Innovation Insights: Supporting Junior Lawyers’ Ideas

Innovation Insights: Supporting Junior Lawyers’ Ideas

Angela Clist

Interview with Angela Clist –Partner, Head of Legal Innovation (A&O Shearman)

Nedra: As the head of innovative solutions at A&O Shearman, how are you preparing for the new generation of lawyers who may have different expectations of innovation and technological advancements?

Angela: A&O Shearman is embracing innovation. We were an extremely early adopter of AI and deployer of that technology on behalf of our clients.  Through our Markets Innovation Group, the firm forged deep relationships with Microsoft and Harvey to lead on exploring opportunities with AI, in particular generative AI, in the legal sector.

The firm’s Markets Innovation Group also developed ContractMatrix, which is an AI-powered contract drafting and negotiation tool in partnership with Microsoft and Harvey.  ContractMatrix is used extensively within A&O Shearman and is also licensed to clients. The firm also has a significant AI advisory practice. 

However, what we really want to see from our junior lawyers is an innovative mind set – lawyers coming to work each day thinking, “how can I do this better?”. It’s important that the firm fosters an environment where that is encouraged.  

Nedra: Are there any programs used by your firm to drive junior lawyers towards developing an innovative mindset?

Angela: Absolutely! First, we have a “new ideas” programme, where all lawyers are encouraged to submit new tech ideas to improve the way we work. Secondly, we have a team called the “Legal Innovation Team”. This is a team of ex-lawyers who specialised in areas like M&A, Disputes, Finance and Capital Markets. They work with practice groups in order to identify opportunities to work smarter, adopt technology and innovative ways of working, bringing a deep understanding of the work lawyers are actually performing. Thirdly, we have a Legal Process Improvement Team, who are “legal engineers” – they apply a scientific approach to solving legal challenges, with the objective of helping teams work better. Finally, our Market Innovation Group is focused on developing and deploying AI solutions (like ContractMatrix) in the firm and for our clients.    

I think the bigger question is why innovation is important.  For us, its all about the client:  clients expect firms to be adopting technology where available, thinking innovatively in terms of how we resource and deliver work, and managing risk.  Being client centric means showing clients how we are adding value to them through our innovative approach.  

Nedra: How do you balance maintaining hierarchical structures whilst encouraging bottom-up innovation?

Angela: Interesting question. I think most partners know that junior lawyers are much more adapted and open to technology – they have grown up with the internet and are actively using AI outside of the workplace.  So I don’t think this is a question about hierarchy so much as having the right frameworks in place to encourage innovation at all levels within the organisation – to ensure that a traditionalist approach to the law is not getting in the way of delivering value to our clients and being open to new ideas. The tech landscape has changed dramatically in the last few years, and I think that senior partners know they can’t ignore it.  

Nedra: What resources are available to support junior lawyers to develop ideas?

Angela: We have a central team that receives new tech ideas on a regular basis and assesses them for viability. We also have our Legal Innovation Leads, who are embedded in each practice group, and the legal engineers. Finally, we have tons of training!  

Nedra: How does the firm ensure that these initiatives are not a burden on these already busy Junior Lawyers?

Angela: It’s about having the right incentives and accountability. If someone has a good idea, they can talk about it with their partner and agree how they will spend their time on that solution, so it is not a burden.

Nedra: How do you see the role of junior lawyers in innovation evolving over the next 5-10 years?

Angela: I think that junior lawyers will be actively using AI in their work – be that as a tool for document review/due diligence, contract negotiation and drafting, and more broadly as an “agent” to help them in their day-to-day work. The skills of the junior lawyer, and indeed the training of junior lawyers, will need to evolve. Aside from being tech-savvy, junior lawyers will need to be great communicators, with a deep understanding of their clients’ businesses in order to provide commercial, practical advice; they will need to be creative problem solvers. Finally (but by no means least) I think that they will need to be great lawyers who can critically analyse the output from tech tools.

Nedra: How does the participation in innovation initiatives impact career progression?

Angela: Positively! Looking at this slightly differently, over the last few years we have seen a number of alternative career paths open for lawyers that are deeply interested in innovation. For instance, as “innovation leads” or legal engineers, as legal technologists, as project managers and as advisers to clients on AI/tech.  

For instance, our Markets Innovation Group consists of a number of partners and associates who have pivoted their careers towards developing and deploying AI solutions for the firm and its clients (working in partnership with Microsoft and Harvey) and as leading advisors to clients on AI.  As part of this, Markets Innovation Group led on the formation of an AI working group, through which the firm is currently advising 80+ of the largest global businesses across the Middle East, APAC, US, UK and EU on the key legal, risk management and deployment issues raised by generative AI.

Nedra: What strategies have you found to be successful in bridging the technology gap between the different generation of lawyers?

Angela: The use of the legal engineers in the Legal Process Improvement Team and the Legal Innovation Team Leads have been particularly useful. Celebrating the work of the Markets Innovation Team has really changed the culture in the firm.   

Nedra: What skills development opportunities are there to help junior lawyers become more effective in their innovation?

Angela: There is lots of training available, which is really hands-on. And as we’ve spoken about, we have frameworks in place across the firm to help. However, the bottom line is that junior lawyers should be curious:  how can I make this work better? What can I try?   We love that! 

By Nedra Daniel

Guest Editor