DLA Piper wins Strategic Direction honor at Financial Times Innovative Lawyers awards

DLA Piper received the Innovation in Strategic Direction award, in addition to being shortlisted in three additional categories: Innovation in New Legal Products, Innovation in People Strategy, and Innovation in AI Strategy. The combined rankings led to DLA Piper once again being recognized as a top innovative law firm at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards North America.

The Innovation in Strategic Direction award was presented to Robyn Spanier, the firm’s Executive Director of New Business Intake and Procurement, for her role in revolutionizing the firm’s new business intake process, leading to market-leading turnaround times for running conflict checks and processing new matters.

“We are proud to receive this recognition, particularly with respect to an innovation that has allowed us to streamline the engagement process for our clients,” said Frank Ryan, DLA Piper’s Global Co-Chair.

DLA Piper was also named a finalist in three categories:

• Innovation in AI Strategy for its transformative use of Microsoft Copilot 365 to redesign workflows, automate routine tasks, and support the delivery of client services with unprecedented speed, security, and precision.
• Innovation in New Legal Products in recognition of the firm’s development of a unique framework for AI governance that uses both generative AI and human legal analysis to address the lack of consistent legal standards for AI.
• Innovation in People Strategy for the creation of groundbreaking programs – the Legal Elite Athlete Pipeline (LEAP) and Building Relationships to Advance Veterans’ Opportunities (BRAVO) – that offer financial assistance and mentoring to college athletes and military veterans considering a career in law.

This year marks the ninth consecutive year DLA Piper has been lauded by the Financial Times as one of the top legal innovators in North America.