Bio
Jane Clemetson is Commercial Legal Director at Reach plc, publishers of The Daily Mirror, Express, Daily Star, OK! Magazine and numerous regional titles and websites. Prior to that she founded a legal and business affairs consultancy which worked with many large companies including ITN, Trinity Mirror (now Reach), News International, Sony Music and EMI as well as many smaller ones, including advising on the transformation from traditional to digital media. An advocate of gender equality and diversity in law (and elsewhere), she is Education Officer for Reach’s internal Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Committee which seeks to achieve better levels of representation across Reach’s business. She was early enthusiast and advocate for the opportunities for tech to improve legal practice. A graduate of the LSE she is responsible for all commercial and contractual legal matters across Reach’s business, including advising on data protection. She also represents Reach on numerous industry bodies and committees.
Contribution to Legal Tech
At Reach where she set up and leads the Commercial Legal Department, she is working to introduce a bespoke AI enabled contract management system (CMS) to improve contracting procedures, permit greater management oversight, enable revenue to be increased by capturing the correct rights from contributors and as a source of truth for all contractual commitments of the business. The CMS has a self-service portal and empowers non-legally qualified colleagues, especially journalists, to conclude contracts via multiple platforms, including on their mobile phones. Part of her strategic vision is the introduction of a legal portal with information about the services that the in-house lawyers provide and which can be used by anyone who wishes to request legal assistance. An app is under consideration, as is the introduction of chatbots, to enable greater user-friendliness and encourage take up. Jane is an enthusiastic networker and is happy to share her substantial knowledge and experience and supports further adoption of legal tech at Reach and generally, to drive greater efficiencies and oversight and transform the way that legal services are delivered.
