The Legal Ops Podcast

Microsoft is one of the most innovative and widely recognised companies in the world. How does an organisation with this level of scale and success think about legal operations? What are its strategic initiatives and thought leadership that the legal ops community can learn from? To what extent is its legal department leveraging AI and other cutting edge tools to drive efficiencies and optimization? These are among the topics we discussed with Lydia Petrakis and Tom Orrison. Lydia is a Senior Corporate Counsel and Digital Strategist focused on issues of strategy, innovation and planning as they affect the legal team. Tom is a Senior Director of Legal Operations focused on contracting, procurement, productivity solutions and support services. Both work in Microsoft's Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) department, one of the largest of its kind in the world. Other topics we discussed with Lydia and Tom include: * How the legal team is leveraging AI * The vital importance of data * The importance of understanding, and documenting, process * How to prepare lawyers and legal teams for change * How automation is adopted differently across three major work types: transact, comply and advise LINKS Lydia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiapetrakis/ Tom on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-orrison-873ba04/

Alex and Elliot discuss: * A recent article by Ironclad's CEO arguing that AI is entering its "Napster phase" * ChatGPT now having access to current information via the internet * Recent trips to Japan, observations on intake systems in daily Japanese life and its implications for legal workflows * Elliot's new MacBook Air and Alex's ruminations on various Apple products LINKS Article on AI entering its Napster phase: https://www.fastcompany.com/90942310/ai-napster-who-going-to-own-it-next ChatGPT can now access the internet: https://www.zdnet.com/article/chatgpt-can-finally-access-the-internet-in-real-time-but-theres-a-catch/

Guest Justin Hectus discusses building and delivering technology for legal teams, including staying focused on core mission, understanding end customers, shipping early and iterating fast, future of custom built legal solutions, building and retaining star players, and developing talent through music, art, and side hustles.

Alex from the Legal Ops Institute discusses contract acceptance via emoji and reports on AI reducing law firm revenue. They also highlight the low adoption of AI among legal professionals and mention the upcoming ALITA Awards.

Tom Stephenson, host of the Dear Legal Ops podcast, discusses the evolution of legal operations, career progression, and the intersection of tech, ops, and people. They also emphasize the strength of the legal ops community and the importance of passion and connections for success in the field.

Jenn McCarron is the Director of Legal Operations and Technology at Netflix, a board member of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC) and host of the CLOC Talk Podcast. If legal operations has rockstars, Jenn is undoubtedly one of them. We covered lots of ground with Jenn, including: * What legal innovation looks like at Netflix * The vital importance of storytelling and communication * Career paths for legal operations professionals * Jenn's own career path from IT program management to legal operations director * Whether or not legal design is really "a thing" * Jenn's interest in music and its relevance to her legal operations job LINKS Jenn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennmccarron

In this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot speak with Jerry Ting, co-founder and CEO of Evisort. Evisort combines artificial intelligence, automation and deep integration to empower customers to transform their business with industry leading contract analytics and contract lifecycle management. In addition to deep diving into Evisort's product, we discuss with Jerry the key to implementing CLM in a commercial context and how to get buy in for any complex change which affects stakeholders across the organisation. LINKS Evisort website: https://www.evisort.com/ Jerry Ting on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerryting

Kevin Clem, Chief Growth Officer at HBR Consulting, discusses predictions about AI and data, the dominance of Microsoft's productivity suite, and HBR's lively Mingle party at the recent CLOC Global Institute. The speakers explore the buzz around generative AI in the legal industry and the challenges faced by legal professionals in building dashboards. They also provide insights into HBR Consulting's Council Command, a comprehensive software-enabled service that offers expertise in analyzing and interpreting legal data. Lastly, they share a glimpse of the vibrant atmosphere and hot topics discussed at the beach-themed HBR Mingle event.

Want to know what it's like to attend the world's biggest legal operations conference? Or did you go and you're now keen to relive it? This is the episode for you!The unofficial theme of this year's event was: artificial intelligence and its role in the legal industry. AI was discussed in almost every session and essentially every conversation over breakfast, lunch and networking drinks. And the consistent message is that AI is already having a real impact on the legal industry through a number of practical use cases and technologies.In our interviews we covered AI from many angles, including how legal ops professionals are adopting it, how vendors are incorporating it into their products and how it will continue to affect the shape of the legal tech market.A big thanks to Evisort for sponsoring this episode and for enabling us to bring this amazing content to you. In the episode you'll hear a number of interviews with their staff, customers and partners, all of whom gave valuable insights on topics at the heart of legal operations and technology (including artificial intelligence). Find out more about Evisort here: https://www.evisort.com/

Alex and Elliot discuss: * The podcast heading to CGI 2023! * A recent survey of perceptions of legal department efficiency * Current attitudes to generative AI in legal practice * Gartner's 2023 report on core capabilities for legal operations technology LINKS Legal's role in revenue generation: https://www.legaldive.com/news/legal-department-revenue-generation-contract-negotiations-onit-elr-report/647087/ Legal department responsiveness: https://www.legaldive.com/news/legal-department-reputation-onit-elr-report-bypassing-legal/645224/ Lawyers' intentions to use generative AI: https://www.lawnext.com/2023/03/few-legal-professionals-using-or-planning-to-use-generative-ai-so-far-lexisnexis-survey-finds.html Allen & Overy's approach to generative AI: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/generative-ai-is-coming-for-the-lawyers Gartner's core capabilities for legal operations technology: https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-04-24-gartner-identifies-core-capabilities-for-legal-operations-technologies