In a novel combination of an ALSP, a law firm and its homegrown tech division, The Law Boutique (TLB), Linklaters and its CreateiQ tech group, are to work together to provide clients with ‘holistic solutions’.
Together they explained that this delivers ‘a combination of premium legal advice, TLB’s experience in legal transformation, whether through contract optimisation and document playbooks, legal tech implementation or process and service design, and access to CreateiQ, Linklaters’ proprietary contracting platform’.
And in relation to CreateiQ, it is presented as a CLM solution and has had plenty of traction in areas such as complex financial contracts, e.g. derivatives, and has also worked closely with industry bodies such as ISDA. It now works with around 100 clients, including several major banks.
The three teams have worked together before in relation to the oneNDA standardisation project, which grew out of TLB, and this new and deeper relationship has been steered by Greg Baker, Global Head of Practice Innovation, Shilpa Bhandarkar, CEO of CreateiQ, Electra Japonas, CEO at TLB, and Roisin Noonan, COO at TLB.
Baker commented: ‘[This] delivers a fantastic combination of best-in-class solutions into one compelling offering and is an example of the firm’s commitment to an exceptional client experience.’
While Bhandarkar added: ‘With TLB’s human-centred approach to legal process optimisation, together we can offer our clients cutting edge tech with the comms, training and change management wrapper that will ensure successful adoption and implementation.’
Artificial Lawyer asked the group a few more questions about the move, and these are their combined answers:
– What have TLB/oneNDA and Linklaters worked on before?
The TLB, Practice Innovation and CreateiQ teams worked closely on the hugely successful oneNDA project. Since that time, the three teams have collaborated on an informal basis, with this announcement now formalising that collaboration and opening it out to the wider legal community.
– Will this only be for work associated with CreateiQ clients?
This is available to everyone, whether or not an existing client of Linklaters, TLB or user of CreateiQ. The collaboration between the three organisations enables anyone to access a seamless offering of best-in-class legal advice, cutting-edge technology and an exceptional service delivery model, tailored specifically for their organisation.
– What exactly will TLB be doing? i.e. Linklaters provides advice, CreateiQ provides automation and other tech capabilities, where does TLB fit in?
As the in-house market continues to grow, as does its sophistication. More and more, clients are in need of not only excellent legal advice, but also effective processes, user-centric design and streamlined operations so legal teams can deliver their advice in the most effective way to the wider business.
Similarly, the market is all too aware of its need to digitise and use technology. But at the same time, and as AL reported on Monday, getting implementation right is key to technology’s success. Whether that be through laying the groundwork for successful implementation with clever precedent drafting, contract optimisation and playbook creation or setting out a clear, prioritised implementation and delivery plan, TLB is ideally placed to provide clients with contract optimisation and wraparound support for their tech implementation.
– Is standardisation part of this?
Yes! oneNDA is already digitised within CreateiQ along with a suite of other industry-standard documentation.
Standardisation is also a core pillar of TLB’s contract design and optimisation services. The Practice Innovation team are regularly approached by clients for assistance with standardisation and contract optimisation work and this is a great opportunity to deploy a combination of Linklaters’ expertise, TLB’s design services and CreateiQ’s contract automation and negotiation platform. This enables clients to leverage the efficiencies brought by standardisation across their own organisations.
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In a separate comment, TLB’s CEO, Japonas, concluded: ‘The term ‘legal services’ means so much more than it used to. The rapid evolution we’re seeing in the way people want to consume legal services is indicative of the huge transformation our industry is undergoing.’
Overall, this makes a lot of sense and as indicated above, this is the direction of travel for legal services, i.e. combining advice along with operational expertise, with tech capabilities and tailored products, all provided in a ‘holistic’ manner to get the best results for the clients.