Eversheds Sutherland Establishes ‘AI-Centric’ US Innovation Dept.

Global law firm Eversheds Sutherland has launched an ‘AI-centric’ US Innovation Department, led by Senior Director Katrina Dittmer (pictured).

The US Innovation Department consolidates several existing capabilities, they said, and includes: data and analytics, research and knowledge services, legal technology, client-facing technologies, and change management and adoption.

Lino Mendiola, Global Co-CEO of Eversheds Sutherland and US Chief Executive, commented: ‘By uniting these teams under a dedicated US Innovation Department with a focus on AI, we’re strengthening our ability to support our lawyers and meet client expectations in a rapidly changing legal environment.’

Dittmer added: ‘Innovation isn’t just about tools. It’s about understanding how we work and making deliberate choices that help our lawyers work smarter, collaborate more effectively and deliver better outcomes for clients. Formalizing this department gives us an effective structure to do that work in a coordinated, sustainable and strategic way.’

They added that the US Innovation team, of around 20 people at the 4,000-strong global firm, is working on expanding the firm’s use of a legal-specific generative AI platform that is now being used by nearly 40% of the firm’s US lawyers, growing the firm’s data lake to support future products, and working with internal firm business departments to streamline administrative processes they added. (They didn’t mention which AI platform they’re using.)