Legal Week Innovation AwardsLegal Week Innovation Awards 2019: The Winners Revealed
Bird & Bird, Paul Hastings and BCLP are among this year's big winners.
May 24, 2019 at 11:30 AM
3 minute read
Bird & Bird has emerged as the big winner at this year's Legal Week Innovation Awards, receiving the award for Future of Legal Services Innovation for a Large Private Practice – the first of two gongs for the firm.
In a ceremony today (May 24), hosted by comedian Stuart Mitchell at The Landmark London, law firms Paul Hastings, Latham & Watkins, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) and Hogan Lovells were also among those to win recognition for their innovations.
Heading off stiff competition from the likes of Herbert Smith Freehills, Norton Rose Fulbright and Macfarlanes, Bird & Bird was praised for its "highly sophisticated" new tool, which quickly appraises the value of patent portfolios. Among the judges this year were head of Allen & Overy's tech incubation programme Fuse, Shruti Ajitsaria, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's chief legal innovation officer, Isabel Parker.
Paul Hastings took home the award for International Law Firm Innovation. The judges lauded the firm's "powerful and innovative tool", which analyses historic deal data drawn from across its network.
Latham scooped the award for Diversity Innovation, with judges describing the firm's work on improving awareness around the challenges faced by lawyers from less privileged backgrounds as standout in a "strong field" of competitors.
And for the second year running, BCLP won the AI Innovation award for its use of artificial intelligence in reviewing disputes at their outset, enabling lawyers to recommend to clients whether to fight or settle.
But this year's top accolades were not the reserve of the City's biggest firms, with newer firms and service providers also drawing acclaim. The award for Future of Legal Services Innovation for an Alternative Business Structure went to ESP Law for its work helping HR teams cope with the recent surge in employment tribunal claims, while on-demand legal service F-LEX Legal bagged top honours in the Supplier Innovation – Resource Management category.
Hogan Lovells picked up the award for Corporate Social Responsibility Innovation, for its initiative around training women in rural communities in India to deliver solar panels in their villages, while the Business Development Innovation award went to London-based law firm Mackrell Turner Garrett for its work on developing the area of Cannabis law.
The spotlight returned to Bird & Bird when associate Will Deller won the Rising Star Innovation award for setting up the firm's e-sports practice, while Dan Garrett, founder and CEO of will-writing firm Farewill, took home the individual award for Outstanding Innovator.
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