The Legal Ops Podcast

In celebration of International Women's Day 2022 we spoke with Jodie Baker about the representation of women in the legal tech industry. Jodie is one of the founders of WALTA, the Women of Australian Legal Technology Association, as well as being a lawyer and a highly successful legal tech entrepreneur. We covered many aspects of this important topic, including: * How the representation of women in legal tech compares to that of men * How the rate of funding for female-led legal tech start ups significantly lags that of male-led legal tech start ups * Why it is important to strive for equality in this space * Some causes of the existing inequality, and what can potentially be done to address it * Examples of exciting female-led legal tech businesses * Where we can aim to be in the medium to long-term future LINKS Jodie Baker on LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/jodiebakerxakia WALTA website: https://alta.law/women-of-australian-legal-technology-association/

Alex and Elliot chat about: * Checkbox's recent US$4.5m capital raise * LawNext's new legal tech directory * Google's AI-based contract review service, Contract DocAI * Whether or not lawyers should have an ethical obligation to be efficient (spoiler: probably not) LINKS Checkbox capital raise: https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/articles/checkbox-raises-6-3-m-to-take-automated-app-builder-global.html LawNext's legal tech directory: https://directory.lawnext.com/directory-companies/categories/contract-lifecycle-management/ Contract DocAI: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2021/11/18/google-tells-artificial-lawyer-about-its-contract-docai-strategy/ Efficiency as an ethical obligation: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2022/02/14/what-if-lawyers-had-an-ethical-obligation-to-be-efficient/

We’re back! It’s a new year and that means almost every legal tech publication has its own predictions for 2022 and beyond. To save you reading them, and to add some spice, Alex and Elliot discuss the eight predictions they find to be the most interesting, compelling and, in some cases… the most wrong. They cover: * AI and Machine Learning * Platformization * Blockchain * Spend on technology vs people * Increased use of cloud services * Investment in legal tech * Security and risk * Hybrid working LINKS Legal Insider predictions: https://bit.ly/3sl5uZsPredictions for contracts and CLM: https://bit.ly/3owkDWBPredictions for the business of law and ALSPs: https://bit.ly/3B3LKgSPredictions for Legal Technology Innovation: https://bit.ly/34nqoizPredictions for Remote Work and COVID-19: https://bit.ly/3B4EK3t

And… that’s a wrap for 2021! Alex and Elliot are joined by a very special guest to reflect on the year and cast their minds forward to 2022. They discuss the podcast’s incredible growth, their favourite episodes and what they’ve learned from the awesome guests who have appeared on the show this year. They also offer their predictions on what will happen in legal ops in 2022, including the changes they expect to see in the legal tech market and likely developments in the legal services space. Finally, they discuss what we can expect from the podcast next year. The podcast will be taking a break over the Christmas and New Year period. We’ll be back with more great legal ops content in early 2022.

Alex and Elliot chat about: * A new legal tech directory and why there are so many in the market * A shareholder class action against Nuix, capping off a really bad year for the company * Legal tech capital raisings by Ontra and others * DocuSign’s new investment fund LINKS New legal tech directory: https://legaloperators.com/tech-directory/

Michael Callier is an award-winning corporate lawyer, legal operations director and consultant with nearly 20 years of experience in law firms and corporate legal departments, including at Nike, Infinitas and now at Factor. We sat down with Michael to discuss diversity in legal practice and legal operations, including: * what we mean by diversity * how the world is becoming more volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) and why that puts an emphasis on diversity for legal teams * the SCARF model and how it can help to promote collaboration and team cohesiveness * what role legal operations and legal tech can play to improve diversity LINKS LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelcallier/ Email: michael.callier@factor.law Blame It on the Machine: A Socio-Legal Analysis of Liability in an AI World:https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wjlta/vol14/iss1/4/ 

Alex and Elliot chat about: * Two recent legal tech acquisitions * Microsoft's seed investment in Definely * What's hot (and not) in legal tech in 2021 * A new "Tinder for lawyers" app LINKS What's hot (and not) article: https://www.legaltechnology.com/2021/09/06/talk-whats-hot-and-not-in-2021/ Tinder for lawyers article: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2021/09/07/tinder-for-lawyers-dating-app-aims-to-help-attorneys-find-love

Colin Levy is a corporate lawyer, a legal tech evangelist and a regular commentator on all things legal tech and legal operations. His diverse experience has given him extensive exposure to the commercial contracting space, as a lawyer and also as a designer and implementer of contract management systems. For this episode we sat down with Colin to discuss the basics of contract lifecycle management (CLM), including: * What the phrase "contract lifecycle management" actually means * As an in-house lawyer, how you know you need a CLM tool and how to choose the right one * Considerations when implementing a CLM tool, including how to build a business case, which stakeholders to engage and how to improve your underlying contracting processes * The new features which are being added to CLM tools now and in the future * What the future holds for legal technology more generally LINKS Colin Levy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinslevy/

Alex and Elliot chat about: * More news on the M1X MacBook Pros * The recent acquisition of Kira Systems by Litera Microsystems, and Luminance's related PR campaign * The maturing of the legal tech market * The 2021 Gartner hype cycle for legal and compliance technologies LINKS Legal Evolution article: https://www.legalevolution.org/2021/08/how-the-first-half-of-2021-signals-the-maturity-of-an-ecosystem-255/ Article on the 2021 Gartner hype cycle: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2021/07/28/gartner-legal-tech-hype-cycle-2021-some-thoughts/

Mark Cohen is a genuine thought leader on the changing nature of the legal profession. He is a frequent speaker about legal transformation and a prolific writer on the topic for a range of publications, including Forbes magazine. A former trial lawyer, Big Law partner, boutique law firm founder and current legal transformation consultant, he has a wealth of experience in the space. We sat down with Mark to discuss digital transformation and how it applies to the legal industry, including: * The relationship between digital transformation and customer centricity * When considering legal technology, why it’s more important to focus on the customer benefits than the technology itself * How digital transformation will enable law departments to change from being cost centres to drivers of business value * The importance of data to law departments and the businesses they support * How to drive cultural change around digital transformation * The role of legal operations in the changing nature of the legal industry LINKS Digital Legal Exchange: https://www.dlex.org/ Legal Mosaic: https://www.legalmosaic.com/