Leading the Future of Legal Innovation

In January 2025, Fennemore welcomed Adrian D’Amico as the Director of Emerging Technology & Innovation to lead Project BlueWave AI. With extensive experience in Generative AI and legal technology, Adrian spearheads the adoption of transformative tools and strategies to optimize workflows, enhance client service, and advance our vision for innovation. Read more about Adrian.

Fennemore Labs is where promising ideas become practical solutions. It provides a space to test, refine, and develop new technologies, workflows, and ways of working that help our people better serve our clients. Whether an idea comes from Project BlueWave AI, our Annual Hackathon, or everyday collaboration across the firm, Labs helps transform innovation into real-world solutions that improve the delivery of legal services

Our annual “hackathon” is a dynamic firm-wide event where innovation takes center stage. This event brings together our attorneys and legal professionals—propelling them into brainstorming sessions, team collaborations, and strategic problem-solving scenarios to address the ways to improve client service and firm operations.

The rules are simple: teams from different offices come together to brainstorm and develop proposals. Each idea is then evaluated by a panel of judges. The judges’ role is to select three finalists. Finalists present their ideas in an in-person event to the firm—providing an opportunity for firm members to ask questions and engage with the ideas. All firm members have the opportunity to vote on the winning proposal. The winning team members bag a cash prize and get to see their ideas come to life within the year.

Mach Logic, winner of an attorney Hackathon, is an innovative concept focused on reimagining legal pricing, operational efficiency, and client service through AI-powered technology.

Designed to support a shift from traditional billable hours toward more value-based and predictable pricing models, Mach Logic introduced B.I.L.L. (Billing Intelligence & Legal Ledger)—a concept leveraging historical billing data, task-level insights, and AI-driven analytics to help generate flat-fee estimates, menu pricing, intelligent billing codes, and scalable budgeting solutions.

True to the Hackathon spirit at Fennemore, the team brought energy and creativity to the stage with their memorable Top Gun-inspired anthem, “Flat Fee Revolution—highway to efficiency; flat fee simplicity!”

Mach Logic reflects Fennemore’s ongoing commitment to innovation, transparency, and delivering smarter, more efficient legal services for clients while enhancing internal workflows and operational effectiveness across the firm.

Project NEMO, another Hackathon winner, is a firmwide initiative created by our attorneys, for our attorneys—designed to foster authentic connection, culture, and camaraderie through shared interests.

At its core, Project NEMO brings Fennemore attorneys together beyond traditional work settings through participation in one (or more) of the 12 active groups, organized across six core interest areas.

Attorneys with a passion for sports and fitness, food, travel, music, reading, or outdoor adventure can find opportunities to connect, collaborate, and build community with colleagues across offices.

Project NEMO is one more way Fennemore is reimagining what it means to grow together as a modern law firm—supporting well-being, inclusion, and meaningful engagement through community.

At Fennemore, we recognize the unique challenges and requirements of start-ups and emerging businesses—especially in the fast-paced, ever-evolving technology sector. Our Venture Accelerator is tailored specifically to support these dynamic entities by providing them with access to high-quality legal counsel and strategic business guidance. We don’t just offer advice; we partner with founders, providing mentorship and facilitating connections with industry experts to help develop their ideas and strategies.

In some cases, we are able to extend our support further by assisting start-ups in identifying and securing capital resources that are vital for their growth and scalability. Our team works hand-in-hand with these innovators—guiding their businesses from early stages to maturity. Underlying our efforts is a belief in the transformative power of technology-based businesses and our commitment to being a part of the future. We recognize that by assisting these emerging businesses, we are contributing to advancements that are redefining industries and society at large. We’re more than just lawyers, we’re partners in innovation.

Innovation at Fennemore is about more than technology development and idea generation; it’s also about business operations. In furtherance of this belief, we’ve adopted a distinctive c-suite model (called the “C-team”) to harness the skill of dedicated business professionals to drive firm operations. This structure allows us to go beyond the traditional model of full-time lawyers managing the firm part-time. Our C-team members working closely with our management committee leverages their business expertise to propel the firm forward. The C-team model ensures that we not only conceptualize innovative ideas but also execute them effectively—continually driving innovation in all facets of our operations.

At Fennemore, innovation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s at the heart of everything we do as a firm. We don’t just practice law. We create, we invent, and we redefine what it means to deliver legal services in a world where the landscape is quickly changing. Fennemore is committed to driving efficiency, delivering increased value to clients, and fostering a startup-like culture that encourages iteration and adaptation within our firm. We embrace the journey of trial, error, learning, and improvement as essential to crafting robust and innovative solutions. We’re not just spectators of the evolving legal landscape. We’re active architects—shaping the future of legal services.