Crowell Taps Alma Asay as First Chief Innovation Officer

New client-facing role develops innovative solutions to drive value and solve complex challenges

Washington – May 1, 2023: Crowell & Moring has elevated Alma Asay, a leading innovation leader in both the legal and technology industries, to serve as the firm’s first Chief Innovation and Value Officer.

In this new role, Asay will lead the firm’s efforts to innovate the services and value that the firm delivers to clients in collaboration with lawyers and professional staff, building on what she has already accomplished since June 2021 as Senior Practice Innovation and Client Value Director.

During her tenure at the firm, Asay has successfully engaged client procurement and legal operations teams and expanded the firm’s client service offerings, including launching a service for interactive maps that track regulatory developments across the country for clients. Asay has also played a leading role in the firm’s response to recent developments in artificial intelligence and co-chairs the Technology Innovation Committee. 

“Alma’s laser focus on driving efficiency, increasing value, and creating customized innovative service solutions for our clients has been nothing short of extraordinary,” said Chahira Solh, chair of the firm’s executive committee. “In less than two years, Alma has built a terrific innovation team and led a wide range of initiatives that have enhanced the way we practice and operate across the firm.”

Asay was a lawyer for more than six years at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher before launching Allegory, one of the first cloud-based litigation management platforms. When Allegory was purchased by Integreon Discovery Solutions in 2017, Asay became its chief innovation officer. Later, at Litera Microsystems, she increased the company’s visibility and brand development through the delivery of content featuring industry leaders, strategies to strengthen relationships with global law firms, and insights into the development of technologies focused on lawyers as end users.

Asay will continue to collaborate with lawyers, as well as the firm’s client development, legal project management, talent and inclusion, and information technology teams to deliver high-value solutions that benefit the firm’s clients in areas including matter management, regulatory monitoring, knowledge management, and technology applications. On the client front, Asay will partner with clients’ legal departments to understand their priorities and challenges and deliver cost-effective and valued solutions.

“Technology is transforming the way law firms work and has the potential to measurably improve client value, but lost in all the excitement about emerging technologies like AI is the art of listening,” Asay said. “When you combine innovative approaches, through technology or otherwise, with hearing our clients and exceptional lawyering, you develop a potent combination that takes client service to the next level.”

Asay joins a 5-person chief executive team that includes Chief Human Resources Officer Carmen C. Barboza; Chief Marketing Officer Maura Connell Brandt; Chief Information Officer Joel Gustafson; Chief Financial Officer John Oliverio; and Chief Talent & Inclusion Officer Don Smith.

A prolific writer, Asay has published an array of articles about innovation in the legal industry and has appeared on podcasts, at conferences, and hosted her own series on Litera TV. She has been repeatedly recognized as a legal innovation leader, including by the American Bar Association, which named her a “Legal Rebel,” an honor that highlights lawyers who are “finding new ways to practice law, represent their clients, adjudicate cases and train the next generation of lawyers.”

Asay earned her law degree from New York University School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University.

About Crowell & Moring LLP

Crowell & Moring LLP is an international law firm with offices in the United States, Europe, MENA, and Asia. Drawing on significant government, business, industry and legal experience, the firm helps clients capitalize on opportunities and provides creative solutions to complex litigation and arbitration, regulatory and policy, and corporate and transactional issues.  The firm is consistently recognized for its commitment to pro bono service and its programs and initiatives to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. 

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