Seyfarth Earns Strong Acclaim from Financial Times in 2024 North America Innovative Lawyers Report

Seyfarth, adding to its longstanding reputation as a leader in law firm innovation, was once again highly recognized by the Financial Times in its annual Innovative Lawyers Awards for 2024. Seyfarth was ranked overall as one of the top 10 innovative firms and shortlisted as a finalist in more categories (6) than any other law firm, including Innovative Law Firm of the Year and:

Digital Legal Products – Seyfarth’s proprietary Trademark Clearance tool was ranked as a “Standout.” The FT noted that “the firm and its tech subsidiary (Seyfarth Labs) developed a questionnaire-based management system for staff at brand owner clients who are on trademarks but have little formal legal expertise. Users enter information to generate a report on the trademark clearance process across different jurisdictions, and the software flags issues that need deeper analysis by the in-house legal team and the law firm.”

AI Strategy – Seyfarth’s AI Portal was “highly commended” by the FT, which was impressed by the way in which it “provides staff with access to various tools for tasks such as document analysis, an internal chatbot, and training in the technology.” Beyond the stand-alone tech solution—its uniqueness stems from its multifaceted organizational transformation, with people and process pillars acting as technology force multiplier, speeding adoption and utilization. Since its launch in March, the AI Portal has averaged approximately 1,100 visits per month. One of its tools, a chatbot for querying documents, has handled 5,000 interactions since its introduction.

New Services to Manage Risk – Seyfarth’s Cultural flashpoints task force was “highly commended” for its mission “to intervene in workplace conflicts, help clients provide practical solutions to disputes, and reduce litigation and reputational risk.” Seyfarth’s Cultural Flashpoints Task Force consists of a team of highly trained labor and employment lawyers, policy experts, and former government insiders that was formed in response to societal polarization and political/cultural conflicts that spill over in the workplace. Seyfarth is the only firm to bring together such a team of leading specialists in this way to offer employers a holistic approach to manage these sensitive issues and competing legal risks.

Seyfarth was also “commended” for the Affirmative Action Plan BOT it developed “to automate part of the process for clients creating employee affirmative action plans, which promote equal opportunities for under-represented groups.” Integrating Lean Six Sigma into the AAP workflow and developing a bot system to significantly improve efficiency and speed for processing thousands of plans that are often 200 pages apiece, Seyfarth sharply decreased the time taken to prepare and complete the AAPs to an average of eight weeks from 21 in 2021, a great measure of its impact.

Legal Intrapreneur – Byong Kim, Seyfarth’s Senior director, technology innovations was singled out for his strong leadership of law firm innovation. The FT highlighted his achievements including the completion earlier this year of "a 10-year project to consolidate the systems that clients use to access information about their matters into one cloud-based platform, Seyfarth Link,” launching “the firm’s own AI portal, to aid contract analysis and eDiscovery and provide technology training and education resources via a single source.”

The FT Innovative Lawyers Report, a partnership between the Financial Times and RSG Consulting, showcases the innovations of law firms and in-house legal teams across 17 categories. The core of the report highlights innovative law firms that excel at working out legal answers to complex business challenges.