A&O Shearman wins the award for the ‘Most innovative law firm in Europe’ at the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards (Europe), among other accolades

The firm was ranked at the top of the FT Law Firm Index, with its combined score surpassing those of all other law firms when its marks for innovation, digital, people and social responsibility were aggregated. The FT noted that A&O Shearman’s ranking was ‘largely down to its forward-looking approach to generative AI and the products and services it has developed that use the technology’.

In December 2022, the firm became the first in the world to rollout generative AI at enterprise level via Harvey, the large language model (LLM) that has been fine-tuned for law. It undertook a rigorous and extensive program to deploy generative AI responsibly across its multinational business. The firm was recognized by the FT as ‘Standout’ in ‘Innovation in generative AI strategy’ for its deployment of Harvey. Harvey is now used by 4000 members of its staff across 43 jurisdictions.

A&O Shearman also won the FT award for ‘Innovation in generative AI tools’ for developing ContractMatrix, its AI-powered contract drafting and negotiation tool, which it launched in collaboration with Microsoft and Harvey in December 2023, making it the first law firm globally to partner with Microsoft to develop an AI tool. ContractMatrix is now used by 2000 of its staff and is also being licensed to clients on a Software as a Service (SaaS) basis. Current clients include global life sciences companies, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, manufacturers and technology companies. 

Additionally, the firm was recognized by the FT as 'Standout' in the 'Law firm strategy' category. This was due to its innovative and impactful AI working group, which was formed last year, and is currently made up of 80+ clients, who receive advice on a syndicated basis on issues relating to responsible AI development and deployment. The firm’s legal advice regarding AI is unique in that it is grounded in firsthand experience of building and deploying AI systems. It is therefore informed by deep technical expertise and an understanding of what works in practice.

Turning to transactional work, A&O Shearman lawyers were ‘Highly commended’ by the FT for advising Société Générale on the launch of its joint venture with AllianceBernstein for equities research and execution. This deal was led by individuals based in A&O Shearman’s Paris, London and New York offices. It was executed by a combination of both Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling pre-merger, as well as through the combined firm post-merger. This was one of the most significant and complex financial services M&A transactions in recent years.

Additionally, David Wakeling, Head of the firm’s Markets Innovation Group (MIG) and AI Advisory Practice, was shortlisted for the ‘Intrapreneur’ category, and was subsequently profiled by the FT. ASML and Philips were also named as ‘Standout’ in ‘Using generative AI’ for their use of ContractMatrix to negotiate the ‘world’s first 100% AI-generated contract’.

On the same night that the ceremony for the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards (Europe) took place in London, A&O Shearman picked up the ‘Legal Innovation Award’ for ContractMatrix at the prestigious Gouden Zandlopers Awards in the Netherlands.