An intensifying transformation is under way in legal services, thanks to a fresh wave of automation — notably in generative artificial intelligence.
The need for leaders within a law firm who can fuse legal, business and technical expertise was apparent to the panel of judges that selected the winner of the FT Innovative Lawyers “most innovative intrapreneur” of 2025. Such individuals can rarely point to a direct effect on revenue, but the judges set out to recognise work that is nevertheless critical to a firm’s success.
The challenge for intrapraneurs lies, as one judge put it, in doing the “hard yards” — the work that turns pioneering ideas and tools into breakthroughs. All five shortlisted here clearly demonstrated such skills, whether by assembling teams that work across disciplines or drawing up complex rules for handling data in new but secure ways.
Ultimately, the judges settled on Karen Contoudis Buzard for the breadth of innovation evident in her role as US head of A&O Shearman’s Markets Innovation Group and her work as a partner in leveraged finance.
She has led on the day-to-day adoption of generative AI at the firm, working closely with legal tech company Harvey. But she also initiated and led on a project to use agentic AI to transform loan portfolio management, making a process that eats up resources into one that is scalable, fast, and useful to the business and to clients.
