Gide Loyrette Nouel has created a new team, comprising both lawyers and non-lawyers, dedicated to advising clients on digital transformation.

The team, dubbed Gide 255, is headed by Franck Guiader, the former head of fintech, innovation and competitiveness at the AMF, France's stock market regulator .

Guiader has been joined at Gide by Jennifer D'hoir, former head of the international affairs unit at the AMF, and Matthieu Lucchesi, who was formerly head of public affairs for BNP Paribas Asset Management, before which he also worked at the AMF. All three joined Gide this summer as non-partners.

The new team, which combines business law and digital transformation expertise, will work alongside other partners from various practice areas across the firm. It is intended to offer more than just legal advice, providing the firm's clients with strategic guidance on emerging technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence.

Guiader told Legal Week: "At Gide we need to be working within more than just the legal system; we also need to be advising about strategy and decision making. And that involves offering expertise on digital technologies."

The team will work within all practice areas of the firm, and Gide expects to hire additional team members as it develops.

So far the group has been working with clients in crypto-assets markets, as well as insurtech companies, retailers, luxury groups, the automobile industry, and various public bodies.

"It's important for a law firm to transform in terms of how we advise our clients," Guiader told Legal Week, "because our clients have a lot of expectations of law firms to have a good understanding of how technologies will impact their business model.

"When we talk to our clients, we understand that they want to be more involved in the discussions of the strategy of their company and the decision-making process when it comes to digital and technological strategies."

A raft of other law firms have been making similar moves in the tech and innovation sector. CMS recently set up a team dedicated to digital technology, while yesterday (26 September)  Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner announced that it had formed its first combined innovation team since the transatlantic tie-up of Berwin Leighton Paisner and US firm Bryan Cave six months ago.

Clifford Chance also recently launched two new innovation units, Clifford Chance Applied Solutions and Clifford Chance Create, the former of which is dedicated to helping build and scale out technology systems for clients.