In an unusual move RAVN‘s CEO and CSO have swapped jobs, with long-serving boss, Peter Wallqvist now taking up the CSO role in order to allow former Tikit head, David Lumsden, to become overall CEO of the UK-based legal AI pioneer.
Previously Lumsden had been the company’s CSO and between 2000 and 2013 was CEO of Tikit, a UK provider of software and services to the legal and professional services markets.
The exact reason for the change was not given, but the fact that Lumsden had been the boss of what was a much larger tech company, combined with the changing financial and managerial needs of what is now a far larger RAVN is likely to have been a factor.
Outgoing CEO, Wallqvist said: ‘I am delighted to have found someone with David’s experience to work with RAVN to lead us through our next period of growth.’
Lumsden added: ‘Having moved from a start-up to a medium sized business RAVN has achieved a lot to date and has become a strong brand. I am looking forward to working with Peter and the rest of the leadership team to drive the business in the next stage of growth.’
The management shakeup comes at an important time for RAVN and legal AI companies in general. RAVN has expanded rapidly in the last couple of years, opened an office in the Netherlands and seen a range of new AI-based products come to market.
At the same time, competition from rival AI companies in the document analysis space, such as Kira and others, has heated up considerably, with ever greater efforts now being made to gain market share among the leading law firms.