International law firm Baker McKenzie has decided to create a team dedicated to leveraging machine learning and data science for legal expertise. This initiative is part of its “Reinvent” innovation program and follows the digital transformation pilot project developed by the firm in collaboration with SparkBeyond, a company specializing in the design of problem-solving technologies. Three actions will be the focus of the partnership to drive Baker McKenzie’s digital transformation.

A partnership between Baker McKenzie and SparkBeyond

Led by Research & Development partner Ben Allgrove, this team dedicated to leveraging machine learning and data science will benefit from an exclusive partnership with SparkBeyond to build custom applications to meet the specific needs of the firm and its clients. Baker McKenzie will have SparkBeyond’s technology platform at its disposal.

This partnership is part of a true commitment by the law firm to accelerate its digital transformation by leveraging artificial intelligence. Ben Allgrove expresses that:

“Five years ago, our industry was awash in newspaper articles talking about disruption and artificial intelligence. Our view, often expressed at the time, was that this disruption would not happen overnight, but it would happen eventually. So we’ve spent the last five years preparing for it while we wait for the technology to mature. We’ve built the infrastructure foundation, including our enterprise data architecture, and we’ve built our innovation strength and buy-in from our partners and customers through a market-leading thought and engagement program. It’s exciting to find a partner like SparkBeyond, as we can now confidently take the next step in integrating machine learning into our business to create a new source of value for our customers.”

Milton Cheng, Chairman of Baker McKenzie, states:

“This partnership is a symbol of our commitment to innovation as well as a statement of intent for the future. Artificial intelligence will become increasingly important in our business. This is the right time to invest and build our capabilities and skills to deploy this technology for the benefit of our clients, our firm and our communities.”

Exclusive collaboration to focus on three main areas

The partnership will revolve around the following three actions:

• Enriching legal services with artificial intelligence: The goal is to leverage augmented analytics and data science technologies to develop and deliver new services to clients. The firm will be able to use machine learning to support some of its decisions.
• Increase the firm’s social impact: Research and analysis using machine learning will expand the firm’s social impact initiatives. Ultimately, it will be able to use machine learning to develop its pro bono practice more effectively than human intervention alone.
• Internal transformation: as part of the firm’s digital transformation process, insights from data analytics will be used to drive legal and business operations. Support for the development and deployment of new models is aimed at improving the relevance, speed and accuracy of decisions within Baker McKenzie itself.

Translated from Baker McKenzie renforce son partenariat avec SparkBeyond pour accélérer sa transformation numérique