Financial Times Names Crowell & Moring "Top Five Most Innovative Law Firm in North America"

Digital Health Practice and Coronavirus Response Team Recognized

Washington – December 11, 2020: The Financial Times has named Crowell & Moring one of its “Top Five Most Innovative Law Firms” in North America. The FT also recognized firm leaders Ellen Moran Dwyer and Jodi G. Daniel, as well as the firm’s Digital Health Practice and Coronavirus Response team in its 2020 North America Innovative Lawyers report.

“We are innovating with our clients every day as they bring new products to market and solve challenges in new and different ways. We know how important it is to be responsive to the changing needs of in-house counsel, which is why we are always looking for new ways to partner and collaborate with them at every step of their journey,” said Philip T. Inglima, chair of Crowell & Moring. “We are honored to be recognized by the FT Innovative Lawyers and to help evolve how law firms anticipate and adapt to the changes and challenges confronting our clients.”

The firm was recognized in the report in the following categories:

• The FT named Crowell & Moring to its list of “Top Five Most Innovative Law Firms” in North America, which featured the top firms that “do well both in terms of their rounded performance in 2020 and in their use of data and technology across all aspects of their business.”
• Ellen Moran Dwyer, chair of Crowell & Moring’s executive committee and a member of the firm’s management board, was named to the FT’s list of “Top Law Firm Leaders,” which spotlighted “firm leaders who have made an impact through their capacity to innovate in the past months.”
• Jodi G. Daniel, head of Crowell & Moring’s Digital Health Practice, was named to the FT’s list of “Top Ten Legal Practitioners,” in recognition of “her ability to lead when regulatory hurdles are unclear.”
• Crowell & Moring’s Digital Health Practice was named to the FT’s list of “Top Firms for Practice Innovation: Multidisciplinary Teams.” FT recognized firms for “their ability to organize themselves according to specific problems and questions.” The FT reported this topic-led approach heralds “a big shift” in how firms focus their capabilities and “what constitutes legal knowledge.”
• Crowell & Moring’sCoronavirus Response Team was named to the FT’s list of the “Top Firms for Enabling Business Response to COVID-19.” The report stated, “The pandemic tests the ability of lawyers to activate and coordinate all their resources to help companies deal with an unprecedented volume of operational, regulatory, and talent-based challenges.”
  
  The firm was shortlisted for its multi-pronged effort to respond to client needs in the wake of the COVID-19, including launching a monitoring system to alert clients to federal and state orders and creating multi-disciplinary teams to meet the changing needs of clients as they navigated reopening and developed new products in response to the pandemic. The efforts included serving as lead counsel to General Motors in connection with the ventilator contract negotiations with the U.S. Government; serving as lead counsel to Honeywell as it negotiated with the government to produce N95 masks and develop new products in rapid response to the pandemic; and helping Siemens to monitor the rapidly-changing federal, state and local guidelines and requirements regarding essential business determinations and related environmental, safety, and health requirements.
• The firm was also named to the FT’s list of “Top Five Most Rounded Performers,” which represents those who scored the highest aggregate scores in three submissions. Firms were nominated for up to five areas, covering the practice of law, diversity and social justice, the workplace, individual leaders and response to the pandemic. The list shows those who presented the most robust, resilient and responsible approach to their businesses in 2020.

Read the full FT North America Innovative Lawyers report here. The FT North America Innovative Lawyers awards were announced at a live virtual event on December 10, which is available to watch online. The report is published in conjunction with RSG Consulting, a specialist research and consulting company. The submissions are then scored against a ranking methodology devised for the FT to assess innovation in law firms.