FRESHFIELDS
A
LOT HAS happened in 275 years . From mass industrialisation of the late 1700s to the invention of electricity , modernisation of warfare and the building of the first ever computer , the way in which lives are lived and jobs are worked has transformed .
Global law firm Freshfields has been a first-hand witness to all of this since its founding in 1743 , a claim few businesses still in operation today can make .
Indeed , the company lived through the very creation of the term Luddite – a protest group of textile workers opposed to the introduction of automation and machinery during the Industrial Revolution . The term still carries tremendous relevance , for organisations spanning all industries are continually seeking ways to implement new technologies to optimise their outputs .
CIO Jon Grainger is charged with ensuring that Freshfields leverages maximum benefit from current and future technologies , creating a frictionless end user experience for clients , legal
Video : 275 years of Freshfields history
partners and other employees .
Grainger is a relative newcomer to the industry having joined in February 2017 , and it is the coming together of legal practice and technology that enticed him to Freshfields .
“ This convergence still has a long way to run ,” he says , speaking from the seventh floor of the firm ’ s brand-new offices in Manchester , UK . “ I wouldn ’ t say we ’ re at a ubiquitous state with technology and law , nowhere near it , but certainly the relationship between law and technology has changed quite markedly . That ’ s something that
8 June 2018