Linklaters allots 'brand primacy' to CreateiQ

Linklaters allots 'brand primacy' to CreateiQ

A UK magic circle firm plans to build its contract automation technology from the ground up "as both a brand and a product"

CreateiQ, the contract automation platform launched by Linklaters, has been gaining market share from the firm's longstanding in-house tech start up, Nakhoda. The move represents a large shift for the UK-based firm as it grows the product after its launch in February 2021.

After the departure of Nakhoda founder and CEO Partha Mudgil in February 2020, CEO Shilpa Bhandarkar, who was previously the CEO of the company, will become CEO of CreateiQ, an application developed by the Nakhoda team.

The firm's marketing is focused on CreateiQ, which seeks to automate contract negotiating for in-house legal teams, while she also heads up Nakhoda, which remains a cross-functional group developing new software products.

"Around 90percent of my day-to-day interaction with clients is related to CreateiQ, so it seemed sensible to focus on CreateiQ as both a brand and the product as well," said she.

CreateiQ, which has just completed its first annual report, has been used by nearly 30 companies in the Fortune 500 and six of the top ten banks, based on assets. Approximately 20 people work at the company, including software developers, product managers and marketers.

One of the company's newest employees is YouTube vlogger Eve Cornwell, who is now a full-time product manager at CreateiQ after leaving the position of a junior lawyer early in January 2022. "I think this officially makes me a woman in STEM,'' Cornwell wrote on LinkedIn, who has 374,000 YouTube subscribers.

Before joining Nakhoda, Bhandarkar was Linklaters' global head of innovation for almost two years. She began her legal career in 2003 and stayed for three years at the firm before re-joining in 2008 as chief operating officer for India, and then as director, business manager for the firm's Africa network in 2015.

In 2018, she returned to Linklaters for the second time after serving as legal network director for London-based legal tech company Lexoo.

Linklaters and Mudgil won the case against Nakhoda last summer after successfully defending a claim of sexual harassment brought by a former paralegal who was on a three-month contract at the start-up. The case was heard by a London employment tribunal, and all of the claims were dismissed.

A new global head of practice innovation, who will lead the team of practice innovation lawyers, was also appointed by Linklaters earlier this month. This team will focus on improving efficiency and the quality of client service.