers, including employment law clinics, to help clients save time and reduce legal costs on potential employment issues.

The 'Global Edge' platform provides up-to-date employment law advice, as well as highlighting forthcoming developments (with traffic light ratings) across 32 jurisdictions including UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with more to be added soon (notably Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and Oman).

The reports take complex legal issues and present them in a clear, concise and commercially-focused fashion (complete with visuals), all available via a mobile app so users can access information remotely. The firm's own lawyers frequently use the app to aid them on cross-border M&A deals to shape their employment law strategies across the relevant jurisdictions, reducing the need for local lawyers and saving both time and money.

"It's a scalable solution and makes employment law in countries without legal presence accessible to in-house legal counsel based outside that country," a judge remarked.