Am Law Top 50 law firm Reed Smith has hired its first director of applied artificial intelligence (AI), Richard Robbins, who was previously managing director of applied AI at Epiq. Robbins is based in Chicago.
Immediately before Epiq, Robbins was a senior consultant at Fireman & Co and before that, director of knowledge management at white shoe New York firm Sidley Austin. His other significant roles include a decade long stint as general counsel and corporate secretary of Morningstar.
In this new role, Robbins will lead the design and development of generative AI, predictive AI, data science and other disciplines for the delivery of Reed Smith’s legal and business services. We’re told that he will lead a team of AI engineers and data scientists and work closely with the firm’s existing design and tech transformation resources within its Innovation Lab, strategic client intelligence and financial intelligence teams, and Gravity Stack subsidiary.
With director of AI roles on the increase and people wondering how they will fit into firms’ existing tech and innovation matrix, it’s interesting to note that at Reed Smith, Robbins will be part of the team assembled by chief innovation officer David Cunningham, who created and leads the firm’s global innovation program.
“Rich and his team are a cornerstone element of our client-centered design flow,” said Cunningham. “Our Innovation Lab crafts new legal service playbooks while our strategic intelligence and applied AI teams consider how data insights and AI can enhance these services, and Gravity Stack assists our clients in adopting these solutions alongside Reed Smith lawyers. Applying these combined skills, for example, to create predictive risk radars for our clients and help deepen integration with in-house legal teams will become our norm.”
Other firms to appoint a director of AI include Latham & Watkins, where in April, John Scrudato joined as director of AI and innovation from Gunderson Dettmer.
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Latham appoints John Scrudato as director of AI and innovation