Innovation Counsel

CMS UK; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive basic salary

Flexible, hybrid working policy

Generous bonus scheme

Up to 25 days holiday

Holiday exchange scheme

Private medical insurance

Enhanced parental leave

Reasonable adjustments and accomod at?

Job summary

CMS UK is seeking a Disputes Practice Innovation Leader to champion the adoption of AI tools and data-driven solutions across disputes workflows, supporting knowledge management and client-facing initiatives.

You will collaborate with the Disputes leadership, Knowledge Counsel, and central Innovation teams to design and implement strategic innovations, templates, and playbooks that enhance efficiency and service delivery.

Responsibilities

• Innovation and Technology: Evaluate and shape AI tool usage to Disputes workflows; design innovation solutions; stay updated on legal tech; support data-driven insights including Power BI dashboards.

Job description

• Disputes Practice Leader / Innovation Partner Champions across Disputes
• Knowledge Counsel
• Practice Group Head of Strategy & Operations and wider Disputes Operations Team including LOPM and BD leads
• Practice Group-aligned Legal Tech / Product Manager (and automation / data specialists as needed)
• Central Innovation and Knowledge teams (firmwide)
• Disputes leadership, lawyers, and client teams

Key Relationships

• Disputes Practice Leader / Innovation Partner Champions across Disputes
• Knowledge Counsel
• Practice Group Head of Strategy & Operations and wider Disputes Operations Team including LOPM and BD leads
• Practice Group-aligned Legal Tech / Product Manager (and automation / data specialists as needed)
• Central Innovation and Knowledge teams (firmwide)
• Disputes leadership, lawyers, and client teams

Core Responsibilities

Innovation and Technology

Evaluate and shape the application of AI tools (such as Copilot and Harvey) to Disputes workflows, including document analysis, drafting, and workflow automation, in line with practice group and firmwide strategic priorities. Design strategically aligned innovation and process solutions for the Disputes teams and, where appropriate, for Disputes clients. Identify areas for improvement and provide legal input into new innovation ideas (i.e. new products and services). Serve as the \"subject matter expert bridge\" between fee-earning teams and central innovation and operations functions. Stay abreast of the latest advancements in legal technology, disputes practice, and knowledge management to identify opportunities and drive collaboration. Support data capture and the development of data-driven insights, including Power BI dashboards for financial, operational and client-facing metrics.

Service Delivery

In collaboration with the Legal Operations and Project Management (LOPM) Business Partner, act as the key legal subject matter expert to design and document Practice Group-specific “ways of working” for priority worktypes - covering the end-to-end process, templates, knowledge assets, tools, resources and supporting guidance. Expand process automation across Disputes workflows, templates and client workstreams. Work closely with PG Head of Strategy & Operations, LOPM Business Partner and PG-aligned Legal Tech resources, to ensure alignment with firmwide strategy and drive implementation of PG strategy and business plans. Work closely with the LOPM Business Partner and Legal Tech team to embed the right tools into standardised ways of working. Continuously improve these as each Practice Group’s model evolves and maintain the uniquely CMS approach to those. Work with Knowledge Counsel, develop and maintain new knowledge assets such as use cases, case studies, prompts, playbooks to support these ways of working, as well as any PG-specific AI related knowledge content. Share lessons learned and successes, and spot opportunities to support further developments across the practice.

Knowledge, Training and Clients

Train, upskill and support lawyers and teams to adopt new ways of working and legal technology consistently. Be an active member of the Innovation Pillar of the Disputes Strategy, acting as an Innovation Rep and working to foster a culture of continuous innovation. Collaborate with key internal relationships (above) to design and deliver strategically aligned, creative and innovative solutions internally for the Disputes team and externally for Disputes clients. Support client-facing activity: contribute to pitches, co-design client solutions, and identify opportunities to deliver tech-enabled support to clients that strengthens our relationships.

What’s in it for you?

Benefits

We want to reward you today and help you plan for tomorrow. We appreciate that everyone is different, therefore we have designed a benefits system that offers choice and flexibility based on individual needs and lifestyles. To name a few, these include:

• Competitive basic salary (reviewed annually)
• Flexible, hybrid working policy
• Generous bonus scheme
• Up to 25 days holiday (rising to 28 days with service)
• Holiday exchange scheme
• Private medical insurance
• Enhanced parental leave
• Reasonable adjustments and accommodation for disabled talent in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.