DALLAS (May 28, 2021) – Immigration law firm Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL) is a finalist in three categories of the International Legal Innovation Awards by UK Law.com, announced today in London at a virtual awards ceremony. The firm was shortlisted for its technological innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Knowledge Management and Marketing.

“We are proud of the curiosity and spirit that drive everything we do,” said Edward Rios, a BAL Partner and Head of Innovation & Strategy. “Being a finalist for three awards across very different departments is a testament to our forward-thinking culture.”

In the AI category, BAL is an award finalist for its Client Transition AI that helps accelerate and drive quality in data collection and migration as new clients bring their casework to BAL. The onboarding process combines immigration and industry knowledge with advanced technology to bring large data sets into the firm’s systems in a reliable format.

“Our technology platforms work hand in hand with our staff to provide real-time intelligence while our legal teams and support staff handle the most critical tasks for our clients,” said Vince DiMascio, CIO. “We use technology to increase speed, enhance quality, and ultimately give our people ‘superpowers’ through design, automation and practical AI.”

In the Knowledge Management category, BAL was recognized for combining its technological tools and immigration expertise to provide clients with the industry’s first multi-media immigration knowledge portal to house immigration breaking news analysis, FAQs, Immigration 101 basics, process maps, how-to videos, and much more. Dubbed “Advisor,” the portal provides corporate clients and their foreign-national employees access to up-to-date immigration information and knowledge on-demand, available 24/7, on their computers or mobile devices.

“BAL’s Advisor provides exemplary knowledge management for clients’ HR professionals and their employees,” said Katie Stone, Knowledge Management Director. “We also created Advisor+, which is a higher tier of content curated specifically for our clients’ HR mobility professionals to give them unique insights into the industry and their roles and obligations under immigration laws, regulations and best practices standards.”

BAL is also an award finalist for its Marketing Department’s innovative approach to providing original, timely immigration news.

“BAL’s goal was to create content marketing that is so valuable that it is not perceived as marketing, but as an indispensable service,” said Hennessey Knoop, Chief Marketing Officer.  “BAL not only publishes the most immigration stories, we also supply the most up-to-date coverage and thoughtful, easy-to-understand analysis.”

In the past year, BAL met the unique challenge of covering COVID-19’s impact on travel and immigration, as countries around the world canceled flights, closed borders and suspended visa issuance. Most immigration firms created stand-alone COVID-19 resources, but did not publish COVID-19 news on a daily basis. BAL did both. BAL worked with its alliance partner, Deloitte UK, to create a cutting-edge COVID-19 information resource—a comprehensive Digital Map showing the most current status of travel, quarantine and work-permit rules for nearly every country in the world. In 2020, BAL published 980 news alerts, including 242 U.S. alerts,.

About Berry Appleman & Leiden LLP (BAL)

BAL, one of the world’s most recognized corporate immigration law firms, is the Best Lawyers® “Law Firm of the Year” in U.S. Immigration Law for 2019, the Most Diverse Law Firm in America (2021 and 2020) and the Best Law Firm for Women (2019 and 2020). BAL’s Cobalt® digital immigration services platform won the 2020 CODiE Award for Best Legal Tech Product and the prestigious CIO100 award for Innovative Use of Intelligent Automation in Immigration Services. BAL is singularly focused on meeting the immigration challenges of corporate clients around the world in ways that make immigration more strategic and enable clients to be more successful. Established in 1980, BAL has consistently provided immigration expertise, top-notch information security and leading technology innovation. The firm entered into a strategic alliance with Deloitte UK to create the world’s first global immigration service delivery model. BAL and its leaders are highly ranked in every major legal publication, including Best Lawyers, Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, and Who’s Who Legal. See website for details: https://www.bal.com/.