Legal Innovation

Acme Labs, an AmLaw 100 Innovation Model.

A complete operating model for an innovation lab inside an AmLaw 100 firm, including a playbook for sourcing and piloting new ideas, a balanced innovation portfolio strategy, and a staffing model where lawyers work alongside technology and design experts.

The Client

A large AmLaw 100 law firm, in collaboration with a senior partner and a senior knowledge management leader at the firm. As part of the engagement, we also worked closely with firm and practice group leadership.

Acme Labs' operating model: a four-phase, stage-gated pipeline (Source, Sprint, Design, Co-Pilot) with ideas narrowing as they gain fidelity, and a stage gate between each phase.
The operating model: a four-phase, stage-gated pipeline that moves an idea from Source to a live Co-Pilot.
Phase description for Source: goal, how, key participants, and phase outcome.
Source: surface client needs and early ideas from across the firm, and shape the most promising into a design brief.1 / 4
What I Did

I won the work and led the engagement end to end. I ran an extensive design research sprint with partners, associates, and firm leadership to understand how a lab might efficiently source ideas for new product and service offerings from the firm's lawyers and clients. Our legal innovation team designed the lab's complete operating model: a four-phase stage-gated process (source, sprint, design, co-pilot), a portfolio strategy balancing incremental and disruptive bets, and the blueprint for staffing the lab with a multidisciplinary team composition pairing technical subject matter experts with lawyers seconded in from the firm's practice groups.

An org network diagram showing the Stage Gate Committee (firm leadership plus Acme Labs leadership) connected to the design team, operations and specialties, practice groups, clients, and vendors.
How the lab was structured inside the firm, connecting leadership, a multidisciplinary design team, operations, and the firm's practice groups.
A matrix of team roles across the four phases, showing which specialists are active in each phase.
The staffing model: a multidisciplinary team, with specialists phasing in and out as an idea matures.
Outcome

A full operating-model blueprint delivered to firm leadership. Two of the lab's core design principles are particularly relevant in 2026. First, the sourcing mechanism, which used lawyers' existing client relationships and day-to-day work as the input to the innovation funnel rather than parachuting outside tools or researchers into the firm. This meant that the firm could consider some pretty radical shifts to its business model and service offerings, but through a much safer lens. Second, the staffing model for the lab paired technical experts with seconded lawyers as equal contributors. This is essentially the legal-engineer hiring pattern AmLaw firms are now building into AI-native practice.

A 2x2 portfolio matrix (Extend 60%, Disrupt 20%, Enhance 20%, Evolve 0%) across existing and new offers and clients.
The portfolio strategy balanced a majority of safer, incremental bets against a smaller share of disruptive ones.
A table comparing the Enhance, Extend, and Disrupt categories across contribution, risk versus return, revenue horizon, desired outcome, target clients, and example.
Each portfolio category carried its own risk, time horizon, and target outcome.