Tech Innovation Drives the Business of Law

The Financial Times named Thompson Hine number one in the category of “Most innovative North American law firms” in the publication’s annual survey of the legal tech scene.

Thompson Hine’s has seen the huge impact technology has made in how the firm interacts with clients in the 10 years he’s been practicing law. 

“Technology lets us manage our client engagements in a way that is more efficient and more predictable,” says Schild, recently named a partner and member of Thompson Hine’s Corporate Transactions & Securities practice group in Cincinnati. 

Thompson Hine, a 105-year -old firm founded in Cleveland, with offices in Atlanta, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, New York, and Washington, D.C., received the Financial Times kudos because of its innovative SmartPaTH®, a comprehensive program aligning service delivery with the needs of clients. It melds legal project management, value-based pricing, flexible staffing and process efficiency into an end-to-end model for service delivery. 

Schild, who handles mergers, acquisitions and other corporate transactions for large private and public companies, sees SmartPaTH as a way to organize a large law firm around a philosophy of client efficiency. And he thinks it only makes sense that cutting edge law firms that handle complex business transactions should be as technologically efficient as their clients. 

“Our technology innovations allow us to be more transparent to our clients about what we are doing, how we are doing it and what we are charging them for it.” 

SmartPaTH allows Thompson Hine attorneys to define and monitor project work and costs against the work plan and budgets, proactively recommend value-based price alternatives and employs process efficiencies such as work flow mapping and flexible staffing. It also can share and mitigate budgetary risks and surprises. 

“Much of it allows for tracking in real time and allows client access to documents and checklists,” Schild says. “Our clients like it and have taken to it.” 

The system also generates process maps for clients and corresponding monitoring systems to make certain attorney teams follow the established processes, utilizing automated systems to ensure consistent product work. 

Significantly, the system provides alternatives to the standard hourly billing structures. That is something not all large law firms have effectively managed. But at Thompson Hine, Schild says much of the work is other than billable hours; it uses fixed fees or a combination of pricing mechanisms that align the firm’s interests with the clients, incentivizing all parties. 

Indeed, Schild says he can relate to the traditional client complaint about lawyers who can’t come up with a fee budget. 

“A lot of law firms say, ‘We can’t possibly predict what this will cost. It’s complicated.’ Well, we may have a corporate client who is building an office building or a manufacturing plant. That’s pretty complicated, too,” he says. 

“If they can do that on a budget, or a fixed fee, why can’t we tell our clients what it’s going to cost for their transactions? Clients are focused on predictability. Our project management system lets us be more predictable.” 

Of course, sleek software and well-defined systems only make sense if lawyers are doing good work. Schild, a Tufts University grad, with a law degree from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law, started at Thompson Hine after law school. He was excited to find an entrepreneurial and collaborative culture, something not always found at large firms. 

“It’s important for this kind of M&A practice to have colleagues on whom you can rely. You need depth at a firm to properly staff,” he says. “For example, if you are helping a client buy a manufacturing facility and there is an environmental issue, you need an expert in that field down the hall. Our general philosophy is we are here to help each other and help our firm grow. It’s a rising-tide philosophy.”

Like many attorneys in the firm, Schild is heavily invested in community projects. Todd especially has been involved in the Jewish community where he has family ties to Cincinnati’s Jewish roots going back nearly 150 years. Schild was recently named president of the board of the Mayerson Jewish Community Center, a job he says involves engaging as many people as possible through the wealth of JCC programs such as its fitness facility, early childhood school, summer camp and the Jewish Film Festival. 

Meanwhile, Schild looks forward to sharpening the firm’s delivery innovation footprint knowing that being on the cutting edge of technology makes law a far more vibrant field. 

“Technology is now such an integral part of our firm. It has made it easier to work across borders and across time zones, to work collaboratively with clients and other lawyers,” he says. 

“It’s a benefit because it makes everybody so available all of the time, but of course that means you are available all the time. That’s not a complaint. It just makes for a dynamic situation. Our transactions can move very quickly and that’s what our clients, rightly, expect.”

Thompson Hine is located at 312 Walnut Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202. You can reach them at 513.352.6700 or visit their website at www.thompsonhine.com.