Ed Barnett
Managing partner,
Latham & Watkins
Latham & Watkins
Q&A:
Interview with Ed Barnett: "We are restlessly ambitious but disciplined about growth"
Mining for wisdom
magazines|September 2026INSIDE THE ISSUE
Wisdom decoded
Knowledge and data leaders share how they are transforming banks of knowledge and data into insight that powers key decisions and fosters AI-readiness
Intelligence by design
TLT’s head of FutureLaw James Touzel and lead legal technologist Thomas Stone outline the journey to creating AI solution TLT Intelligence
Stop losing arguments you're right about
Stephen Allen, director of strategy and AI technology at
Clyde & Co, shares a checklist for curating useful data
WHO'S WHO THIS MONTH
ISSUE IN BRIEF
Welcome to Briefing September!
‘Rubbish in, rubbish out’ is hardly a new concept to law firm leaders. Long before genAI took the legal sector by storm, technology professionals warned that even the most sophisticated systems can yield valuable results only if they’re fed good data and knowledge. Now, with many firms investing in genAI and agentic tools, and prioritising data-driven decision-making to grow sustainably and avoid costly errors, solid data and knowledge strategies have become imperative. However, information alone holds little value. Competitive advantage lies in leaders’ ability to organise and interrogate it, and extract the insights that drive critical legal and business decisions
This issue’s cover story explores how data and knowledge leaders from top UK law firms are tackling this complex challenge, outlining their key strategies to turn data and knowledge into the wisdom needed to power their firms.
- Read Briefing September 2026 via our app on Android
- Read Briefing September 2026 via our app on iOS
- Read Briefing September 2026 on your web browser
Make sure you register/login with your work email to read any Briefing content, and to access premium content if you’re on a group subscription. Subscribers enjoy access to premium Briefing content.
What’s inside Briefing september?
UPFRONT
- Ed Barnett, managing partner of Latham & Watkins’ London office, explains the rationale behind the firm’s recent relocation to One Leadenhall, outlining how the new space reflects its long-term goals and its connected, team-first approach.
- Latest analysis of Briefing Frontiers data shines a spotlight on whether firms have got their data strategy figured out yet — and where progress is still lacking.
OPINION
- Millie Hawes, head of Just Purpose at Fieldfisher, weighs in on the legal sector’s potential to drive meaningful social change.
- Roger Bull, managing partner at Burges Salmon, explores how law firms can scale without becoming corporate giants.
- Tara Waters, legal innovation partner at Harvey, explores how AI is rewiring knowledge.
FEATURES
- Senior knowledge and data leaders tell assistant editor Celeste Rivas how they are turning vast amounts of knowledge and data into insight that powers key legal and business decisions — and helping to build AI readiness to future-proof their firms.
- TLT’s head of FutureLaw James Touzel and lead legal technologist Thomas Stone explain to Briefing editor Andreea Dulgheru how the firm is moving beyond traditional service delivery and helping clients tackle more complex work, transform legal delivery and create wider business value through its TLT Intelligence proposition.
- Stephen Allen, director of strategy and AI technology at Clyde & Co, outlines the five practical habits for making data useful, credible and persuasive.
BRAIN TRAINING
- As M&A activity in the legal sector intensifies, Jonathan Grant, head of corporate at DMH Stallard, examines the regulatory, operational and client-related requirements that can make or break a law firm merger or acquisition.
- Jana Blount, director of client solutions and digital strategy at Norton Rose Fulbright, highlights how genAI is exposing long-standing flaws in legal training, and explores whether the rise of prompting skills can lead to more empathetic, detailed and thoughtful training for humans.
INDUSTRY VIEWS
- Ward Hadaway director of IT and facilities Jonathan Smith explains how a 20-year partnership with Aderant is helping the firm improve time capture, accelerate and centralise billing, and prepare for its next major leap into the cloud.
- Chambers CEO Tim Noble and chief product and innovation officer Lisa Hart Shepherd speak to Briefing editor Andreea Dulgheru about why law firms must connect internal knowledge and data with trusted external intelligence to make smarter investment decisions, spot growth opportunities and stay ahead of the competition.
- Rhian Roberts, senior legal operational support manager at RPC, explains how the firm scaled a team-wide trial of Bundledocs into a global implementation — and why the solution proved to be a powerful efficiency aid.
- Daniel Hoadley, senior director of product management at Clio, explores how AI agents are changing legal work and how firms can put decades of institutional knowledge to good use.
- The AI efficiency promise is strong, but without clear objectives, the right tools and a codified ‘company brain’, the ends results delivered will likely be underwhelming, writes Paul Foster, head of product at sa.global.
- CJ Anderson, director at Iron Carrot, explores how a firm’s lack of confidence in its own data can undermine its decision-making abilities, and why focusing on governance is critical to moving forward.
- Guy Long, senior principal transformation adviser at DXC, says firms must turn agentic and generative AI into trusted outcomes, or risk irrelevance.
LAST WORD
- Senior leaders weigh in on how the EU AI Act’s transparency requirements will impact law firms — and whether proactive AI transparency could serve as a competitive advantage.
WISDOM DECODED
Law firms sit on decades worth of expertise, client information and operational data. But its value and potential to shape a firm’s future depends entirely on leaders’ ability to curate, compile and mine data and knowledge for insight that powers critical legal and business decisions.
This is by no means a new challenge, but one that AI has made increasingly complex and pressing. Senior knowledge and data leaders tell assistant editor Celeste Rivas how they are turning vast amounts of knowledge and data into insight that powers key legal and business decisions — and helping to build AI readiness to future-proof their firms.
INTELLIGENCE BY DESIGN
TLT’s head of FutureLaw James Touzel and lead legal technologist Thomas Stone explain to Briefing editor Andreea Dulgheru how the firm is moving beyond traditional service delivery and helping clients tackle more complex work, transform legal delivery and create wider business value through its TLT Intelligence proposition.
STOP LOSING ARGUMENTS YOU’RE RIGHT ABOUT
“Too often, data is collected so a report or dashboard can exist. We go through the motions so the data is there, preferably in a respectable-looking chart, rather than because it helps us make better decisions. That is the habit we need to break,” says Stephen Allen, director of strategy and AI technology at Clyde & Co as he outlines strategies for making data useful, credible and persuasive.
