Kennedys adds new data scientists to drive innovation growth from India

We are delighted to announce we have appointed two new data scientists as part of our growing development team in India.

Rising stars Akhil Sivanand and Renimol Siby have joined Kennedys Kognitive Computing, an exclusive partnership formed by Kennedys in 2017 to help drive innovation in lawtech and insurtech.

Based in Kerala, the two new hires join a 30 strong team focused on developing new technology and products behind our award-winning business, Kennedys IQ. Launched in 2020, Kennedys IQ is a separate business set up with the aim of using data-driven insight to develop smart technology and help clients use lawyers less.

Akhil Sivanand, who holds a master’s degree in industrial engineering, joins from Allianz in India where he worked as a senior analyst on multiple data science, optimisation, and process improvement projects. He is experienced in business intelligence and predictive analytics and also has a special interest in condition monitoring and predictive analytics using deep learning.

Renimol Siby was a senior engineer in research and development at Flytxt Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd. A former electronics and communication engineering student, she already has an impressive list of credits to her name.

She has published and was invited to present research papers on data analytics and climate study at a Royal Meteorological Society conference and a meeting of the American Geophysical Union. She also won a student scholarship to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference in India while at college in 2017.

The new recruits are part of our continued commitment to growth in India, which will be showcased this week at a live webinar bringing together some of the leading names in lawtech and insurtech.

More than 180 people have already signed up for the event which has been organised in partnership with the Group of Technology Companies (GTech), the industry body for IT and business process management organisations in Kerala.

It will be chaired by Tony Joseph, CEO of Kennedys Kognitive Computing, with speakers including Richard Overington, claims manager at Allianz, Dr Harvey Maddocks, lead data scientist at Kennedys IQ, Karim Derrick, product and innovation director at Kennedys IQ and Richard West, partner and head of innovation at Kennedys and Director of Kennedys IQ.

Karim Derrick, product and innovation director at Kennedys IQ said: “Innovation is driven by big ideas and bold thinking, and we’re delighted to have Akhil and Renimol, who are already so highly-regarded in the industry, joining the team.

Over the past few years, we have seen technology start to transform legal services and our work is already at the forefront of that, but we need to ensure we have the best and brightest minds to remain at the vanguard.

Karim Derrick, product and innovation director at Kennedys IQ

Our ambition to be seen as an innovator in the industry has been not only achieved but exceeded and that is in large part down to our brilliant team of innovators, lawyers and developers, including those in Kerala.

Richard West, head of liability and innovation at Kennedys

Richard West also added: “We are committed to growing our presence in India and excited to hold our first event there, which promises to be an interesting and informative session bringing like-minded colleagues together to share their knowledge.”

Anyone who would like to join the free webinar on Thursday, 11 November – 5.30-6.30pm (IST), 12–1 pm (BST) – can register here.

The team driving our global innovation have already won several awards including The Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyers Award 2019 for Innovation in the Business of Law: New products and services, and the Innovation in Strategy and Digital Transformation award at The FT Innovative Lawyers’ Europe Awards 2020.