Linklaters has appointed Greg Baker to the newly created role of Global Head of Practice Innovation. The role will see him lead the firm’s ‘innovation and efficiency agenda’ globally.
Baker most recently served as the Lead Innovation Lawyer for the firm’s global corporate practice, where he was working closely with partners and lawyers to deploy new technologies and design improved ways of working. Prior to joining Linklaters in 2018 he was a lawyer at White & Case.
The new role will see Baker work alongside a multi-disciplinary innovation team to ‘drive change with pace and purpose for the benefit of lawyers and clients’, the firm said.
He will also chair the firm’s Innovation Steering Group, a group of partners and senior business leaders who provide strategic direction on innovation priorities and investments for the firm.
Linklaters is also steadily growing its team of ‘innovation lawyers’ across its offices. Innovation lawyers are ‘aligned with and embedded in specific practices, working side-by-side with lawyers and their clients’.
They combine their legal experience and an appreciation for how technology and enhanced processes can deliver efficiencies on client work – all to deliver immediately tangible improvements, the firm added.
Commenting on the move Baker said: ‘We are harnessing ideas from around the firm and from other industries to make tangible improvements to both the client experience and the lives of our lawyers. Whether those ideas leverage leading technologies, such as CreateiQ, or our data and process mapping, it’s an exciting time to be working with our lawyers and clients.
‘I’m looking forward to continuing the transformational work with our practices across the globe, including with our expanding cohort of innovation lawyers, to think creatively about the needs of our clients and our firm.’
Stefan Schwarz, Chief Legal Operations Officer at Linklaters, concluded: ‘Throughout his time at the firm, Greg has shown the value of challenging the status quo to keep pace with our clients’ growing expectations. I look forward to working with Greg as he drives the firm’s innovation agenda forward.’