150 Years of Womble: Innovation is our Tradition

This article is part of a series celebrating Womble Bond Dickinson’s 150th anniversary and reflecting on the firm’s enduring legacy of service to the law, its clients, and the communities it serves.

Innovation isn’t a new concept at Womble Bond Dickinson. It’s a value ingrained in the firm’s culture, a Day One commitment to meet clients not only where they are, but where they are going. At Womble Bond Dickinson, innovation has never been an abstract idea—it’s a practical commitment to helping clients navigate change and seize opportunity. 

In 1876, Cyrus Barksdale Watson and William Bynum Glenn formed the firm in the community not yet known as Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They did so because the formerly sleepy small town was quickly transforming into a hub for manufacturing and transportation—and those businesses needed increasingly sophisticated legal services. 

That culture of innovation continued to grow and thrive in the mid-Twentieth Century, adding new practice areas such as regulatory compliance, corporate law, and intellectual property, to meet evolving client demand. The firm also established itself as a go-to firm for complex national litigation in this time period, including arguing several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The needs of clients were changing, and Womble changed with it. 

Technology, including investing in transformative equipment and in training team members to best employ it, has long been a priority. In the 1970s, Womble introduced centralized word processing and systems that improved efficiency and consistency in legal delivery, long before such technology was standard in the business world. 

By the mid-1990s, that commitment to innovation led Womble to become one of the first law firms in the United States to have a website. Clients were embracing digital knowledge, and Womble met them where they wanted and needed us to be. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, Womble pivoted seamlessly, having already invested heavily in remote working technology and employee training. As a result, the firm was able to continue to serve clients at the same high level, with no interruption in services and without large-scale staff reductions. 

Each of these advancements reflects a consistent philosophy: anticipating client needs and building solutions before they become industry standard. 

Womble is now actively leveraging AI to improve how work gets done, driving efficiency, modernizing operations, and delivering stronger client outcomes. Through a comprehensive training initiative, the firm is equipping its people to use these tools responsibly, securely, and with a clear focus on client value.  

Womble’s 150-year commitment to innovation always has been focused on helping our clients achieve their defined goals. Chief among these developments has been WBD Advance, a portfolio of in-house legal support services that are convenient, cost-effective, and of the same high quality that clients expect from our firm. 

For three decades, clients have relied on Womble’s Case Management Facility (CMF) to coordinate product liability, class action, and multi-district litigation. Ninety percent of AmLaw 200 firms have engaged the CMF to help manage their clients’ most complex litigation. The CMF’s services put all the data in one manageable location, and team members give clients and their counsel the strategic guidance to best use this information. 

“We give clients what’s almost impossible to do: Have control,” said Chris Douglas, leader of the CMF and MedSci teams.  

The Medical and Scientific Solutions (MedSci) Team of legal, scientific, and research professionals helps guide clients when such knowledge is essential to litigation and other legal matters. Their services include medical records collection and analysis, expert witness guidance, research, trial consultation, graphics, and more.  

But innovation isn’t just about technology or service offerings. It’s about a mindset of finding solutions to client needs.  

Douglas exemplifies the firm’s Point of View Like No Other when she says, “If there’s a process and we can make it better, I have a passion for that.”