Gordon Dadds reports strong results and expects Ince growth… Clyde & Co AI solution given increased search capabilities…
In-house legal departments report more demand for their services
A global survey of in-house legal departments shows a rise in demand and a growth in headcount.
The CLOC survey of more than 200 participants across multiple industries in 18 countries reveals that between 2017 and 2018, 50% of respondents said their spend on external law firms decreased or was flat; and the same share said that there was an increase in internal legal spend.
More than 4 in 10 respondents said the balance between internal and external legal services spend was the same as the previous year, 33% said they moved more work in-house compared to 22% who moved more to external counsel and 14% moved more to alternative legal service providers.
Although the survey revealed the average size of in-house teams was 6, insurance companies have an average 24 – and have the largest legal spend.
The report, available at cloc.org, also shows that in-house legal departments are investing heavily in technology, with eBilling, contract management, and eSignature accounting for the top 3 most used. 45% of respondents said their firm is exploring the use of AI.
Gordon Dadds reports strong results and expects Ince growth
The publicly listed Gordon Dadds Group, owner of the UK and China businesses of the former Ince & Co LLP, has reported record results.
The firm’s revenues gained 59% to GBP £51.9 million for the FY ended 31st March 2019, with operating profit up 73% to £15.2m. The current annualised revenues now sit at £100m (up from £70m at year-end); following the successful implementation of Ince & Co.
“We’ve always been a high growth business – having delivered compound annual revenue growth of over 80% for the last five years,” said Gordon Dadds Group CEO Adrian Biles. “Looking forward, we are well-positioned for significant growth as we look to leverage our existing infrastructure through cross-selling, new client wins and further new hires, acquisitions and alliances.”
The firm says that the integration of the acquired businesses and new relationships with Ince’s international offices is on track.
“The integration phase of Ince is now complete and I think it’s noteworthy that we did not suffer any partner or client losses during and since the transaction. The opportunity to cross sell by practice area and by geography provided by Ince is huge and has allowed us to accelerate beyond this level,” added Biles.
Clyde & Co AI solution given increased search capabilities
As law firms continue to push the capabilities of machine learning, Clyde & Co has given its AI-powered efficiencies unit new strength.
The firm’s Data Lab has partnered with AI firm Neural Vision Technologies (NVT) and will use its NVT VISTA visual search engine to accelerate the search and retrieval of records and documents. The tool will enable the Data Lab to automate critical record retrieval and perform a "bottoms up" analysis of large document collections.
"The role of the Data Lab is to use AI to explore workflow efficiencies and to unlock insight and value from our data. This product will help us in our machine learning projects by enabling us to identify our data more efficiently and use it to deliver new insights and more value to our clients," said Nadine Bairle, Global Head of Legal Technology at Clyde & Co.
