Akber Datoo is Founder and CEO at D2 Legal Technology (D2LT), an award winning global legal data consultancy advising firms on the use of technology and data to unlock business value through legal change.
Akber advises financial institutions at the intersection of Fintech and Legaltech to achieve business optimisation, regulatory compliance and operational efficiencies. Prior to D2LT, Akber started his career at UBS, working as part of the front office IT team within fixed income derivatives and leading its participation in industry initiatives such as FpML. He then requalified as a lawyer with Allen & Overy LLP, qualifying as an associate in the Derivatives and Structured Finance Group. Akber founded D2LT in 2011, where he has overseen its growth during the last ten years across the UK, US and Asia.
Akber sits on Law Society’s Technology Law Committee where he chairs the digital assets and smart contracts sub-committee and is a PRIME Finance Expert. He is the author of the Wiley textbook, Legal Data – Banking & Finance, published in May 2019 and has written chapters on Smart Contracts and Contract Optimisation in the best-selling Wiley InsurTech and FinTech books, as well as the co-editor of the LegalTech book in this series, published in June 2020. He is an associate editor, with a focus on smart contracts, for Frontiers in Blockchain, and a visiting professor at the University of Surrey, where he teaches the Law and Technology module.
In 2019, he was recognised as “one of the top ten market shapers” in the Financial Times Intelligent Business Awards and for the development of an industry netting counterparty type utility at their 2020 awards. Akber graduated with first class honours in Computer Science at Cambridge University.