The Lawyer covers our Russell Up scheme and the number of trainee innovation projects it is delivering

As a follow-up to an article published in 2024 on the launch of our Firm's Russell Up scheme - a programme designed for our trainee solicitors under which they will deliver four innovation projects throughout their two-year training contract - The Lawyer covers the progress of the scheme and the number of trainee innovation projects it is delivering.

The Lawyer reports that our firm has actioned 70 trainee-led innovation projects following the launch of the scheme last year - 30 in the first rotation of trainees and 40 in the second.

The article also explains that:

• In our most recent application intake, 15 per cent of trainee applications cited the Russell Up scheme as a reason for applying to the firm.
• Each project falls under eight module categories, including AI, data visibility, robotic process automation and app building.
• Sub-teams within the ACS, including ‘process implementation’ and ‘legal project management’ are regularly involved in Russell Up projects.
• When a seat is not enough time to complete a project and the firm is interested in seeing it through to completion, they are handed down to the next rotation of trainees and apprentices, or are simply continued by the ACS team.

Joe Cohen, Director of Advanced Client Solutions, comments:

Russell Up is our way of eliciting and progressing ideas throughout the firm in a repeatable and structured way. I’ve always found it interesting how before a scheme like this, ideas from the trainees and apprentices would be few and far between, but once coming up with and delivering an innovation project becomes part of their official training contract process, suddenly there are 30-40 high quality ideas that are being progressed by this cohort every six months.

"It can only be assumed that the ideas were always there, it was just the mechanism that was lacking. At its core, Russell Up is about empowering the trainees and apprentices to speak up about inefficiencies in a way in which they know they will be heard and they have the tools and resources to do something about them. This is what makes it so impactful, and is a cornerstone of our push to have one of the most demonstrably innovative cultures of the law firms in the City.

The scheme was covered further in The Lawyer's 'Partnerless' newsletter. The Lawyer reports that Cassidy Fan, a trainee currently in our Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency team, developed an application which sends limitation period notifications directly to lawyers' inboxes, ready to be RSVP'd. A diary hold is then created on the appropriate day and time.

Read the full article in The Lawyer here and Cassidy's mention in Partnerless here (subscriptions required).