Thompson Hine LLP, a recognized leader in innovative solutions, has once again been recognized for innovation by ALM’s Legalweek innovation awards, specifically in the category “Tech-Enabled Transactional Practice of the Year,” where it is shortlisted alongside Kirkland and Orrick. This category acknowledges law firms that have successfully incorporated technology to enhance the deal process, focusing on improving efficiency and outcomes. Winners will be announced at Legalweek’s annual awards dinner on January 29, 2024.
Last year, the firm secured the top honor in the “Tech-Enabled Hybrid Work Environment” category with SmartSTHaff, its proprietary staffing application.
Thompson Hine earned recognition for improving the traditionally tedious and manual components of ESOP transaction work by leveraging Kira and Dealcloser to analyze a company’s existing contractual obligations and digitize the review and signing process and to consolidate the whole process into a single, simple-to-use online platform. That integration reduces by nearly 50% the time necessary to negotiate definitive transaction documents in an ESOP formation transaction and to facilitate the closing.
Thompson Hine had already invested in multiple tools specifically for high-volume, high-complexity transactions, allowing for the quick deployment of resources and technology in response to this newly identified need. The implementation, spanning a few months, required no additional external spending due to the firm’s ongoing commitment to investment in this space. When the need was identified, the firm’s Practice Innovation and Technology teams successfully customized firm resources to improve efficiency and reduce closing times, leading to better outcomes for clients.
The solutions have supercharged the firm’s ESOP practice, reducing transaction closing times. Clients as well as investment bankers and even opposing counsel appreciate that this centralized system eliminates manual coordination and offers real-time visibility, greatly enhancing efficiency and reducing the risk of errors and delays in complex ESOP transactions.
This news follows the recent announcement that Thompson Hine took another major step forward in its use of AI by implementing Kira Smart Summaries, a generative AI capability that uses the firm’s private Microsoft Azure instance of Open AI’s GPT large language models. Thompson Hine is the first firm to go live with this feature, which further streamlines the work of analyzing and summarizing contracts for the ESOP practice and many others.