Artificial Lawyer: Wilson Sonsini – 1st Ever Law Firm in Fast Company’s ‘Most Innovative’ List

Wilson Sonsini, which has rolled out multiple legal tech and innovation projects in recent years, has become the first ever law firm to make Fast Company’s ‘The World’s Most Innovative Companies’ list, in what is an indicative moment for the profession.

Fast Company is a technology news site that started back in 1995, just as the internet boom was starting to take shape. They’ve become well-respected analysts of the broader tech landscape, and so, understandably, Wilson Sonsini is rather proud of its inclusion in the list.

But, perhaps of more importance than this win for the firm, is the fact that law firms are actually seen as businesses that should be included in such a grouping.

It’s fair to say that until quite recently the editors of Fast Company would likely have been a bit sceptical about putting lawyers into such a ranking.

Fast Company said that Wilson Sonsini was included ‘for rendering legal services into 1s and 0s’ and that: ‘[the firm] has been actively embracing the digital transformation espoused by the 3,000 clients currently in its Emerging Companies Practice.

‘Last June, Wilson Sonsini launched Neuron, a software platform that aggregates all of a startup’s legal needs, from incorporation to IPO, into one place, automating routine practices while still giving clients access to legal advice.’

David Wang, Wilson Sonsini’s chief innovation officer, commented: ‘By developing real and practical technology solutions, we’re reinventing how we serve start-ups – most of whom are driven by pure innovation and leverage technology to enable their growth and success – by delivering accessibility to legal expertise like never before.’

Raj Judge, corporate partner and co-chair of Wilson Sonsini’s emerging companies practice, concluded: ‘Having advised hundreds of thousands of start-ups over the past six decades, our emerging companies practice team knows what entrepreneurs need to succeed.

‘Instead of getting bogged down in paperwork, start-ups and founders can focus on activities that help their businesses grow, while Neuron takes care of labour-intensive legal processes.’

Congrats to them, and as mentioned, although this is great for Wilson Sonsini, the larger story here is that a generalist tech site has looked to the legal world and has seen that there is plenty happening that their wider audience may want to know about. It’s another sign of how things are changing with legal innovation.

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