Dentons has launched a technology company that will develop systems and processes to be sold to other firms in the legal industry.

NextLaw Labs is currently based in Palo Alto in California but Dentons has plans to open bases for it in London and Asia.

The firm has appointed Dan Jansen, who spent 17 years as head of the media and entertainment practice at management consultant Boston Consulting Group, as chief executive of the new business.

Jansen said: "Finding new technologies to reinvent the legal profession and reshape how business is conducted is what NextLaw Labs is all about."

The business will invest in legal technology start-ups and existing companies as well as developing its own "suite of services within NextLaw Labs".

Jansen added that the firm was looking to partner with people inside Dentons and businesses outside the firm that were building and bringing new products and services to the legal market.

Dentons global chairman Joe Andrew said: "It is a separate entity with a CEO but it is different to a technology company because we bring real clients, real lawyers and real problems. What we are working on are tool kits for lawyers."

Dentons' move into this area follows the proclamation of Hogan Lovells chief executive Steve Immelt earlier this month that his firm was investing in technology research to better understand how it could help clients.

He told Legal Week: "We are still a way away from a level where technology makes a material difference, but we need to understand what is happening so that we are prepared for when it is ready to use."