Legal 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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Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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