Ballard Spahr Wins Transformative Project Award From International Legal Tech Association

National law firm Ballard Spahr has received the prestigious Transformative Project Award from the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) in recognition of the firm’s initiative that uses artificial intelligence to automate first-level document review for litigation matters.

Last year, Ballard Spahr operationalized agentic artificial intelligence across active litigation workflows, enabling responsive review and issue tagging of approximately 1.6 million documents—reducing review timelines from months to days, while materially lowering client costs and improving consistency in high-stakes matters.

That followed Ballard Spahr’s implementation of Syllo, the generative-AI-powered litigation platform, in 2024 to fundamentally streamline large-scale document review for complex litigation. In 2025, the firm deployed Syllo’s AI Workbench, an agentic AI system that coordinates multiple large language models under attorney-defined parameters, allowing the firm to operationalize legal workflows.

The initiative demonstrates how peer-driven, responsibly governed AI can be operationalized in active litigation to produce defensible work product at scale, resulting in meaningful gains in efficiency, quality, and attorney experience, as well as dramatic reductions in client costs, for complex, high-stakes matters.

“We’re delighted and gratified that ILTA has recognized our system as a significant value-add for clients,” said Jason Leckerman, chair of Ballard Spahr’s Litigation Department, which comprises more than 350 lawyers. “This platform makes us even better at what we do. It doesn’t replace lawyers; it enhances our capabilities in providing the best possible results and value for our clients.”  

Ballard Spahr Director of Technology Innovation Lisa Mayo Haynes accepted the award last week on behalf of the firm at ILTA’s 2026 Distinguished Peer Awards ceremony. In helping to create the award-winning platform, Lisa worked closely with Syllo, Jason, and Litigation Department Partner Thomas W. Hazlett, who leads the firm’s E-Discovery and Data Management Group, as well as the firm’s eDiscovery business professionals, under the direction of Chief Information Officer Robert F. Holloway.

In addition, Ballard Spahr Technology and Innovative Solutions Manager Ian Lopez was presented with ILTA’s Young Professional to Watch Award. The award recognizes Ian as a rising young professional, based on his achievements, professionalism, and leadership in the legal technology space, as well as his exceptional extending of his skills to the legal community and his reflection of ILTA’s core values.

For media inquiries, please contact Bill Shralow at 215.864.8195.