Herbert Smith Freehills recognised for ground-breaking innovation in legal services

Herbert Smith Freehills has been recognised as the leading law firm for innovation in the 2016 Janders Dean and LexisNexis Legal Innovation Index. The awards were announced last night at a ceremony held in Sydney.

The coveted award recognises the creative collaboration framework the firm has pioneered with its clients, redefining the relationship between client and firm by partnering to develop novel solutions to clients’ legal business problems.

In one example, the firm applied cutting-edge Design Thinking and Legal Project Management services to help a significant client re-design the legal process for acquisitions, generating greater efficiencies and an ability for the in-house team to better demonstrate value-add. This resulted in great client satisfaction, and a stronger partnership between the two legal teams and the business.

In another scenario which was also recognised by this award, Herbert Smith Freehills partnered with longstanding client Telstra to pioneer an innovative client collaboration framework, under the approach called  “Re-Imagine Legal”, in a leading-edge program which delivered significant cost-savings through greatly enhanced innovation and productivity for their legal team.

Accepting the award on behalf of the firm, Herbert Smith Freehills’ Chief Marketing Officer, Paul Bonomy, said: “There is much talk about the changing legal industry, and at its core this is driven by the constantly changing market conditions our clients operate in. It is their business needs that provoke us to embrace highly creative and innovative solutions to meet their legal challenges.

“It takes a bold and brave client to embrace innovative work, particularly in times of uncertainty, and we are grateful to our clients for the opportunities they provide us and the willingness they have to embrace our approach,” he continued.

Sue Gilchrist, Regional Managing Partner Asia and Australia, added: “We are very proud to be recognised for our approach to innovation and for the efficiency, process and cost solutions we are providing our clients. Their feedback on our creative approach to problem solving has been overwhelmingly positive; we are very pleased that not only do our efforts result in more efficient and effective legal services and performance, it also brings our teams closer together with clients’ teams.

“We are relentlessly focussed on enhancing client service and we are grateful to be able to partner with such innovative and forward thinking clients,” Ms Gilchrist continued.

Janders Dean launched the Australian and New Zealand annual Legal Innovation Index for the legal industry in 2013 with the support and sponsorship of LexisNexis. Now in its fourth successful year, the 2016 Legal Innovation Index seeks to provide national recognition to the most innovative firms and legal teams in Australia and New Zealand.

The awards were judged by a diverse panel made up of industry leaders, commentators and emerging talent that included: Sue Anderson, Innovation & Service Design Thought Leader; Caroline Grimshaw Hill, Legal IT Insider; Melanie Thomas, Telstra; Sandra Mau, Trademark Vision; Navroop Pandher, Lex Machina; Brennan Ong, LawAdvisor; Matthew Paterson, Vodafone Global Enterprise; Courtney Rickersey, Griffith University; Justin North (Janders Dean); and Whit Lee (LexisNexis).

About Herbert Smith Freehills

Operating from over 26 offices across Asia Pacific, EMEA and North America, Herbert Smith Freehills is at the heart of the new global business landscape providing premium quality, full-service legal advice. We provide many of the world’s most important organisations with access to market-leading dispute resolution, projects and transactional legal advice, combined with expertise in a number of global industry sectors, including energy, natural resources, infrastructure, technology and financial services. www.herbertsmithfreehills.com

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