Page 181 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (k)
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Hogan Lovells Partners with Elevate to Create New ‘Flexible Lawyering’ Programme, HOGAN
LOVELLS (Feb. 15, 2018), https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/news/hogan-lovells-partners-with-
elevate-to-create-new-flexible-lawyering-programme.
Elevate and New Law Firm ElevateNext Collaborate with Univar to Reduce Law Department
Spend By 50 Percent, CISION PR NEWSWIRE (April 23, 2018),
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elevate-and-new-law-firm-elevatenext-collaborate-
with-univar-to-reduce-law-department-spend-by-50-percent-300634526.html.
Thames Water Appoints New Managed Legal Services Provider, THAMES WATER (Dec. 20,
2017), https://corporate.thameswater.co.uk/Media/News-releases/Thames-Water-appoints-new-
Managed-Legal-Services-provider.
The Big Four Are Not a Threat. Lucy Endel Bassli1
They Are a Reality.
Founder and Principal, InnoLegal
Services, PLLC
There has been a significant amount of well thought out articles in the legal press on the
topic of the entry of “Big 4” accounting firms into legal services. Most recently, the announcement
of EY’s acquisition of UK legal service firm Riverview. It is almost impossible to keep up with
this whirlwind of change.
Clearly, the Big 4 are entering the legal space in the US as well as globally; and there
are many reasons for this, all of which have been explored thoroughly.
1 Lucy Endel Bassli is a legal industry expert, engaging in thought-leadership projects to drive change and evolution in the delivery of legal
services. She is the founder of InnoLegal Services PLLC, a modern solution provider that offers legal advice and consults on operationalizing the
practice of law. She works with law departments and law firms on innovating their legal service delivery and consumption models, and trains
lawyers in innovative practices. She also serves as deputy general counsel of legal operations, contracting, and corporate G&A for Snowflake
Computing. Lucy specializes in all things contracting: resource allocation, automation, process optimization and smart risk-taking. Lucy also is the
Chief Legal Strategist for LawGeex, a cutting-edge AI legal tech start-up automating contract review services.
In her 13 years at Microsoft, where she ran an enterprise contracting solution, Lucy focused on complex and global outsourcing contracts and
gained firsthand experience in legal outsourcing to assist her with high-volume contract transactions. She launched an innovative “managed
services” engagement with law firms and actively worked on continuously improving the value received.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Lucy practiced law at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP in Seattle, WA, focusing on commercial transactions and
commercial bankruptcy. Lucy received her J.D and BA from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas, where she grew up, but has been living
in the Seattle area since completing law school.
Lucy is a licensed member of the Washington and Texas state bar associations, and was named to the National Law Journal list of Outstanding
Women Lawyers, 2015. She is a frequent speaker on topics of legal services innovation, legal technology, and legal process outsourcing.
This article was originally published by the Legal Executive Institute on September 10, 2018 and is reproduced here in its entirety.
166
LOVELLS (Feb. 15, 2018), https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/news/hogan-lovells-partners-with-
elevate-to-create-new-flexible-lawyering-programme.
Elevate and New Law Firm ElevateNext Collaborate with Univar to Reduce Law Department
Spend By 50 Percent, CISION PR NEWSWIRE (April 23, 2018),
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elevate-and-new-law-firm-elevatenext-collaborate-
with-univar-to-reduce-law-department-spend-by-50-percent-300634526.html.
Thames Water Appoints New Managed Legal Services Provider, THAMES WATER (Dec. 20,
2017), https://corporate.thameswater.co.uk/Media/News-releases/Thames-Water-appoints-new-
Managed-Legal-Services-provider.
The Big Four Are Not a Threat. Lucy Endel Bassli1
They Are a Reality.
Founder and Principal, InnoLegal
Services, PLLC
There has been a significant amount of well thought out articles in the legal press on the
topic of the entry of “Big 4” accounting firms into legal services. Most recently, the announcement
of EY’s acquisition of UK legal service firm Riverview. It is almost impossible to keep up with
this whirlwind of change.
Clearly, the Big 4 are entering the legal space in the US as well as globally; and there
are many reasons for this, all of which have been explored thoroughly.
1 Lucy Endel Bassli is a legal industry expert, engaging in thought-leadership projects to drive change and evolution in the delivery of legal
services. She is the founder of InnoLegal Services PLLC, a modern solution provider that offers legal advice and consults on operationalizing the
practice of law. She works with law departments and law firms on innovating their legal service delivery and consumption models, and trains
lawyers in innovative practices. She also serves as deputy general counsel of legal operations, contracting, and corporate G&A for Snowflake
Computing. Lucy specializes in all things contracting: resource allocation, automation, process optimization and smart risk-taking. Lucy also is the
Chief Legal Strategist for LawGeex, a cutting-edge AI legal tech start-up automating contract review services.
In her 13 years at Microsoft, where she ran an enterprise contracting solution, Lucy focused on complex and global outsourcing contracts and
gained firsthand experience in legal outsourcing to assist her with high-volume contract transactions. She launched an innovative “managed
services” engagement with law firms and actively worked on continuously improving the value received.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Lucy practiced law at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP in Seattle, WA, focusing on commercial transactions and
commercial bankruptcy. Lucy received her J.D and BA from the University of Houston in Houston, Texas, where she grew up, but has been living
in the Seattle area since completing law school.
Lucy is a licensed member of the Washington and Texas state bar associations, and was named to the National Law Journal list of Outstanding
Women Lawyers, 2015. She is a frequent speaker on topics of legal services innovation, legal technology, and legal process outsourcing.
This article was originally published by the Legal Executive Institute on September 10, 2018 and is reproduced here in its entirety.
166
