Tampa Office Managing Partner David Doney discussed with the Tampa Bay Business Journal how to create a framework for law firm innovation that is influenced by clients. During the publication's latest industry roundtable, Doney joined local law firm leaders to address market disruptions reshaping the delivery of legal services. He spoke about the Akerman R&D Council, the first formal law firm research and development initiative that includes clients to spur joint discovery of breakthrough business solutions. The formation of the Akerman R&D Council follows the firm's participation in Law2023, a yearlong study on the legal industry's future, whose recommendations showed how legal R&D will be key to discovering new ways of practicing law.

"Part of our challenge is to figure out how to meet [value] expectations," Doney told the Tampa Bay Business Journal. "We've established an internal research and development council that looks at what services we're delivering, who's delivering them, how we're delivering them, to whom we are delivering them. They're looking internally for best practices, and then as the council comes up with good ideas that can be taken from practice group to practice group or geography to geography; we're sharing that knowledge internally."