What We Do
Trusted Advisor
D2 Legal Technology ( D2LT) is an award-winning legal data consulting firm acting as a trusted advisor to institutions on process, data and the use of technology to unlock business value through legal change. There is an increasing level of divergence between the fundamental conservatism of the legal profession and the dynamism that our client firms must exhibit to survive and thrive in the digital age. D2LT provide the strategy and assistance to help its clients excel in meeting this challenge.
Unlock Business Value
In a complex world, with heightened regulatory expectations, it is often difficult for institutions to effectively assess the impact of, and risks associated with, their legal data. Negotiated contractual data is also often difficult to consume by many of the affected parties eg Trading, Treasury, Risk, XVA etc. This can lead to manual re-keying leading to both inefficiency and operational risk.
Legal teams increasingly turn to technology to address issues around legal data, operating model and processes and yet it often turns out not to be the panacea that was envisaged. We work with our clients to ensure that solutions for firms are appropriate to them and unlock business value for them. As a result, we focus on the processes within in-house legal departments and consumers of legal data, refining and optimising these to meet business needs.
D2LT is technology and vendor agnostic and is constantly assessing the availability and suitability vendor solutions in an ever-changing market and is able to advise clients on their technology choices. In fact, we are also often approached and assist vendors in this area for them to better understand the business problems that they are asked to help to solve , as well as engaging with academia in these areas.
Tailored Solutions
Founded in 2011, D2LT originates, designs and manages the delivery of legal change solutions for its clients by proactively taking the time to understand their businesses, the regulatory needs and their existing operating environments.
Multi-disciplinary Teams
We have a unique blend of industry knowledge, legal, technology and transformational skills which equips it to quickly assess the issues an institution is facing and to propose and deliver an appropriate solution. D2LT is the consultancy of choice to act as a credible link between Legal, Risk ,Trading and Operations to design fully integrated and optimised solutions.
Legal Tech solutions – Embracing the Digital Agenda
We are focused on embracing the digital agenda and help clients to understand, select and configure the tools that sit in this LegalTech/FinTech ecosystem. These include contract management, document assembly, workflow, optical character recognition (OCR), artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning, blockchain/distributed ledger and smart contracts. Our approach is to advise clients how to refine and optimise processes and structure data effectively before employing enabling technology since this is typically a precondition to maximising the value of such solutions.
Industry Collaboration
D2LT is engaged in industry initiatives to identify opportunities to enhance efficiency and reduce risk through legal change.
For example, recently, D2LT has been engaged by ISDA to develop a clause library for the component clauses of the ISDA Master Agreement through a broad consultation across ISDA members. This, when complete, will enable a number of benefits including (1) enhanced consumption of data by downstream systems such as margin, netting, contingent funding: (2) streamlined document generation: (3) enhanced analytics of master agreement data and (4) the ability to analyse a firm’s legacy portfolio.
Additionally, D2LT is working with the Law Society, ICMA and is a member of the Global Legal Blockchain Consortium.
Areas of Expertise
Our areas of specialism include capital markets legal documentation (such as ISDA, GMRA, GMSLA, MRA, MSLA, OSLA, Prime Brokerage, Listed Derivatives and Clearing Agreements), risk management, regulation and are experts in legal change.
Publications
Akber Datoo, ‘Legal Data for Banking: Business Optimisation and Regulatory Compliance‘ (Wiley) – it is available on Amazon for purchase.
The FINTECH Book: The Financial Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and Visionaries – it is available on Amazon for purchase.
The INSURTECH Book: The Insurance Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and FinTech Visionaries – it is available on Amazon for purchase.
Several consultants have co-authored articles for Wiley’s ‘The LegalTech Book: The Legal Technology Handbook for Investors, Entrepreneurs and FinTech Visionaries‘ – it is available on Amazon for purchase.
Awards
In 2019, D2LT won the Data Strategy award with ISDA at the Financial Times Intelligent Business Awards. D2LT was also listed in second place in the Top 10 Market Shapers, recognized for acknowledging the importance of data to the sector and working out ways to harness it to create business value for clients.
In 2017, D2LT won the ‘Data, Knowledge and Intelligence’ category in the Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyers Award. D2LT was also ranked ‘Standout’ in the ‘Collaboration’ category. In 2016, D2LT was ranked ‘Standout’ in the ‘Innovation in new Models’ category, while founder & managing partner, Akber Datoo, was cited as one of EMEA’s 10 most innovative individuals in legal practice. Also in 2016, Akber was appointed to The Law Society’s Technology and Law Reference Group (TLRG).
In 2015, D2LT won Best Risk Management Initiative in The Lawyer Business Leadership Awards following its work with leading financial institutions.
