As the firm’s first Chief Innovation Officer, David is creating and leading the firm’s global innovation program, working with the SMT, Innovation and Strategy Committee, Industry and Practice Group Leadership, Chief Officers and partners.
Chief among David’s responsibilities is building on Reed Smith’s existing, data-driven legal technology and other far-reaching innovation offerings and incorporating them into an umbrella of technology solutions and shared services that rivals the firm’s best-in-class legal services. In addition, David brings new innovation products and services to market; guides the firm’s enterprise data and analytics strategy; and identifies efficiency and process improvement initiatives to enhance client service. He also provides input on the strategic direction of Gravity Stack.
David is considered among the foremost innovators and disruptors in the legal industry today, with 30 years in strategy, consulting, and technology roles. He is also well known within the legal operations space. Prior to joining the firm, David spent nine years as the CIO at another global law firm, where he was responsible for all innovation initiatives at the firm, including Information Technology, Risk Management, Data Analytics, Knowledge Services, Practice and Client Services, Project Management, Tech Learning and Change Management, and eDiscovery. While in this role, David also served as CEO of Legal Metrics, a tech-driven consortium building next-gen performance and diversity analytics between law firms and legal departments.
David started his career as an analyst for the National Science Foundation before joining Baker Robbins & Company (later Hildebrandt Baker Robbins and now HBR Consulting), where for over 20 years he helped grow the business from 12 people to more than 120 consultants with multiple offices globally. In that capacity, he advised senior management at more than 200 law firms around the world across strategy, M&A, IT, process improvement and risk management. He led full law firm merger integrations, including a two-year integration of the world’s third largest firm. Thomson Reuters acquired Baker Robbins & Company in 2007, where David was one of the key executives for four years before executing a management buyout spinning off HBR Consulting as a standalone firm. He was a key part of founding and growing the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, or CLOC, which today has grown to 3,000 members.
