Newly-launched alternative business structure (ABS) Wavelength.law, which provides tech-led legal services to the corporate sector, has hired Johnson Matthey legal director Anne-Marie Garner as its chair and non-executive director, having just brought in a computational data scientist as its first full-time hire.
Garner (pictured on the home page), a former Speechly Bircham lawyer who joined FTSE 100-listed sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey 13 years ago, will help Wavelength.law with its strategy and development of products and service lines. She joins fellow non-execs Catherine Bamford, CEO and founder of BamLegal, who works with law firms such as DWF in delivering their automation projects; and Mark Astbury, a member of Cambridge Capital Group, which specializes in high-tech startups.
CEO and co-founder of Wavelength.law, Peter Lee, said: “Anne-Marie is a vastly experienced senior lawyer and business executive. She has a refreshing vision for the future of legal services and the understanding of corporate risk, which fits neatly with Wavelength’s strategy. This appointment is fundamental to developing and scaling our business.” Lee, who is a commercial lawyer, left Taylor Vinters this year alongside co-founder Drew Winlaw, formerly director of operational development at Taylor Vinters.
Wavelength.law, which received Solicitors Regulation Authority approval to formally launch in June, is based in Cambridge and is focused on improving the delivery of commercial law using data and smart technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing.
It will focus on unlocking the corporate memory by analysing commercial contracts; looking for trends and risks.
The ABS has just hired Cambridge PhD graduate Jantine Broek as a computational data scientist. Broek will drive forward the firm’s intelligent use of data and use her skills to analyse data and trends using AI techniques such as machine learning, pattern recognition and network analysis.
Wavelength is currently in talks to partner with data companies that operate both within and outside of the legal sector.
Lee told Legal IT Insider: “Currently corporate legal teams are fighting the closest croc to the canoe but our service will allow them to see risk across the portfolio and use that data to create rule books and play books so that they can service the contract in a more efficient way.
“Search tools can be fantastic and the technology is mind blowing but you’re going to get a lot of unstructured data and we act as interface – we make the information properly useful to the customer by leveraging our deep understanding of legal services and knowledge of how to use data.”