Overview
International law firm McDermott Will & Emery welcomes Christopher Cyrus as its first Director of AI Innovation. A seasoned attorney and consultant with a rich background in law and technology, Christopher will lead the Firm’s efforts in exploring, adopting and implementing cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.
“We believe the business of law will continue to be disrupted and evolve through AI and this addition to our team marks a significant step forward in our commitment to innovation,” said Michael Shea, McDermott’s Chief Information Officer. “Christopher’s expertise will be instrumental in driving AI use cases and adoption within our practice groups. His unique blend of legal and technological expertise will help us source best in class AI technology and ensure we’re deploying these tools in intelligent ways to improve operational efficiency.”
Leveraging his background as a litigator, Christopher has expertise in creatively using AI to work more efficiently on a number of attorney-facing use cases. He has consulted with professionals from AmLaw 50 firms, in-house legal departments and T-15 law school faculty on incorporating large language models and other transformer-architecture technologies into their workflows.
In his new position, Christopher will serve as a champion and advocate for AI technologies within the Firm, highlighting success stories, potential use cases and the strategic advantages of AI adoption. He will collaborate with attorneys, IT staff and management to identify opportunities for AI to enhance legal services and operational efficiency, critically evaluating new tools and driving successful delivery of custom and third-party solutions. Christopher will also plan and execute custom AI solution deployments.
“I look forward to helping McDermott lawyers leverage AI to deliver even more value to their clients and the Firm,” Christopher said. “As Wharton Professor Ethan Mollick has explained, generative AI is a once-in-a-generation technology that touches every industry and every aspect of life. Like Mollick, I believe GenAI’s unique and powerful functionalities can best be tapped by those who understand parts of culture more deeply than everyone else. The lawyers at McDermott are all knowledge leaders in their field and are well positioned to capitalize on this technology.”
The appointment, and creation of the Director of AI Innovation role, is the latest milestone in McDermott’s innovation journey, which keeps the Firm ahead of the curve and propels client success. The Firm is at the forefront of technology, including experimenting with and adopting generative AI platforms. McDermott was the first AmLaw firm to implement its own ChatGPT servers, helping develop best-use cases, such as processing client data through the lens of leading large language models. In addition, the Firm made a $10M anchor investment in the LegalTech Fund in 2021, underscoring its commitment to propel client success through innovation.
About McDermott
McDermott Will & Emery partners with leaders around the world to fuel missions, knock down barriers and shape markets. Our team works seamlessly across practices and industries to deliver highly effective solutions that propel success. More than 1,400 lawyers strong, we bring our personal passion and legal prowess to bear in every matter for our clients and the people they serve