HSF Kramer lands Cleary innovation leader for new chief AI officer role

HSF Kramer has hired Ilona Logvinova, Cleary’s director of practice innovation, as its first global chief AI officer in the latest sign of firms racing to lock in senior legal tech talent.

Based in New York, Logvinova joins in early November and will oversee the firm’s global AI strategy, working closely across practice groups to integrate emerging technologies into client work and internal operations.

A former head of innovation at McKinsey’s legal arm and senior counsel at Mastercard, Logvinova was previously an associate at Fried Frank and joined Cleary in April last year, quickly becoming a well-known figure in the legal tech and innovation space.

At Cleary, she led the firm’s digital transformation programme and oversaw its acquisition of London-based legal tech developer Springbok AI in March, bringing aboard a 10-strong team including engineers and data scientists in a rare example of a law firm buying a legal tech company.

Cleary also announced a firmwide rollout of legal AI platform Legora in May.

Bigger picture

Logvinova’s appointment to the newly-created role comes after two separate recent senior innovation hires at top firms.

Addleshaw Goddard last month hired Macfarlanes' former legal tech head Chris Tart-Roberts to lead a new push on tech-enabled services for financial services clients - prompting Macfarlanes to bring in Mayer Brown’s European innovation head Adam Curphey shortly after.

What they said

Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer global CEO, Justin D’Agostino, said: "Ilona will drive the firm’s global strategy to further leverage the potential of AI and legal technology in the service of our clients."

He added: "with GenAI, the pace of change has never been faster. Technology is fundamentally reshaping how legal work is done, and our clients' needs are evolving just as quickly.

"The question is no longer whether AI will disrupt the legal sector, but how fast and how well we can harness it to deliver value. This means having the best people using the best technology underpinned by robust oversight."