The LegalTech Ecosystem in Wales

clients & its people”. 201 No event was held in 2021, but in 2022 the Innovation in Legal Services award was introduced, 202 won by NewLaw Solicitors for their ‘Pilot’ portal. 203 Also of note in the 2022 awards was that Adam McGlynn, of Acuity Law, was awarded Rising Star of the Year, with judges commenting “[h]is thirst for legal tech coupled with his passion for delivering practical legal solutions has resulted in the development, delivery and execution of bespoke industry-leading legal solutions”. 204 Outside of the Wales Legal Awards, in 2020 Eversheds Sutherland won Technology Team of the Year at the British Legal Technology Awards. 205 In terms of recruitment and training of staff, we have found some clear examples of a commitment to technology and innovation. In 2019, Eversheds Sutherland restructured their technology teams, separating back-office IT from the newly created Global Innovation Team, 206 with the driving force being increased technological demands from both their lawyers and clients, as well as “the opportunity that technology offers in terms of disrupting the legal sector”. 207 The firm then launched Techtober in 2021, providing a series of technology and design-thinking training modules, interactive demos, client panels and a global hackathon, to all lawyers and business support teams globally. 208 Additionally, in March 2022 Eversheds Sutherland launched its first Legal Technology Graduate Scheme, a two year scheme where graduates work within “the firm’s legal service design team and on its legal tech applications, as well as rotating between the legal technology teams in two of the firm’s five practice groups”. 209 Within its wider staff, Eversheds Sutherland also employs a range of personnel that works alongside their legal teams, including “legal project managers, legal technologists, business analysts, developers, change managers and knowledge and service design experts”. 210 Most major law firms employ IT directors or executives, or directors of operations with IT competences, including Acuity Law 211 , CJCH Solicitors 212 , RDP Law 213 , HCR Law (which employs both an IT 202 Wales Legal Awards, “Wales Legal Awards 2022 winners announced in a celebration of excellence in the profession” (24 May 2022), available at https://waleslegalawards.com/news/wales-legal-awards-2022-winners-announced-in-a-celebration-of- excellence-in-the-profession/. 203 NewLaw Solicitors, “NewLaw Collect Innovation in Legal Services Award” (26 May 2022), available at https://www.new- law.co.uk/news/article.aspx?id=138. 204 Lisa Baker, “Acuity Law solicitor named Rising Star at Wales Legal Awards” (News From Wales, 30 May 2022), available at https://newsfromwales.co.uk/acuity-law-solicitor-named-rising-star-at-wales-legal-awards/. 205 British Legal Technology Awards, “2020 Winners”, available at https://www.britishlegalitawards.com/2020-winners/. 206 Eversheds Sutherland, “Eversheds Sutherland Creates Dedicated Global Innovation Team” (19 February 2019), available at https://us.eversheds-sutherland.com/NewsCommentary/Press-Releases/218105/Eversheds-Sutherland-Creates-Dedicated- Global-Innovation-Team. 207 Caroline Hill, “Eversheds Sutherland and Clifford Chance split innovation and back office tech teams” (Legal IT Insider, 23 January 2019), available at https://legaltechnology.com/2019/01/23/eversheds-sutherland-and-clifford-chance-split-innovation- and-back-office-tech-teams/. 208 Eversheds Sutherland, “Eversheds Sutherland launches Techtober alongside its first Legal Technology Graduate Scheme” (5 October 2021), available at https://www.eversheds- sutherland.com/lists/shownews.html?News=uk_Eversheds_Sutherland_launches_Techtober. 209 Ibid. 210 Eversheds Sutherland, “Service Excellence, available at https://www.eversheds- sutherland.com/global/en/what/practices/service-excellence/index.html. 211 Acuity Law, “Gemma Collins”, available at https://acuitylaw.com/people/gemma-collins/. 212 CJCH Solicitors, “Leadership Team”, available at https://www.cjchsolicitors.co.uk/leadership-team/. 213 RDP Law, “About us”, available at https://rdplaw.co.uk/about-us/. 201 Wales Legal Awards, “Congratulation” (Twitter, 11 September 2020), available at https://twitter.com/waleslegalaward/status/1304499603774021632.

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