She led the legal innovation and transformation initiatives at Cleary Gottlieb
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer has named former Mastercard senior counsel Ilona Logvinova as its first global chief AI officer.
Logvinova joins the firm on 5 November with her team. She makes the move from Cleary Gottlieb, where she headed up its legal innovation and transformation initiatives.
At Mastercard, she concentrated on technology builds and tech transactions. She was McKinsey Legal’s global innovation head and McKinsey Digital’s managing counsel.
“Ilona will drive the firm’s global strategy to further leverage the potential of AI and legal technology in the service of our clients”, HSF Kramer global CEO Justin D’Agostino said.
Fifteen years previously, HSF Kramer had launched its alternative legal services hub – becoming, it said, the first global law firm to pioneer legaltech use.
“And now with GenAI, the pace of change has never been faster. Technology is fundamentally reshaping how legal work is done, and our clients' needs are evolving just as quickly. The question is no longer whether AI will disrupt the legal sector, but how fast and how well we can harness it to deliver value. This means having the best people using the best technology underpinned by robust oversight”, D’Agostino said. “Ilona is already known for her expertise, and her extensive experience in digital transformation and innovation makes her an exceptional fit for this newly-created role”.
Logvinova added that it was a “critical time for embedding leading-edge AI into legal services”.
“Having sophisticated emerging technologies, and the best trained lawyers to use them, will identify and differentiate the world's leading global law firms”, she said. “HSF Kramer believes, as I do, that legal innovation isn’t about asking ‘what can tech do?’ but rather, ‘what do our clients and people need today and tomorrow?'. Innovation succeeds when it's tied directly to client outcomes”.
Logvinova and her team will collaborate with HSF Kramer practice groups worldwide. She operates from New York.
