Global mega-firm Dentons announced a leadership shakeup at its legal technology innovation arm, Nextlaw Labs, naming Berlin-based Marie Bernard as its new CEO.

In her new role, Bernard will be charged with developing “Nextlaw Labs 2.0,” an new phase intended to both support technology at Dentons and productize “innovations as a service” for Dentons' clients. Although Nextlaw's initial work revolved primarily around technology, the organization's next phase will look to expand into people and process design.

The leadership change seems to mark a broader organizational shift for Dentons' Nextlaw brand. Former CEO Dan Jansen will now lead Nextlaw Ventures, which will now be home to Nextlaw's incubation program.

John Fernandez, chief innovation officer and partner at Dentons, explained that the change was part and parcel of a growing Nextlaw brand. ”Our leadership determined that it would make great sense to have Dan focus on the Ventures piece because that market has grown even more than we'd anticipated,” he said. Bernard's leadership at Nextlaw Labs will be more focused on the people and process components “to continue to build that complementary platform that works hand and glove with ventures, but help evolve its work that involves the innovations [we] work with.”

Jansen will continue to oversee investments in the 10 legal technology companies participating in the program. In this capacity, he will be working on efforts for a second round of investments for Dentons' legal technology efforts. He will also continue to work with Nextlaw Labs as a strategic adviser.

Prior to her leadership at Nextlaw Labs, Bernard spent two years as Dentons' Europe director of innovation, during which time she established partnerships with legal technology startups for the firm. She also previously held digital marketing positions at the firm.

Over the last year, the incubator launched a “global public affairs network,” a database aimed at helping attorneys connect to lobbyists and public affairs specialists. The network is the second under the Nextlaw name, following the launch of the Nextlaw Global Referral Network in 2016, a global database intended to connect attorneys to one another.

Additionally, Nextlaw last month announced a new in-house consultancy service that pairs its legal advising with the legal technology and process management tools it has supported through its Nextlaw Labs programming.