Two Notable Legal Tech Moves, As Crowell Names Alma Asay Chief Innovation Officer and Relativity Names Laurie Usewicz Chief Partner Officer

There were two notable moves in the legal tech world announced today, both to newly created positions, as the law firm Crowell & Moring announced that it has named Alma Asay as its first chief innovation and value officer, and Relativity said that it has named Laurie Usewicz as its first chief partner officer.

Asay, a former litigator who founded the litigation management platform Allegory Law, first joined Crowell & Moring two years ago as senior director of practice innovation and client value, as I reported at the time. 

Asay had been a lawyer for more than six years at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher when she launched Allegory in 2012 as one of the first cloud-based litigation management platforms.

When Allegory waspurchased by Integreon Discovery Solutionsin 2017, Asay became its chief innovation officer. In March 2020,Asay moved toLitera, where she was a domain expert and advisor to clients on litigation.

After Asay moved to Litera,it acquired Allegoryfrom Integreon.

In her new role, Asay will lead Crowell’s efforts to innovate the services and value that the firm delivers to clients in collaboration with lawyers and professional staff, building on what she has already accomplished since first joining the firm.

Crowell said that, during Asay’s tenure to date at the firm, she has successfully engaged client procurement and legal operations teams and expanded the firm’s client service offerings, including launching a service for interactive maps that track regulatory developments across the country for clients.

She has also played a leading role in the firm’s response to recent developments in artificial intelligence and co-chairs the firm’s Technology
Innovation Committee.

“Alma’s laser focus on driving efficiency, increasing value, and creating customized innovative service solutions for our clients has been nothing short of extraordinary,” said Chahira Solh, chair of the firm’s executive committee. “In less than two years, Alma has built a terrific innovation team and led a wide range of initiatives that have enhanced the way we practice and operate across the firm.”

In the newly created executive-level position of Relativity’s chief partner officer, Usewicz will oversee technology partnerships, commercial partnerships, and corporate and business development teams.

She will be responsible for leading all go-to-market partner motions and will work cross-functionally with Relativity’s executive team to drive alignment to deliver partner success, the company said.

The role encompasses all Relativity partners, including legal service providers, technology partners and consulting firms. In addition, Usewicz’s team will formalize Relativity’s mission-driven corporate development engagements to drive ecosystem relationships.

Before this move to Relativity, Usewicz was senior vice president, business operations and strategy, at Cornerstone OnDemand, a company that provides a SaaS-based talent experience and training platform. where she managed operations for its SumTotal business, which Cornerstone acquired from SkillSoft.

She joined Cornerstone through the company’s acquisition of Saba Software and was the executive leader for the integration of Saba and Cornerstone. Following the integration, Usewicz ran sales strategy and business operations for the Americas for the combined company. Pre-acquisition, Usewicz ran global sales operations and partner alliances at Saba.

Prior to joining Saba, Usewicz was vice president of worldwide channels at Gemalto (formerly SafeNet), vice president of America’s channel sales at Blue Coat Systems, and held a variety of managerial roles at WestCon.

“Partners are an essential part of how Relativity brings its purpose to life for our customers,” said Phil Saunders, CEO of Relativity. “The partner and customer experience is at the center of everything we do and as such, it’s mission critical we have a dedicated leader who brings a wide depth in overall executive level channel expertise, partner program management and cross-functional know-how to harmonize our company’s partner motions. Laurie is just the person to bring the heightened executive level attention necessary to further elevate our approach to strategic partnerships and I know she’ll be a tremendous asset.”