David A. Rueff Jr.

As Chief Client Solutions Group Officer, David is responsible for oversight of an innovation team at Baker Donelson which includes responsibilities for knowledge management, legal project management, matter budgeting, pricing, process improvement, machine learning/AI applications and legal research. David regularly works with lawyers and clients to develop unique process, pricing and technology solutions.

Prior to law school, David worked in the technology industry for a hardware and software manufacturer where he was first exposed to project management, agile and the development of software applications for the engineering industry. David has also been a practicing lawyer for more than 20 years, is PMP® certified through the Project Management Institute, is certified in the Toyota Manufacturing Production System (Lean) and is a member of the Professional Pricing Society. As a practicing lawyer, David's experience included both litigation and transactional matters, but in later years, David's practice was primarily focused on the distribution of federal grants to victims of hurricane and flood disasters. David has staffed and managed project teams in Mississippi, New York, Texas, New Jersey and Louisiana. His experience includes the management and oversight of a program legal department for two years that included a team of 11 attorneys and 20 paralegals.

In 2011, David helped to create and staff one of the first law firm Legal Project Management Offices. As the Firm's Legal Project Management Officer, he was responsible for implementation of pricing, legal project management, process improvement and supporting technologies. David was also responsible for the development of the Firm's patent pending legal project management model - BakerManage®, the Firm's Lean model - BakerLeanTM and the Firm's proprietary budgeting tool - Budget Designer. David also assisted with the launch of the Firm's consulting affiliate, LegalShift, LLC and serves on LegalShift's Board of Directors. He provides consulting services for in-house legal departments by applying some of the same innovations he helped develop at Baker Donelson. For example, David worked with an in-house legal department to improve communication within the team, automate performance metrics, improve controls on outside counsel spend and assist the general counsel with reporting to the executive team.