Intrapreneurs: behind-the-scenes changemakers

Workers in any business rarely run towards organisational change, especially in law firms. Yet, while the generators of revenue tend to win the limelight, the contribution of “changemakers” behind the scenes is increasingly recognised in law firms. That is why the FT Innovative Lawyers awards celebrate individuals with the vision and grit to lead change in the legal sector, even though they are rarely in the most senior positions.

Seven candidates impressed the panel of judges as deserving the “individual intrapreneur” award. But ultimately, the judges decided that Maki Kadonaga, chief knowledge officer at Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, stood out. Knowledge management — gathering, sifting and using information — was relatively unfamiliar in Japan, but she persuaded her firm’s leaders to treat knowledge-sharing as a collective benefit and never looked back. One judge noted it would have been “an uphill task” to have the wide impact and influence that Kadonaga achieved.

Profiles compiled by RSGI researchers and FT editors. “Winner” indicates an Innovative Lawyers 2025 award; the rest are in alphabetical order

WINNER: Maki Kadonaga
Partner Anderson Mori & Tomotsune

Maki Kadonaga is a pioneer of knowledge management in Japan’s legal sector.

Her role as chief knowledge officer is common in leading law firms overseas, but Kadonaga is believed to be the first person to hold this title in a domestic Japanese law firm.

A secondment with a client eight years ago provoked an interest in knowledge management’s aim of efficiently handling information and resources.

On returning to her firm, she won support for improving access to legal research resources to help improve workflows and service.

Kadonaga, made a partner in 2022, has written books on the topic. She suggests that efficiency gains driven by her team have reduced time spent on research, drafting and other routine tasks by 15 per cent.

Darren Chan
Head of information services, Allen & Gledhill

Darren Chan joined his firm in 2021 to lead its work on digital transformation, in a move that allowed him to build on his experience of tech work at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore.

Under his guidance, Allen & Gledhill became the first law firm to receive a grant from the Singaporean government for research and development of artificial intelligence projects.

Chan is leading a partnership with Singaporean tech group Pand.ai to produce an AI system tailored specifically to the firm’s demands. It is trained on the firm’s data, excludes public sources and is hosted entirely on the firm’s servers. Chan argues this is the best way to tackle the risks of outsiders accessing sensitive client data.

Sridhar Gorthi and Nishant Parikh
Partners, Trilegal

Sridhar Gorthi and Nishant Parikh have introduced several changes to improve Trilegal’s working practices since jointly assuming leadership in 2020.

These include changes to the firm’s previous lockstep-style partnership pay model that was mainly based on seniority. It now allows high performers to profit from their success, and provides other incentives to encourage collaboration.

Last year, they also launched the firm’s digital innovation group. One outcome has been the creation of document management software to pool collective knowledge. It has also worked with an Indian tech start-up to create an AI tool trained on legal data.

The Trilegal Academy, launched five years ago, continues to send partners to university management training courses. Wellbeing services are another focus. The firm now has 142 partners compared with 57 in 2021, making it one of India’s fastest-growing big firms.

Sukanya Hazarika
Director, corporate and commercial, Khaitan & Co

After her first degree at the University of Delhi, Sukanya Hazarika graduated from Harvard Law School in 2012.

She then joined Khaitan & Co in Mumbai, working on mergers and acquisitions and other investment projects. After a two-year spell in the US, where she continued in commercial practice, she returned to Khaitan & Co in 2019.

In search of something new, she took on the role of managing the firm’s corporate practice. She works as chief of staff to the head of the firm’s Delhi office, implementing the executive committee’s plans.

A core task is to promote the firm to potential and existing clients. She also runs roundtable events to attract Indian multinational clients. The firm credits her with helping to increase its corporate practice revenues by half in the past five years. She also leads Arise, the firm’s diversity, equity and inclusion programme.

Hiroshi Niinomi
Partner, Nishimura & Asahi

Hiroshi Niinomi is leading reforms at one of the Big Four Japanese law firms to improve the management of its people. The traditional relationship between lawyers and other staff in Japan’s legal industry is hierarchical: lawyers direct their other colleagues, who often lack agency and have little scope to make proposals on how to manage tasks.

Tokyo-based Niinomi, however, has restructured the personnel system at Nishimura & Asahi, half of whose staff of just over 2,000 are secretaries, paralegals and administrators rather than formally qualified lawyers. These staff now report to a greater number of managers, allowing them more movement, flexibility, and opportunity for promotion.

He also encourages events where junior staff and partners can share ideas, and internships that allow staff to be seconded to other departments.

Surveys show job satisfaction has improved and staff turnover rates have fallen.

Amber O’Meara
Head of innovation, MinterEllison

Amber O’Meara joined MinterEllison eight years ago, working initially in client relationship management and marketing before becoming head of innovation in 2021. Now she uses skills learned in previous roles to encourage the use of tech to reshape both the firm’s business and its work for clients.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, O’Meara has introduced schemes such as innovation scholarships, where selected members of the firm can work with and be mentored inside tech companies. She helped encourage the rollout of Mintcoin, a digital currency-based training incentive that can be exchanged internally for rewards.

O’Meara has pushed for MinterEllison’s lawyers to be allowed to dedicate at least 12 billable hours to train in and experiment with artificial intelligence. So far, the firm estimates, nearly 4,000 fee-credited hours have been used across the firm to complete generative AI teaching modules.

Susannah Wilkinson
Director of generative AI, Herbert Smith Freehills

Susannah Wilkinson is in charge of globally deploying her firm’s suite of generative AI systems, which include both proprietary tools and its own bespoke version, and which have attracted more than 1,800 users. She also leads an “AI fluency” programme that seeks to identify people in regions, teams and practice groups who can lead colleagues in understanding and using the technology.

As head of a team setting strategy in the field, Wilkinson is planning for a future where new technologies can help lawyers by making disputes proceed faster, or by predicting possible negotiation outcomes in mergers and acquisitions. She argues that law firms will have to respond to such changes and develop strategies for dealing with a range of potential scenarios.

Wilkinson, based in Brisbane, Australia, led the firm’s emerging technology group in Asia-Pacific before taking on her current role last year.