Kathryn DeBord is Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s Global Chief Innovation Officer. In her role, Ms. DeBord leads the firm’s innovation team, which is an international cross-disciplinary team dedicated to legal service delivery innovation. She has served as the co-architect of several strategic service delivery functions that the Firm has launched, including Cantilever, the Firm’s legal operations consultancy division, launched in 2016, as well as BCLP Cubed, which is the Firm’s newest legal service innovation designed to help clients effectively manage their high volume work streams.

Ms. DeBord oversees lawyers, technologists, and related professionals who are responsible for identifying and implementing new practice innovations, designing solutions for practice groups and clients, and serving as the leader of the Product Development team for BCLP Cubed. As part of her oversight of new product development for BCLP Cubed, Ms. DeBord leads the innovation team’s new product designs for clients who are challenged to manage areas of high volume legal work. The product team’s solutions combine the firm’s legal service delivery centers with its complex advice and its experience in process engineering, technology and data analytics to provide end-to-end solutions for BCLP Cubed’s clients.

Ms. DeBord also serves as an advisor to the firm’s various initiatives to train its associates in legal innovation, including the firm’s internationally recognized Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner Business Academy, as well as the firm’s internship partnership with the Institute for the Future of Law Practice (IFLP).  As part of her efforts to drive innovation in new lawyer education and training, Ms. DeBord sits on the IFLP Advisory Board. Ms. DeBord is a frequent speaker at various legal innovation forums, and has frequently guest lectured at the Northwestern University School of Law.

Prior to her current role, Ms. DeBord was a partner in the firm’s Commercial Litigation Group and a trial attorney specializing in complex contract litigation, patent, and IP licensing matters, as well as consumer class action defense.