Eversheds Sutherland has launched an ‘AI-centric’ US innovation department.
The 20-person department in the firm’s US operations consolidates several existing technology functions, including data and analytics, research and knowledge services, legal technology and client-facing technologies.
It will be led by senior director Katrina Dittmer − previously the firm’s US director of legal technology.
The innovation team will work with the firm’s AI service for clients and advise on the responsible and effective use of AI across the firm.
Large law firms are creating AI departments to help extract value from their sizeable investment in AI.
Last December, Linklaters said it had created a team of lawyers to help it deploy artificial intelligence technology across the firm.
Eversheds, which is headquartered in London and in 2025 was the eighth-biggest UK law firm by revenue, employs more than 430 lawyers in the US.
It says that about four in 10 of its US lawyers use a generative AI legal platform, which it declined to name. The lawyers use the AI for tasks including due diligence, litigation and drafting documents.
In an interview with Global Legal Post, Dittmer was light on detail for what the new department’s initial projects or priorities would be, saying only that the firm wanted to “accelerate” its use of AI and get the “right tools” to its lawyers. This year will include several AI pilot projects, including an “enterprise search” tool combined with AI.
She added: “We’re still in the early stages… but the priority is to make sure that we continue to grow [the US firm’s AI use] to evolve.”
Another, long-term objective for the US AI and innovation team is to encourage a new, more start-up type approach to work and testing new ideas, said Dittmer.
“There’s an element of innovation that is about experimentation… We’re able to take what we learn from feedback, from pilots and make decisions quickly [if they] make sense for the firm and pivot quickly when they don’t,” she said.
“It really means challenging the way we’ve been doing things for many years, and change is hard, right?”
Dittmer declined to provide any details or estimates for how the US firm had benefited from AI spending – for example by the average time per week or month it saves lawyers, by automating administrative tasks, or by increasing lawyers’ productivity.
Ron Friedmann, a senior director analyst and legal expert at research company Gartner, said the Eversheds AI department was a sign that generative AI has become a “must-have” for large firms to remain competitive.
Last year, Eversheds Sutherland expanded its US West Coast operations by opening a new office in Silicon Valley and hiring a litigation partner from Baker McKenzie.
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