'The tools aren't the differentiator': Innovation leader Isabel Parker on the AI race

For Isabel Parker, the biggest challenge to innovation in large law firms is time, rather than technology.

Speaking on The Non-Billable Podcast, the White & Case chief innovation officer says lawyers are already “innovators by nature”, but the way firms are structured can make it difficult for that to surface. “They work very, very long hours and they don’t have time to experiment or be curious,” she says.

Innovation beyond the innovation team

That has to change. AI, Parker argues, is not just another tool but “a general purpose technology” that needs to be embedded across the firm.  

“I want all the lawyers in our firm to see using AI as part of their job, rather than something that my innovation team serves up to them,” she says.

Parker is one of the best known names in legal innovation. She started her career at Freshfields, where she moved from fee-earning into innovation roles, including helping set up the firm’s Manchester support hub, before joining Deloitte. She moved to White & Case in 2024 with a mandate to drive change across the firm.

In simple terms, her remit is to help lawyers change how they work and, in turn, to serve clients better.

Build, buy, partner

A big part of that strategy has been developing internal capability. The firm built its own AI platform, Atlas, in part because it “didn’t have a safe place for our lawyers to use AI with client data”.

But Parker says that building in-house is only one piece of the puzzle. White & Case is also working with third-party providers such as Legora, following what she describes as a “build, buy, partner” model.

That mix, she says, helps the firm stay flexible in a fast-moving market, while also making it a more informed buyer. “Nothing sharpens your ability to buy AI technology than having built your own platform.”

Even so, for firms, Parker does not see technology itself as the differentiator. “The tools aren’t a differentiator - everybody’s going to have the same stuff,” she says. Instead, the advantage will come from how quickly firms can upskill their people and make use of their data.

For firm leaders, the takeaway is not about increasing headcount. “They make the mistake of thinking if only we had a bigger innovation team we could do more, which is not what’s needed. It's if only we could get our lawyers owning innovation we could do more.”

And for individual lawyers, her message is simple: treat curiosity as a discipline itself.

Listen to the full conversation with Isabel Parker on The Non-Billable Podcast.