Finalist for Business Services Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2026

We have been shortlisted for Business Services Team of the Year at the Legal Business Awards 2026.

The Legal Business Awards is a key annual event in the UK legal sector, highlighting excellence in law across more than 26 different categories. The awards aim to showcase individuals, teams and firms in the UK legal space who have made a significant mark in the profession or within their firm. The awards ceremony will take place on the evening of Tuesday 29 September at the JW Marriot Grosvenor House London, where the winners will be announced.

Our shortlisting recognises the contribution of our business services function in shaping the firm’s strategy and driving its success, with particular focus on the achievements of our People & Culture team, including its provision of HR consultancy directly to our clients. Through our innovative Client Sight framework, which forms the architecture of how the firm operates, we put our clients and their priorities first by understanding how they see us, what they value and what they need.

Client Sight underpins the firm’s approach to all aspects of its business service function and guides our decision-making, from people and recruitment, to innovation, to business development and marketing. This enables us to foster genuine collaboration and build relationships across all functions, pushing us outside the more restrictive lines of a traditional law firm. We are delivering measurable outcomes, attracting remarkable talent and creating deeper client relationships.

This latest recognition of the firm’s business services function follows the news of us winning Business Development Team of the Year at the LexisNexis Legal Awards 2026. We were also recently named as a finalist for Law Firm of the Year: The Independents at The Lawyer Awards 2026.

Harbottle & Lewis partners with Legora to integrate innovative AI platform into its client offering

Harbottle & Lewis has announced today that it will partner with Legora (formerly Leya) to integrate Legora’s innovative AI platform into its offering to clients. This technology will maximise efficiency, strengthen operational processes and fuel collaboration in use cases primarily within due diligence work and document review.

Following a structured evaluation of leading AI platforms led by the Harbottle & Lewis innovation team with a particular focus on enhancing the firm’s document review capabilities, the decision was made to adopt the Legora platform and incorporate it into its working practices.

The partnership became effective as of 17 March 2025.

As part of its commitment to fostering a culture of innovation powered by technology, last year the firm launched its internal Innovation Fund which it uses to uncover and invest in innovative solutions to improve the way it works by streamlining legal and business administrative tasks.

Tony Littner, co-managing partner at Harbottle & Lewis and manager of the Innovation Fund, said:

“The announcement of this partnership is an exciting step forward for the firm as we utilise our Innovation Fund to invest in not only the most sophisticated technology but that which fits best with how we do things and addresses the particular needs of our business. Legora’s AI tool will enhance our offering and help to ensure that we remain ahead of the curve when it comes to using technology to deliver the best possible service to our clients.”

Michael Vasalos, head of innovation at Harbottle & Lewis, said:

“We are delighted to be partnering with Legora and adopting its collaborative AI platform and state-of-the-art data extraction technology. After a rigorous evaluation process during which we assessed a range of products from multiple AI providers, it became clear that Legora’s AI tool is the perfect fit for us and will undoubtedly optimise our current processes. Not only is the product one that will provide great value to us and our clients, but Legora’s deep understanding of the legal industry and impressive recent growth were key factors in our decision to partner with them and we are looking forward to working alongside them in exploring further use cases.”

Max Junestrand, CEO at Legora, commented:

“Harbottle & Lewis stands out as a firm that truly understands innovation, demonstrated by their very structured approach when running us through several accuracy and quality benchmarking exercises against alternative solutions. We believe they are the ideal partner for Legora. Together, we’re redefining what’s possible in legal practice; enhancing collaboration, eliminating inefficiencies and delivering meaningful outcomes for clients. This is the future of law and together we’re leading the way.”

About Legora

Legora (formerly Leya) is the world’s first truly collaborative AI for lawyers. With offices in London and Stockholm, Legora is on a mission to empower exceptional lawyers by unleashing their expertise. The platform is utilised in nearly 20 countries by over 250 clients. Legora collaborates with clients to help them work more efficiently, accurately, and devote more time to complex problem solving and high-impact, strategic work.*

*Company description provided by Legora