Why Should Law Firms Pay Attention to Allen & Overy’s Legal Incubator?

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Summary: Allen & Overy’s legal incubator can be a model for other law firms, Forbes stated. 

Less than a year ago, Allen & Overy launched Fuse, and since then, it has been a model for other law firms on how to create a successful legal incubator, according to Forbes’s contributor Mark A. Cohen.

  

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“Incubators are emblematic of a growing legal industry emphasis on collaboration,” Cohen said.

Fuse is a legal incubator created by Allen & Overy. The law firm hand-picked a few tech companies last year that focused on “(1) ‘legal tech’ -technology that supports legal advice; (2) ‘reg. tech’ -IT to support regulatory compliance; and (3) ‘deal tech’-IT that streamlines deal-making,” according to Cohen. The publication said that Fuse is likely to succeed at its goal of cultivating innovation and that it is already gearing up to accept applications for its next cohort.

Fuse is a part of Allen & Overy’s plan to change the way the firm pairs its practice and delivery capabilities. Jonathan Brayne, Chairman of Fuse and a partner at Allen & Overy, explained that meeting their client needs is one of the challenges of a global law firm and that using technology aids them in delivering services. For instance, the Magic Circle firm used technology to provide “advanced delivery” to clients to address the increase of documents created by cross-border transactions and litigation.

Cohen stated that legal tech incubators are a huge trend in the industry, with law firms, law schools, and more rushing to launch them. He said that although the craze is global, not many can achieve their goals of spawning innovation.

“Incubators require more than space, energy, and good intentions,” Cohen said. “That’s a start, but a successful incubator is one that focuses on specific challenges and provides resident cohorts human and technical resources, mentorship, and end-user exposure. Successful incubators require planning, focus, alignment of practice expertise with technical focus, organizational skills, and access to consumers to solve material, clearly-defined challenges.”

The reason that Allen & Overy is a model for success, Cohen argues, is that they recognize that not all tasks require premium fees and they have utilized technology to do more routine tasks and offer those services at a fair price.

“Fuse is part of the technology initiative and evidences how the firm effectively marshalled its practice capability to collaborate with tech companies—and clients—to create products that ‘move the needle’ to solve business challenges,” Cohen said.

• Connecticut Develops Legal Incubator Program 
• Joint Incubator Program Started Between Both Baltimore Law Schools
• Widener Law and Dauphin County Bar Association Create Lawyer Incubator

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