Tom Quoroll: ‘We’re rethinking our talent and operating model around AI’

If anyone knows how nuanced business financing transactions can be, it’s Linklaters partner Tom Quoroll.  

As a key expert in the firm’s structured finance practice, he covered a broad range of complex asset backed financing products, navigating vast amounts of documentation and data ahead of fast-approaching legal deadlines.  

In 2026, he co-founded Applied Intelligence, our team that brings data scientists and lawyers together to build bespoke AI solutions for clients’ most pressing challenges. 

Here, he explains why our approach to AI sets the firm apart – and the tangible benefits clients are already experiencing. 

Q: What is the AI strategy at Linklaters? 

Tom Quoroll: “We are leading the market in the use of AI by embedding it across the firm, rather than treating it as a standalone technology programme. That means top-to-bottom adoption, investing in AI-proficient legal talent, working with the best platforms and using our Applied Intelligence team to solve the hardest client problems.  

The objective is simple – better quality, speed and certainty for clients, while allowing our lawyers to spend more time on the analysis and judgement that matter most. We act for the world's leading companies, funds and financial institutions on their most complex mandates, and using AI we can help them create value by reaching better decisions more quickly and executing effectively.” 

Q. What makes the Linklaters approach to AI distinctive? 

TQ: “I think our advantage starts with the way the firm is built. We combine a genuinely global platform, with AI lawyers embedded in our practices around the world, with a multidisciplinary legal R&D capability, and we are deliberately platform agnostic so our teams can use the right tool for the problem.  

We are also building directly with our clients – testing ideas on complex, real-world matters – rather than treating AI principally as an efficiency exercise.” 

Q. What does adopting AI in this way mean for Linklaters clients? 

TQ: “Clients should expect our lawyers to be leading the way in the use of AI to deliver for them. Efficient delivery is table stakes, but we are also using AI to work faster and more comprehensively than has been possible before. We're presenting our advice in new ways using our ability to create interactive tools quickly and we're freeing capacity at all levels to focus on what matters most – complex analysis, commercial judgement and trusted relationships. Our Applied Intelligence team brings an entirely new capability – data scientists and lawyers in one team bringing big data thinking to bear on complex mandates.” 

Q. How will AI change what value clients get from their lawyers? 

TQ: “AI will raise the baseline of what every law firm can deliver, but it will not make great lawyers interchangeable. If anything, it will increase the premium on judgement, accountability and the ability to understand a client’s business and bring together expertise across disciplines and markets. The leading firms will be those that rethink their talent and operating model around AI, rather than simply adding new tools to the old one.” 

Q. What is the biggest mistake law firms could make with AI? 

TQ: “Treating AI as a technology project or simply a way to reduce cost. I think the real opportunity is to rethink how legal services are delivered, how talent is developed and where lawyers add the greatest value. Firms that only add new tools to their existing model will miss the more fundamental change.”