Hogan Lovells appoints Stephen Allen as head of innovation & digital – Legal IT Insider

Hogan Lovells has officially appointed London-based global operations head Stephen Allen as head of innovation & digital following his progress in building out and formalising the infrastructure of the firm’s alternative delivery solutions (ADS) capability.

Allen will be responsible for devising and implementing the firm’s innovation solutions relating to data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, legal technology and digital productisation.

He joined the transatlantic firm in 2016 from DLA Piper and today manages a team of over 100 people including legal project management specialists, data analysts, the alternative legal delivery solutions team, review attorneys and paralegals.

His new appointment follows the restructuring of the wider ADS function, which is now headed by Rachel Dabydoyal, who reports to Allen.

Dabydoyal officially took over as head of ADS on 1 May and her remit includes Hogan Lovells’ legal services centre in Birmingham and its new flexible resource offering with Elevate, Cognia Law and FTI Consulting.

Completing the wider alternative delivery picture is Erica Godwin who, in March this year, took over as head of an expanded legal project management team, reporting to Allen.

Allen’s appointment to this new role also follows the hire of Washington D.C.-based privacy and communications partner Mark Brennan, who took on the role of lead innovation partner earlier this year. Brennan is responsible for championing innovation throughout the firm and embedding it into the firm’s culture and client services.

Allen, who in September 2019 was named Legal Intrapreneur of the Year by The Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Europe Awards, said: “I am really looking forward to being able to work with Mark to support driving the innovation agenda at Hogan Lovells and for our clients. Over the past three years we have spent a lot of time getting the architecture for innovation right. Mark’s appointment and my focus on innovation will ensure that the firm is constantly evaluating how we deliver differentiated services to our clients and will facilitate adoption of technologies that support our colleagues’ and clients’ needs.”

Allen has led the launch of flexible lawyering partnerships with Elevate, Cognia Law and FTI Consulting based on the strapline ‘one plus one equals more than two.’

One major initiative in partnership with Cognia and FTI is an artificial intelligence-based LIBOR solution, which combats the significant legal, administrative and cost challenges of dealing with LIBOR re-papering for financial services clients.

Allen works together with the firm’s global head of financial institutions, Sharon Lewis, and the Hogan Lovells legal delivery centre in Birmingham to deliver an integrated LIBOR solution that combines Kira Systems, Contract Express and Nuix together with focused legal review and advice to create a more cost-effective ‘one stop shop’ for clients preparing for the discontinuation of LIBOR post-2021.

Allen also co-founded the Bionic Lawyer Project, which aims to address problems facing the profession, from bias and privilege to an overreliance on email.

We flagged his shift in role in the September issue of the Orange Rag, when we interviewed Allen and Elevate’s president and co-founder John Croft about their expanding flexible lawyer arrangement.