UK law firm TLT has hired the former global head of legal services at Eversheds Sutherland’s Konexo business to head up its managed legal services offering.

Legaltech veteran Jonathan Townend joins as an operations board member and will be based in London. He will lead the unit, which has grown 30% over the past 12 months amid increased demand for managed legal services and consulting. Townend’s hire is part of a series of investments in people and tech to support demand for outsourced litigation and contract services, among other areas.

John Wood, TLT’s managing partner, said: “The outsourcing of work streams or major projects forms an increasing part of the operating model of all successful legal departments. GCs want the strategic expertise of a trusted partner law firm with the delivery capability of an ALSP. Having this under one roof as an integrated offering helps our clients’ legal departments focus on strategic issues and adding business value.”

Townend spent 18 years at Eversheds Sutherland across a number of different roles. In addition to his recent spell as head of its Konexo alternative legal and compliance services business, he was also head of technology consulting and head of e-business in the firm’s Birmingham office. Prior to joining Eversheds he worked as a business analyst for software and IT companies including Zeda and IKANO.

Townend said: “Clients’ needs are changing fast. They want their legal service providers to be able to handle complex transactions and disputes as well as work at scale, bringing the best use of intelligent technology, efficient processes, data and flexible resources into a seamless solution.”

Other firms have also been investing in complementary business units that sit alongside their traditional legal offerings. In May, UK insurance law specialists Kennedys doubled the office size of its Indian tech unit – Kennedys Kognitive Computing – as part of a plan to grow its tech development team.

And back in February, Fieldfisher opened in Berlin to house its specialist litigation business Fieldfisher X, which is using legaltech to provide scalable services for organisations facing large mass litigation claims in Germany.