The well-known legal tech and innovation expert, Alex G Smith, has left US law firm, Reed Smith, to become Global Product Management Lead at iManage’s AI group RAVN.
Smith will drive the vision and roadmap for RAVN from the client and market perspectives. He will be based in the London office, the company said.
This is great news, as Smith – it’s fair to say – had always publicly been quite sceptical about the benefits of AI technology. So, this move to join what is an AI group, within a wider DMS and legal data company, is an important ‘conversion’, as it were.
The news follows other ‘conversions’, such as UnitedLex, which had been very sceptical of AI technology until very recently and has now chosen to start using legal AI company Seal Software.
At Reed Smith he was Innovation Hub Manager and has been a very frequent presence on social media, such as Twitter, and a speaker at conferences.
Smith said of the move: ‘This move is an exciting opportunity for me and will take me back into the depths of commercial product design, artificial intelligence and breaking down the traditional barriers in the legal ecosystem.’
Nick Thomson, General Manager, iManage RAVN, added: ‘RAVN is on the cusp of explosive growth and we are delighted to have Alex join us at this vital juncture. Alex brings with him the right mix of technical knowledge, energy, collaboration skills and indeed the ‘right’ experience, all of which will play an instrumental role in enabling us to deliver against our vision. He is a great fit for our organisation.’