Thompson Hine LLP, a full-service national business law firm with over 400 lawyers in eleven offices (Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Washington, DC), is widely recognized for its innovative, value-driven approach to delivering legal services.
At Thompson Hine, we integrate service excellence with innovation through SmartPaTH™, our comprehensive legal service delivery model developed in 2013 and continually enhanced. This program was created to respond to clients’ needs for a more predictable, efficient, and transparent service experience. Thompson Hine has made significant investments in talent, proprietary technology, processes, and infrastructure to increase efficiency and provide greater value. SmartPaTH combines disciplined legal project management, process efficiency, flexible staffing, and value-based pricing to align service delivery with client goals-driving efficiency, predictability, transparency, and cost control without sacrificing quality.
Our approach is powered by more than a decade of budgeting experience and proprietary technology, including a new AI- and machine learning–driven algorithm that analyzes over 13 years of client matter data housed in a robust data warehouse. These tools refine cost projections and improve planning, budgeting, monitoring, and matter management, delivering increased predictability in legal spend and better alignment with client objectives.
Legal Project Management is central to SmartPaTH. We define scope, develop detailed work plans and budgets, monitor progress, and conduct post-engagement reviews. Proprietary tools streamline budgeting and work planning, while our matter management system supports clear communication and progress tracking. We continuously improve processes by mapping workflows, creating templates, and developing practice-specific toolkits.
Our innovation is widely recognized across the legal industry. Thompson Hine is a finalist in two 2026 categories the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards North America—Innovation in AI Strategy for our firmwide generative AI professional development initiative and Innovation in New Legal Products.
Additionally, to optimize improvements in planning, budgeting, monitoring and managing matters, the firm commissioned three formal surveys of in-house counsel to ascertain their perceptions and needs, the most recent of which was just published, in November 2025. The survey data, combined with informal client feedback, guides the firm’s innovation efforts
We continue our strategic national growth, opening our 10th office in Minneapolis in 2025, following Los Angeles in 2024, and adding key lateral talent across offices.
Thompson Hine. Always Innovating.
www.thompsonhine.com/innovation
Updated March 2026
