Fringe Legal

Chrissie Wolfe is a solicitor in Irwin Mitchell's international personal injury team, specializing in claims arising outside of England and Wales. She also runs the YouTube channel, Law and Broader.In this episode you'll learn about:Chrissie’s interesting path to law, including homeschoolingGoing from bad A-levels, pivoting from studying biology to lawHow Chrissie saw a need for content to be delivered in a specific way (YouTube/video) and just dove right in. The thought process behind it, and how she was able to grow her channel to over 3k subscribersSkills important now and those that may need to be honed by future lawyersThe link between lawtech and client retentionFinding a balance between work and other interestSUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher You can find Chrissie on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and on her YouTube channel, Law and Broader.

It's really important to spend that initial time on the vision. The 'why are we doing it?' And, the next sort of stage for me was them saying -  the technology that we were adopting was really just a tool to get us on that vision. It's not the solution, because we're the solution. Like how we use it is the solution, but here's the tool that we're going to start with for us on our vision.Then there was a lot of planning. The next thing is really being quite studious, really detail-oriented about planning, and planning some more; having a communication strategy, thinking about how you talk to different lawyers. If people email them, if you have weekly standups and, I learned quite early on, for example, that sending emails every day, just didn't cut through. Because the lawyer never read them. So using different channels to communicate the change that's coming is very important and being quite sensitive to the audience. And that's my next point: thinking about the audience because you're going to have change ch

In legal, to me, it will be about the challenger law firms... just have to flip a few things upside down. And, introduce a disruptive new model of doing business in this space. And that will happen in law, and you see this already, you see this with, for example, Deloitte legal, coming out. And there are a few new-law law firms, as well that are in this space and are trying different models. We recorded this conversation in Feb 2020, and of course, the world changed dramatically since then. As an accompaniment, I would recommend watching Karina’s talk at the Fringe Legal Virtual Summit, where she shares how to run successful SaaS implementation projects. In technology, when you're building products and in any industry that you look at that has been disrupted and innovated over time, all of them share in common, failing fast and trying different things. And you know, they say only 1 in 10 disruptors or startups will work out. The other nine will fail, but you kind of need that churn, that turnover in the marke

Sam leads business transformation projects across every division of Burness Paull. In particular, Sam helps teams within the firm to identify opportunities for automation and/or augmented workflows, making sure that Burness Paull takes full advantage of innovations in legal technology in delivering our services and delighting our clients.There's an old saying that there are three kinds of work in the world: there's good work, there's fast work, and there's cheap work - you can pick any two you like. And I, I think, increasingly what we are trying to do with professionals is we're trying to achieve all three because clients expect us to achieve all three. And you can't necessarily do that by just doing things the same way you've always done them We recorded this conversation in Nov 2019, and of course, the world changed dramatically since then. As an accompaniment, I would recommend watching Sam’s talk at the Fringe Legal Virtual Summit, which was recorded in May 2020. It provides great juxtaposition for how h

when we come back to work, it's going to be really interesting how we'll be able to help support the remote worker as well as those that, want to maintain some level of tradition.Shannon is a successful outsourced solution professional with 25 years of law firm experience.  Shannon has been with Canon 21 years originally serving as the Midwest Operations Manager for 10 years where she and her service team implemented and managed some of our largest and most innovative law firm accounts.  Having been a Facility & Services Manager for a national law firm prior to joining Canon, Shannon has the unique ability to understand law firm requirements from a client and provider perspective. Documents services and the ability to move away from, print is going to be probably the largest area of opportunity. And the best use of the support structure and also,  just driving efficiency and in those areas.  In this episode you'll learn about:How long firms are planning for the return to workWhere are some areas of change

I'm not sure that AI has changed what we do more than electricity did, and somehow they [lawyers] were able to absorb that. So actually, you know, where's the gap, we always assume they can't absorb technology, but maybe they can. Maz will also be speaking at the 2020 Fringe Legal Virtual Summit, where he will expand on many of these items. Register at www.fringelegal.com/summitif you look at the time spent on talking about the subject versus the number of real-world effects, it's not what you'd expect.quite a lot of lawyers see that job as being artisanal. You know, they are they all skilled craftsman doing something that's too complicated for anyone else to comprehendIn this episode you'll learn about:The wide spectrum of innovation found within law firms and legal practicesThe ask to make complicated disciples more simple so it can be spread to different types of lawyersHow to practically approach innovation conversation with lawyersHow to practically approach innovation conversation with clients and in-ho

In 2015, Torsten joined the M&A Corporate department of the international law firm of Bech-Bruun as a project coordinator. Not long afterward, Torsten got involved in the development of Bech-Bruun’s legal tech projects and, for the past few years, has been one of the driving forces behind the implementation of AI and document automation software across the organisation. In January 2019, Bech-Bruun launched its 2022 Strategy and this involved Torsten being appointed Head of Legal Tech Innovation and in charge of developing and implementing new innovative services and products in collaboration with clients and the rest of Bech-Bruun's organisation.This is not just about selling products. This is about how can we serve the client in the best way possible. Taking their strategic direction into account, but also ours, and actually building that close collaboration around a legal tech. SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher During the episode we discuss:How Torsten went from projec

People don't love legal and, if we can help people to love the legal process, um, I think that's, that's really where it [the idea] came from.In the episode today we cover:How Love Legal got their start How making improvements to the design can help people to love the legal processWhat are some of the considerations when thinking about the consumer point of view, especially for B2C or B2B2C businessesWe do also specifically talk about (and speculate) on what might be the future of Will writing, estates law, and execution using instruments such as smart contractshow online presence does affect, people's decision making. It was something like 50% of millennials care about a law firm’s website compared to 20% of boomers....if law firms are looking ahead or looking deep into the future, say 15 years, there's going to be a massive change SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher More information LoveLegal.comSeb Shakh Caroline RaganPlease subscribe, and if you enjoyed the episode help me

The call for innovation is really a call for service transformation in disguise. What clients are really asking for is a different way of servicing and working with them, and that in itself is an innovation in terms of process. We kick off the third season of the podcast with the fantastic Michele DeStefano. The basis of this episode is exploring some of the ideas behind Michele's book - Legal Upheaval.We talk about:What clients are asking for from lawyersHow GCs and Corporates feel about the service being received by their lawyersThe call for service transformation Change management: lawyers are not so resistant to changeHow the lawyer's skills delta has changed since its inception 18 months agoI think if you took all of my interviews of all the in house counsel from around the world. And put them into one of those word grams. I think the words that would come out the most would be together.I think that's an important and big shift because that's hard to do, very hard to do, especially when you're working wi

In 2012, Jan Roggen founded Adhemar.law, a Belgian environmental and real estate boutique law firm, recognized by clients, peers and legal 500. In 2015, he started exploring new service, delivery models. While doing so, he learned that he did not have the required business skills to effectively drive and lead innovation in the firm. So he took the leap and moved to Canada with his family to study innovation management at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario while managing the firm remotely. During his stay in Canada, he saw the Raptors win the NBA Championship and obtained additional certifications in Legal Project Management, Lean Six Sigma, Design Sprint Facilitation, and Wilderness and Remote First Aid.Jan currently focuses on innovation and change management within the firm. In 2019, Adhemar.law was one of the 4 nominees for the 2019 Belgian Legal awards for the most innovative law firms. In addition, Jan is an expert in environmental law, expropriation law, and general public law. He advises private a

Kim Lewis is the Legal Transformation Manager at Gilbert + Tobin.  At the end of the day, it all comes down to clients. That's what we're doing. It's delivering a service to clients so how we deliver that service. What happens to all legal advice once we give it to the client is a really interesting point.  Kim is a UK qualified lawyer and consultant in the Legal Service Innovation team at G+T. She designs solutions for lawyers, working closely with deal teams to project manage and streamline large-scale projects, creating efficiencies and quality outputs for clients.Kim specialises in implementing artificial intelligence tools and has experience in legal technology design and roll-out and change management. She also advises and trains lawyers to use the full spectrum of efficiency tools available at Gilbert + Tobin.Kim brings a range of practical legal experience to her role, having worked in the UK as an M+A lawyer at a large Magic Circle firm and in-house. Show notes The initial idea for this episode was s

Isabella Galeano is the founder of The Technolawgist. She is head of legal at Abertis Mobility Services, legal tech and legal innovation consultant and Director of the Legal Tech Programme at Esade Law School.  Her mission is to contribute to the transformation of the legal industry and to inspire lawyers around the world.I mean, changing is always scary. Changing is always difficult, but the cost of not changing, that's scarier to me at this point.Show notesIsabella has a great breadth of knowledge, and we explore a number of topics in our chat today. How Isabella path was driven by wanting to do things differentlyHow shifting your perspective can spark the start of an innovation journey - in Isabella’s case being seconded to the client’s business opened her eyes to how to communicate in a way that empowers her clients to make the best business decisionHow in-house lawyers are the cornerstone of transformation in the legal industry, pushing forward change in so many waysHow markets such as LATAM are embracin

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of no-code application development platforms being available. Specifically, there has been an uptick in the adoption of these platforms within the legal profession.In this episode, we speak with Jackson Liu on Neota Logic to get a primer on no-code application development. A trend that we're seeing with professional service firms and law firms is that they would build a solution or a product for a particular client and then realize we can actually market this product or this application more broadly. Through the no-code platform, they're able to customize it very, very quickly for other clients. SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher Amongst other items, we cover:What is a no-code platformHow these products can be used for rapid prototyping/developmentCreate MVP quickly, so it can be made available to early adopters; allow for iterative development through user feedbackHow no-code platforms are being used by firms; three u

On the show today, we have Stewart Rasmussen. Stew is a friend, a technologist, and someone who is extremely knowledgeable about the Australian market, especially the legal segment.He's previously worked for the likes of Phoenix Business Solutions in the UK and APAC, served as the Head of Client Services APAC for HighQ, and most recently was the Director of Legal Technology for KPMG Australia. Stew was at KPMG when we recorded this conversation in 2019 - all views are his own and not those of his employers. Just a quick note to say that Stew recorded this during a particularly busy afternoon so the audio is a little unclear at times. Please bear with it. SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher The new breed of technology companies gets it. They know they need to integrate, and not create those silos - it's quite refreshing to see.I think technologists are doing the best they can to develop products. Otherwise, they're going to just end up in an endless cycle of development and the

Allison Hosking is the Head of Knowledge Management at Al Tamimi & Co where she oversees a team responsible for all aspects of the firm’s knowledge management strategy across their 17 offices. Prior to joining Al Tamimi, Allison worked for over a decade for a magic circle law firm as a senior knowledge and learning manager working in their London, New York and Dubai offices. She is a qualified lawyer and has worked and practised in several jurisdictions including Chile, the USA and India. Allison has a university teaching qualification, is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and spent four years teaching at Nottingham Law School on their postgraduate law courses.SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher For change management, you need to take people along with you; making sure that as the KM function you are positioning yourself to be the facilitators of practice innovation and enabling people to understand what tools or legal tech is out there for the so that you can be ah

Nina Gratrick is the Head of IT Services at the global law firm of Watson Farley & Williams.Nina Gratrick An experienced Service Delivery Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the legal industry at a global level. She's a skilled resource manager capable of crossing the divide between technology and people; facilitating engagement at all levels. A coach, a mentor, an agent for change within organisations, supporting people, process and technology transformation to reshape the vision of IT services and support.We talk about how the evolution of IT service delivery, and how by being customer centric, it's possible to push the boundries of change at your firm.SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher Put the customer in the middle of what you're doing, designing, implementing. And go, am I helping or my hindering? Am I gonna make it better? Am I gonna make it worse? And sometimes we make it worse in the short term in order to make it better in the long term. Some takeaw

Laura Collins Scott is the Innovation Lead for Clifford Chance in Singapore. In this episode we talk about Laura experience on leading the Create+65 Innovation Lab in Singapore. Laura Collins Scott began working with Clifford Chance in 2017 when she was initially engaged to define the strategy and business plan for Clifford Chance Applied Solutions.Laura founded BB Consulting in 2016 to help incumbent companies and start-ups design and build innovative products for their customers.   SUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher The three take away from the episode:Laura’s meandering journey to her role today. From training as a lawyer to starting her own consultancy and finally landing at Clifford Chance. Why the Create+65 program was created - how it was influenced by clients, internal stakeholders, and keeping in mind the competitive landscape.Approaching the first anniversary of running the lab, what did Laura and her team have learned that can benefit other firms and individuals. P

On this episode we have Peter Buck, VP, Product Strategy at NetDocuments. The core of the conversation focuses on tackling multi-teaming - the effects of having multiple people working on multiple projects simultaneously. We pivot then to focus on productivity, discussing how it can be measured and the impact of constant context switching, discussing against the background that it takes one around 25 minutes to reach full productivity, but people are interrupted every 3 minutes!Art (culture and perception) and science (data and engineering supporting the argument) of product designMulti-teaming: people working on multiple projects simultaneously, which has many benefits as well as many risks. How does this affects knowledge professionalsWho’s feeling the pain from constant context switchingMulti-teaming is more prominent with seniorityHow to structure teams to minimize destructive conflictMeasuring productivity = output as a function of input Jamie Teevan’s research looking into micro-productivity as a way to

Welcome to the 2nd season of the Fringe Legal podcast. In the first episode we speak with the Maya Markovich, Head of Product at Dentons Nextlaw Labs. The core theme of the episode is all around innovation;  we cover three broad categories:The 3 different pillars of NextLaw labs, and how innovation can take the robot out of the lawyerHow do you catalyze innovation? What that means, and the importance of becoming the connective tissue across the firm/businessImpact of legal tech on access to justice Thanks to Maya for taking the time, and also to Isabella Galeno (who’s featured later in the season) for introducing me to Maya. ---------About MayaHead of product for Nextlaw Labs, Maya Markovich is an innovation leader with roots in change management, behavioral science, law, VC and tech. She delivers next-generation technology, process, and business growth services for Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, and its clients, including acceleration of the legal tech startups in the Nextlaw Ventures portfolio. Her

A sneak peak into Season 2 of the Fringe Legal podcast. Episode one of the second season comes out of November 7, 2019. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to be notified of new episodes.