DLA Piper elevates AI and Data Science to the C-Suite with new CDAIO Niresh Rajah

Global law firm DLA Piper has appointed Niresh Rajah as its Chief Data and AI Officer, a newly established role, as it continues to build Data Science and AI practices into the firm’s foundations. Niresh, most recently Group Chief Data Officer at Danske Bank, will drive forward the firm’s AI and data agenda as it continues to evolve and embed data practices and generative AI-powered solutions at the core of its operations and client delivery.

Niresh joins the firm with over 20 years of financial and professional services experience, having executed significant and complex digital and data transformation projects across international organisations including leadership roles at Barclays Bank, Lloyd’s Banking Group and Grant Thornton. He has successfully established and integrated ground-up AI and data intelligence functions with international teams, generated and delivered ambitious data strategies and solutions, and strategically navigated complex and cross-border regulatory challenges such as Brexit and GDPR. Prior to this Niresh held management roles at Deloitte and EY, delivering major transformation projects for FTSE100 companies.

The appointment, and creation of the CDAIO role, is the latest milestone in the firm’s innovation journey, with ‘the future of legal services’ a core focus of its strategy and investment. It builds on the firm’s Law& innovation arm, delivering novel legal service solutions such as Aiscencion, the AI-driven cartel and corruption detecting service, and TOKO, the firm’s virtual asset tokenisation platform and legal AI assistant. And, the 100-strong client-facing AI and data team who are revolutionising practice across our global footprint, and collaborating with industry-leading clients on innovation, compliance, development, and ultimately influencing policymakers and the wider AI ecosystem.

Simon Levine, Managing Partner and Global Co-CEO, comments: "Innovation has long formed a key tenet of not just our firm’s strategy, but our success. In recent years, much of that innovation was borne of data science and the AI evolution, capabilities we have continued to build out to meet contemporary challenges with novel solutions both for our clients and our people.

“Niresh’s appointment will crystalise this data and AI evolution at DLA Piper. The way businesses operate, and the landscape they operate in, have transformed with unprecedented pace and complexity in recent years. Throughout this era Niresh has driven change, ensured compliance and established transformative ways of working at preeminent and highly matrixed global organisations. His outlook aligns perfectly with our vision of the future of legal services, and we’re confident he will play a significant role as we continue to define the curve.”

Niresh Rajah comments: “The legal industry continues to make headlines as it finds new ways to unlock client value and beyond-law solutions in big data and generative AI, a journey I am excited to join DLA Piper on. Having met the impressive team already delivering solutions and challenging industry-typical ways of working, I look forward to working with them to push the boundaries of what can be achieved for our clients and colleagues.”

Niresh’s appointment coincides with the hiring of new lead data scientist Vikram Mitra, who joins from FTI where he was a Director in the Digital Science team having previously held data science roles at Deloitte and MUSO.