Bristol-headquartered national law firm Burges Salmon has boosted the way it uses the latest legal sector technology to improve its service to clients with the appointment of two innovation specialists.
It has also subscribed to two leading document analytic providers – joining an ever-growing number of law firms to harness emerging artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to automate complex and costly processes such as due diligence.
The firm sees the moves as a step-change in its use of technology for competitive advantage at a time when the sector is grappling with issues such as attracting new talent and rising costs.
According to accountants Deloitte some 100,000 legal roles will be automated by 2036.
The two new appointments are Emma Sorrell, pictured right, formerly a senior associate in Burges Salmon’s corporate finance team who becomes a legal innovation specialist, and Ian Huddart, pictured below, who has more than 15 years’ experience developing and delivering technology solutions to clients in several industries and who becomes technology innovation specialist.
In his previous role as integration specialist at Burges Salmon he automated complex legal processes.
Both work in the firm’s growing business solutions team which has over the years designed and successfully implemented innovative technology-based solutions to improve legal service delivery to clients. 
Ian and Emma are developing the use of advanced technology to both improve the way Burges Salmon now delivers legal advice to clients while developing future processes.
The two leading document analytic providers signed up by Burges Salmon are Luminance and eBrevia.
While Luminance will expedite the process of due diligence for lawyers and afford them greater insight and control over their review, eBrevia allows specialist lawyers to imprint their own knowledge into the machine learning platform and extract key information from client documents as a result.
Burges Salmon’s said the combination of these two differing technologies combined with the firm’s deep sector/specialist expertise and legal knowledge would provide key benefits to clients.
The firm’s head of business solutions Rachel Roberts said: “Technology has grabbed a lot of headlines recently. However, we are not simply jumping on the bandwagon. We remain absolutely clear about one thing: providing a service that our clients really value.
“We have been working with analytics providers for a while but have now chosen Luminance and eBrevia as preferred suppliers. We are investing in solutions today to ensure that we are equipped to exceed client expectations now and in the future.”
Burges Salmon has already invested heavily in collaboration technologies such as HighQ, which it said had been widely adopted to provide real value to its clients.
The firm has also recently launched a new advanced technology training course pilot which will be rolled-out out across the firm’s departments.
Partner and chair of the firm’s advanced technology group Richard Read said: “As part of our strategy at Burges Salmon, we have placed advanced technology at the heart of our legal service delivery model.
“The appointments of Emma and Ian, and the implementation of advanced technology solutions to drive legal service delivery, emphasises the importance we place on continuing to evolve and improve our offering to our clients.
“People remain, and always will be, our most important asset, and when that is aligned to the use of new technologies, it’s a persuasive proposition that delivers real value for clients.”
