The Law Boutique (TLB), a ‘Legal Optimisation Company’ that specialises in providing commercial and data protection support, has hired Gordon Youngson (pictured), Head of Legal for UK & Europe at leading FinTech company TransferWise.
He joins TLB as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and will focus on driving business growth and developing the UK-based group’s commercial strategy. This includes: sales, marketing and customer success. He will also assist with product development and delivery.
The move follows the recent partnership with NLP-driven legal tech company, Robin AI, to provide a new ‘AI+’ contract review and negotiation service for inhouse legal teams.
Robin AI, which often works with private equity funds, uses NLP analysis and a human element to help companies handle contract review – hence the ‘AI+’ term. TLB provides the ability to further negotiate the contracts.
Interestingly, TLB is not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. In terms of its position as a Legal Services Business you’d probably place it at the ‘complex process’ end of the spectrum.
TransferWise, which as the name hints helps people to transfer money internationally, is also the former home of Jenifer Swallow, where she was General Counsel until 2019 and who is now Director of the LawTechUK group through TechNation.
For his part, Youngson has over a decade of legal experience, having also worked for Euroclear and the UK Payments Administration.
TLB said this gives him an ‘understanding and experience of the unique challenges faced by in-house counsel in fast-paced tech companies today’. Which is handy as several of TLB’s clients are in this bracket, such as Monzo – the digital bank, and Babylon Health – the digitally-based and partly automated medical support service.
Youngson commented: ‘I’m super excited to be joining The Law Boutique. It’s one of the leading legal tech solution providers, helping businesses scale and transform their legal function through intelligent legal design and optimised legal processes.
‘I’m looking forward to bringing my experience … to The Law Boutique and its clients.’
TLB’s CEO, Electra Japonas, added: ‘Gordon’s arrival signifies the trajectory of The Law Boutique. This is an important stage in the growth and development of the business and will help us change the legal landscape as we know it. We’re on a mission to humanise and simplify law. Gordon will play a key role in helping us do just that.’
Is this a big deal? For TLB, yes. But, more broadly it’s further proof that process-focused legal businesses that are not ‘traditional law firms’ are blossoming right now and hiring in top talent.