This news follows the promotion of four within the ALT leadership team in January, after HSF said the ALT practice had seen a “significant increase” in clientele late last year.

The new practice will be led by managing partner Libby Jackson MBE, working with the firm’s new chief technology officer, David Turner.

“The new practice will enable us to rethink how we deliver all our core services to clients. We were an early adopter of traditional AI in law, often partnering with legal tech start-ups to transform how we managed and automated matters for clients,” Jackson said.

“The new practice will enable us to scale up faster, redesign our technology stack and make the most of new research and tools as they emerge. We believe all HSF’s leading practices will be hugely enhanced by harnessing technology in this way.”

Effective today (Wednesday, 1 May), former ALT director Emily Coghlan (pictured) will step into the role of director of legal and legal technology (Australia) – and speaking to Lawyers Weekly, she said the new practice will build on the firm’s “record of staying ahead of the emerging technologies curve”.

“The new practice group’s tagline is ‘Next Gen New Law’. We see this as an evolution of the alternative legal services provider (ALSP) space and the next generation of ‘NewLaw’ – as BigLaw makes the required investment to keep pace with digital change – with Herbert Smith Freehills paving the way forward,” she said.

“It brings together the experience and expertise which currently exists across the firm’s legacy ALT, legal operations and transformation and emerging technology teams. It will enable each of those teams to work much more closely together – guided by a common purpose and shared strategic objectives – and to supercharge what we are already delivering for clients.”

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The practice will service clients across various sectors, including banking, consumer, private capital, energy, mining, and technology, media and telecommunications, as well as in-house legal teams.

“By fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration, empowering lawyers, and professionals to embrace new ways of working and delivering legal services, we can provide a seamless and integrated client experience across all legal disciplines, by leveraging digital tools to deliver legal services,” Coghlan added.

“Our team will continue to work directly with clients, as well as with our colleagues in other practice groups on some of the firm’s biggest mandates, ensuring they are harnessing technology as they deliver legal services. Colleagues from across the wider firm will also be closely involved in the design, testing and rollout of technology tools – including IT. The Digital Legal Delivery team will act as an enabler for the firm as a whole from this perspective.”

Moving forward, Coghlan said she expects the practice to continue to grow – and that the benefit of having a multidisciplinary practice group is that HSF team members will be able to “broaden their skill sets and pivot their careers towards new disciplines of interest”.

“It will also attract and retain talent by offering diverse and rewarding career opportunities within the Digital Legal Delivery group and providing ongoing training and development to equip our people with the skills and knowledge required for the digital age. We currently have multiple secondees from within Herbert Smith Freehills working within the digital practice and several open roles which we are currently recruiting for across the practice,” she added.

“The only thing we can say with certainty is that the business environment will not stay the same, and today’s launch positions Herbert Smith Freehills to respond. Digital change is running in parallel with the largest drivers of business change, including the energy transition, the prominence of private capital, cyber risk and ESG, so by ensuring we can use, develop, and respond to emerging technology, we can support clients across all these changing landscapes.”