Innovation Czar David Cunningham joins Reed Smith as Chief Innovation Officer

Innovation Czar David Cunningham joins Reed Smith as Chief Innovation Officer

Cunningham is considered among the principal innovators and disruptors in the legal industry

The US-based global law firm Reed Smith has announced the appointment of David Cunningham, one of the leading minds in legal services strategy and innovation over the past 30 years for a key role in the organisation.

Cunningham has joined the firm as its Chief Innovation Officer, a newly created leadership role. He started his new innings with Reed Smith on 1 July at the firm's Houston office.

According to Reed Smith, Cunningham's arrival comes at a significant time when the firm is seeking to transform its operations to accelerate the delivery and performance of legal services for clients and unlock new levels of client value.

Cunningham is considered among the principal innovators and disruptors in the legal industry. Previously a longtime consultant advising on some of the largest law firm integrations in history, he has recently served as the Chief Information Officer at Winston & Strawn. He is also CEO of Legal Metrics, a tech-driven consortium automating next-gen performance and diversity analytics between law firms and legal departments, which he will continue to lead. He played an early role in growing the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium, or CLOC.

Reed Smith is a renowned brand for driving client-facing knowledge and innovation in the legal industry, launching Gravity Stack, Reed Smith's data-driven legal technology and solutions subsidiary, and Reed Smith Global Solutions, the firm's shared-services provider that today comprises more than 450 lawyers, analysts and business services staff.

The famous broadsheet business daily Financial Times had recently recognized Reed Smith as among the top five "most digital" law firms in its North America Innovative Lawyer Awards and Report in 2020. In May, the firm announced a partnership with BRYTER, the leading no-code service automation platform that enhances the existing capabilities of the firm's in-house Practice Innovation team to deliver digital solutions to its clients.

According to Reed Smith, chief among Cunningham's responsibilities will be building on these and other far-reaching innovation offerings and incorporating them into an umbrella of technology solutions and shared services that rival the firm's best-in-class legal services.

Cunningham is expected to help bring new-innovation products and services to market; guide the firm's enterprise data and analytics strategy, and identify efficiency and process improvement initiatives to enhance client service. He will also provide input on the strategic direction of Gravity Stack.

"We must continue to create new service offerings and products that deliver more agile and customized client support – all with the purpose of helping our clients drive their businesses forward," said Sandy Thomas, Reed Smith's Global Managing Partner. "David brings the ultimate entrepreneurial approach to the delivery of legal services. He is a champion of innovation, and we are thrilled to have him lead us into the next iteration of Reed Smith's commitment to innovation and client value."

According to Nick Bagiatis, Reed Smith's Chief Operating Officer, Cunningham along with other senior leadership will bring the breadth of the firm's current innovation activities and direct the future focus of the firm's innovation strategy to advance the firm's RS 2024 business strategy.

"Integrating our technology-related offerings will help the firm better serve clients and establish the firm's innovation vision for the future. We want to ensure the firm's brand is synonymous with innovation," Nick Bagiatis said.

For the past nine years as Winston & Strawn's CIO, Cunningham 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.

Cunningham 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 Cunningham was one of the key executives for four years before executing a management buyout spinning off HBR Consulting as a standalone firm. In 2012, he joined Winston & Strawn with the mandate to drive technology, processes and innovation throughout the firm.

"Technology, efficiency, data analytics, AI, and metrics are key aspects of the equation that drives client value. When you combine them with exceptional lawyering, you create the ultimate value for clients," Cunningham said. "Reed Smith is known as a progressive innovative leader, embracing technology and other tools to provide the best client service opportunity possible. I'm excited to be joining a team that is ready to move to the next level in leading that effort."