The Financial Times has named Danielle Benecke the winner of its 2023 Change Maker Award for her work leading Baker McKenzie's Machine Learning practice, driving forward the deployment of AI in the legal services we provide and the business of law at the Firm.
The prestigious Change Maker Award recognizes the most outstanding individuals behind change and innovation at law firms across North America and across the world, selected from hundreds of nominations following a thorough research process. The FT described Danielle as "far-sighted on the impact of artificial intelligence on legal work," noting that her efforts paved the way for the Firm's position as a leader in the use of AI in the law.
Danielle is the founder and global lead of Baker McKenzie’s Machine Learning Practice (BakerML), an industry-leading approach to AI legal innovation that combines the Firm's legal expertise and data with machine learning, genAI and other techniques to better serve clients and evolve the Firm's business. BakerML was founded in 2021, but is part of the Firm’s wider Reinvent strategy.
"We are incredibly proud of Danielle for achieving this well-deserved and highly competitive recognition," said Ben Allgrove, Baker McKenzie's Global Chief Innovation Officer. "She is a true innovator and trailblazer, whose foresight gave our Firm a head start on building out our AI capabilities over the past several years. Her work – and that of the whole BakerML team – has enabled us to move fast on tangible client-facing use cases, provided internal insights that improve how we run our business, and delivered social impact through projects like Reinvent Social Impact."
Added Danielle, "I am most proud of our development of client-facing pilots using ML technology, such as our work advising a Silicon Valley giant on creating a custom AI-powered workflow for their employment processes. It's just one example of how we are already changing how Baker McKenzie delivers and creates new client services. Our core interest is to leverage AI and data science to help our clients solve increasingly complex, high value, strategic problems."
Danielle was named winner of the Change Maker Award at the in-person FT Innovative Lawyers awards ceremony on 4 December in New York City. Read more about Danielle's recognition in the Financial Times here.
About Baker McKenzie's AI Capabilities
As the regulatory environment for AI grows at a rapid rate across the globe, Baker McKenzie offers comprehensive legal advice and a full range of services for exploring this new terrain. Our cross-disciplinary team of established substantive experts is uniquely positioned to help clients holistically future-proof their organization for this transformative technology. With our global expertise in regulatory, legal and innovative AI, our clients stay on top of shifting regulations across the globe, allowing them to foster new opportunities rather than fight to adapt.
The prestigious Change Maker Award recognizes the most outstanding individuals behind change and innovation at law firms across North America and across the world, selected from hundreds of nominations following a thorough research process. The FT described Danielle as "far-sighted on the impact of artificial intelligence on legal work," noting that her efforts paved the way for the Firm's position as a leader in the use of AI in the law.
Danielle is the founder and global lead of Baker McKenzie’s Machine Learning Practice (BakerML), an industry-leading approach to AI legal innovation that combines the Firm's legal expertise and data with machine learning, genAI and other techniques to better serve clients and evolve the Firm's business. BakerML was founded in 2021, but is part of the Firm’s wider Reinvent strategy.
"We are incredibly proud of Danielle for achieving this well-deserved and highly competitive recognition," said Ben Allgrove, Baker McKenzie's Global Chief Innovation Officer. "She is a true innovator and trailblazer, whose foresight gave our Firm a head start on building out our AI capabilities over the past several years. Her work – and that of the whole BakerML team – has enabled us to move fast on tangible client-facing use cases, provided internal insights that improve how we run our business, and delivered social impact through projects like Reinvent Social Impact."
Added Danielle, "I am most proud of our development of client-facing pilots using ML technology, such as our work advising a Silicon Valley giant on creating a custom AI-powered workflow for their employment processes. It's just one example of how we are already changing how Baker McKenzie delivers and creates new client services. Our core interest is to leverage AI and data science to help our clients solve increasingly complex, high value, strategic problems."
Danielle was named winner of the Change Maker Award at the in-person FT Innovative Lawyers awards ceremony on 4 December in New York City. Read more about Danielle's recognition in the Financial Times here.
About Baker McKenzie's AI Capabilities
As the regulatory environment for AI grows at a rapid rate across the globe, Baker McKenzie offers comprehensive legal advice and a full range of services for exploring this new terrain. Our cross-disciplinary team of established substantive experts is uniquely positioned to help clients holistically future-proof their organization for this transformative technology. With our global expertise in regulatory, legal and innovative AI, our clients stay on top of shifting regulations across the globe, allowing them to foster new opportunities rather than fight to adapt.
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