McGuireWoods ranked among the top 10 firms in the business of law and earned recognition for novel digital and data analytics initiatives in Financial Times’ 2021 North America Innovative Lawyers report. Since 2016, McGuireWoods has consistently placed among the top firms in the prestigious FT report.
FT’s 2021 report highlights firms and in-house teams that “are digitally advanced and using innovative approaches to deliver exceptional value to business and society,” as well as leaders and individuals bringing innovation to the practice of law.
McGuireWoods made FT’s shortlist for Innovation in Digital Legal Practice for designing a one-of-a-kind software platform to automate responses to audit request letters. Partner Stephen Busch and attorney Dennis Sisk led the team that created the platform, which obtains information quickly from attorneys to provide timely, accurate responses to such letters.
The firm also made FT’s shortlist for Innovation in Data Analytics for developing a dashboard to manage large, complex litigation portfolios under fixed-fee arrangements. Led by partners Robert Muckenfuss and John Huske Anderson Jr., the dashboard tracks thousands of cases across all timekeepers — information that can be sorted and filtered to set monthly hour budgets effectively.
Both initiatives were products of effective collaboration between lawyers and the firm’s in-house technology professionals.
The firm also was recognized in the FT report for its custom deal-pricing matrix, which tracks deal points for each transaction completed by McGuireWoods, leading to greater fee predictability for clients and improved staffing efficiency for the firm.
“We recognize the importance of leveraging technology and analytics to solve our clients’ problems, and our success is the result of creative thinking and collaboration by dedicated lawyers and professional staff,” says McGuireWoods chairman Jonathan Harmon. “We are proud of their work and honored that Financial Times once again recognized our commitment to innovation.”
To compile the North America Innovative Lawyers report, FT and research partner RSGi evaluated submissions from law firms, legal services providers and in-house legal teams and conducted hundreds of interviews with clients, lawyers, executives and experts.