Lisa McLaughlin
Lisa is Managing Partner of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer’s global Digital Legal Delivery practice, with responsibility for its strategic direction and development worldwide.
She works closely with the practice’s global, multidisciplinary teams, clients and colleagues across the firm to develop AI and technology-enabled legal services and evolve existing offerings in response to changing client needs. A key focus is helping clients realise the benefits of generative and agentic AI in legal service delivery.
Lisa was instrumental in establishing the firm’s Belfast office and Alternative Legal Services business in 2011, helping lay the foundations for today’s global Digital Legal Delivery practice. Today, the practice brings together more than 370 people across 10 global hubs, including lawyers, legal analysts, technologists, eDiscovery specialists, process designers, data analysts and legal operations advisers.
Lisa previously practised international arbitration in the firm’s London office. She combines that legal experience with over a decade of leadership in technology-enabled legal services, bringing a strong understanding of how legal expertise, technology, process and data work together to transform legal service delivery.
In 2019, Lisa was named International Director of the Year by the Institute of Directors, Northern Ireland. In 2023, she was included in The Lawyer’s Hot 100, recognising creative and innovative legal practitioners across the UK.
Capabilities
Services
Background
Before relocating home to establish the Belfast office, Lisa was based in our London office, where she was a senior associate in our international arbitration practice. During the first phase of her career with Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, Lisa acted on many complex, high-value, international arbitration matters as well as a number of commercial litigation and expert determination disputes. In addition, Lisa spent a year on secondment to the disputes team of a leading global consulting firm and, during her training contract with the firm, she undertook a prestigious placement as a Judicial Assistant to the Court of Appeal.
