Thompson Hine, a national law firm and recognized leader in innovative solutions, has once again been recognized for innovation by The American Lawyer’s Industry Awards, in the “Best Use of Technology” category—where it is shortlisted alongside BakerHostetler, Dechert, Kirkland & Ellis, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, and Paul Weiss. This annual award “takes stock of the industry’s most impactful, innovative, and otherwise excellent work.” This year’s winners will be announced at The American Lawyer’s annual gala on November 13 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.
Thompson Hine was recognized for its game-changing approach to employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs), an increasingly popular approach to corporate ownership.
Realizing that the volume, complexity, and multiple-party nature of ESOPs make them a prime candidate for technology enablement, Thompson Hine sought to improve the traditionally tedious and manual components of ESOP transaction work by leveraging technology to analyze a company’s existing contractual obligations and digitize the review and signing process.
With its prior investment in multiple tools for high-volume, high-complexity transactions, including several that leverage recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), the firm was well-prepared to swiftly deploy resources and technology to address this newly identified need.
This strategy resulted in a decrease of almost 50% of the time necessary to negotiate ESOP formation documents and facilitate the closing of that same transaction. Thompson Hine now leads in delivering more time- and cost-efficient ESOP transactions than comparable law firms.
This workflow was also one of three finalists earlier this year for Legalweek’s Tech-Enabled Transactional Practice of the Year award.
The American Lawyer Industry Awards recognize outstanding achievements and contributions made by individuals, law firms, and legal departments across various practice areas and specialties. Hundreds of submissions are judged by senior leaders from across The American Lawyer’s newsroom. The prestigious awards not only honor exceptional achievements but also inspire excellence and innovation across the legal industry. Award recipients often set benchmarks for others and make significant contributions to advancing the legal profession in the United States.