Fringe Legal

Adrian Camara is the CEO of Athennian. Athennian is a legal entity management software for in-house teams and law firms.

This is a replay from the Fringe Legal Virtual Summit held earlier this year. This panel brings together four leading knowledge managers and innovators to discuss some of the projects they have started or have seen sprouted in crisis situations.The panel will bring together a world view as we'll be joined by Thao and Priti is the US (New York and Chicago respectively), Barbara in Brazil, and Terri in Australia.On the panel were: Priti Saraswat, Bárbara Gondim da Rocha, Terri Mottershead, and Thao TranThis was recorded as a video and you can watch the video version at https://summit.fringelegal.com/talks/km-viewpoint-from-practitioner-to-enabler/

Ab and Vincent sit down for the first of the monthly “chatter” segments on Fringe Legal during which they discuss the Epic vs. Apple/Google saga, California vs. Uber and Lyft, and the upcoming Microsoft Surface Duo device.You can watch the video version of the recording here: https://www.fringelegal.com/august-chatter-with-vincent-michetti/You can Vincent Michetti on LinkedIn. 

Mick Sheehy joined PwC as a partner in October 2018 to build and run PwC’s Australian NewLaw practice, focussed on providing strategic consulting, technology, and outsourcing solutions to legal departments. Mick is a recognized international leader in the field of legal innovation and transformation, having won numerous international legal innovation awards and with his work the subject of a case study for Harvard Law School.  Mick founded and chaired the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium Australia, an industry body established to share best practice legal operations and innovation knowledge.  Mick is a director of Fitzroy Legal Service, a member of the advisory board to Swinburne University Law School, has an extensive commercial and M&A background, and before PwC spent 14 years at Telstra where he was General Counsel.I felt that all the other departments were so adept at using numbers and metrics, in particular, to go and fight for internal funding. Whereas the legal department is hopeless at it. In fact, we weren't even part of the conversation. So I really felt that there was a real problem here that we needed to solve. In the episode today we'll talk through:The research project completed by PwC NewLaw team to identify key decisions that legal departments make every dayThree waves of legal operationsVendor management: manage panels and understand where the money is being spentProductivity: how we manage our workflows, and getting the high volume but simpler processes done betterInsights: this is where we are moving to, and provides a way to get us to look at data and focus on measurementMost of the things that we've done have been done by either other legal departments, a lot of professions, and we should be trying to learn from them, bringing those insights to help make our transformation journey as fast.Deciding what to measure and then what data to captureWhy often legal departments aren't even part of the conversation around spend and business measurements. How measurement drives internal funding and support, and how to set baselines (even if you're the first/only one doing something)  A deep dive into three functional examples - what to measure, how and why:Business strategyTechnology & innovationKnowledge managementThe importance of data-driven decision makingThe thing is when you invest in transformation and change, what is critical is to be able to measure the change.There's no point in changing something if you don't understand your baseline. Whereas I think that perhaps again, a lot of our real initiatives were done without baselines. If you're going to ask for more funding to support a legal operations function or to invest in new technology, you need to very clearly understand your baseline and then be able to measure, in quantifiable terms, what that change is.  Whether it be productivity benefits, whether it be turnaround times, whether it be providing new material insight to your business, these things are capable of being measured. If they aren't measured, you'll never attract that internal investment to support these initiatives. So that is the reason why this has to happen. Without it, the internal funding and support will just dry up. You can find out more about the report and download the PDF here.You can find Mick on PwC's website or on LinkedIn

Andrea is a visionary leader with a passion for combining digitalisation with human potential. She has 20+ years of experience in the legal business both as a transactional lawyer and as a leader for various business areas (marketing, business development, innovation, and legal tech). If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to the Fringe Legal Newsletter to get 3-5 interesting ideas delivered every Sunday. Join 530+ people. It's free. Join at www.fringelegal.com/newsletterSummaryWhy every legal professional needs to know about digital transformationWhat does Innovation mean to Andreamany people mix up innovation with the change, or they mix up innovation with creativity and creativity is certainly necessary for innovation, but it's not enough. It's not the same... Many innovation projects include changing behaviors, adopting new working methods, adopting technology, but change is not equal to innovation... innovation and entrepreneurship is a key success factor for every single company, every single business, also for the legal, it's important that it creates value. It has an economic, positive impactIn reality, innovation is hard work. It's a very structured and focused process. You know the words 'fail fast', so you monitor the process and stop it. You have to create value. You have to have an innovation strategy that is aligned with the overall business strategy. So it is a science and it is something which is a serious and very impactful part of business management.How to create a culture supporting innovation and transformationWhat's the impact of Covid-19 on innovation strategy, and how it will lead to the great unmasking of the "innovation theatre"Some people say that in the next 10 years, the amount of change will be equal to the previous hundred years. And, that's why I say that in the short term, you might have to state safe as a business; in the midterm, you will have to stay hungry; and, in the long term, you have to stay foolish.For those moonshots or long term ideas, you need an innovation strategy. Research shows that in corporate innovation if you have a reactive approach and you just wait for people, you encourage them and incentivize them, but you wait that they come up with ideas most of the ideas will be incremental changes, mostly process changes. I would say that's nice - valuable. But more importantly, these days especially is to have a strategic view and formulate to people the direction we would like to get new ideas on, or which are the problems that are a priority for our firm.Using gamification to drive technology adoption, and how Andrea used this successfully at her previous firmConnecting pieces of the legal supply chain - what is the connection between strategy, innovation, technology and business development.Find Andrea on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Alma is an Evangelist at Litera. Alma is a legal technology expert and trusted advisor to Litera clients, helping them to bring innovative ways of thinking and practice to life. Previously, Alma was the Chief Innovation Officer, Legal Solutions, at Integreon Discovery Solutions. Alma joined Integreon as part of its acquisition of her litigation management software business, Allegory, where she was Founder and CEO.Alma has been researching the prevalence of knowledge management and innovation roles across the Am Law 200 firms. In this episode:we go through her findings which were frankly shocking to the both of uswe look at firms that are doing well in functionally and practically serving the KM and Innovation functionwhat's missing, the myth of km and innovation being widespread across the professionthe cost of not having these roles filled at your firmhow Alma plans to use the informationThis episode is presented a little differently. Alma and I were having such a great conversation that I just hit record. So we'll start mid-flow and the conversation should feel raw but full of useful insights. Just one more thing, if you haven't head over to FringeLegal.com and subscribe to our free weekly newsletter. I share 3-5 interesting finds each week as well as bonus content, such as episode transcripts and more. Over 500 people receive it each week, come join us.You can find Alma on LinkedIn and Twitter.

This is an audio version of the talk Ben gave as part of the Fringe Legal Virtual Summit 2020. You can watch the video version here: https://summit.fringelegal.com/talks/ben-white-results-of-over-200-in-house-counsel-interview/

Mike Whelan, Jr. We think we understand the complexity of the supply chain, but that complexity in a weird way, feeds efficiency, cost control, and quality in a way that we just wouldn't expect. We think we're all artisans. And of course, in a big firm, [and] in law school, we're taught to be sort of artisanal. Mike has worked in logistics, solo law practice, and legal media. He teaches about the overlaps between those activities and what they mean for attorneys and the companies that aim to serve them.Through his speaking, consulting, and writing, Mike aims to improve the lives of solo attorneys. The legal industry has many well-documented struggles. If we can harness the minds and compassion of solos—roughly half of the profession—we can have real impact on an array of social issues, including access to justice. That is Mike’s mission. Mike lives with his wife, four children, dog, two geckos, four cats, two birds, and hedgehog in the Kansas City area. (He needs a nap). Mike is also the host of the Lawyer Forward Podcast.Since people think of the supply chain as a chain, I would just say that a law firm can operate that way. And that's how I talk about it. You know, there are handoffs, you collaborate with people outside of the firm. Somebody's overseeing it, which I think is fundamental to this thing working, but in my dream world, there's not just Bobby gives/does a project, gives it to Sally who does a piece who gives it to Bobby. In my dream world, there are feedback loops of information inside these communities. So in big firms, they refer to this knowledge management, which different firms are better and worse at it. But, but that is a feedback loop. That is the big firms saying we can get smarter as a firm by capturing these things that we keep using. And our knowledge can grow exponentially as we work together with each other. We're not just relying on the individual being really smart and individual silos, which is how a lot of big firms work because they're so specialized, but we can say what's the power of the network. And they're really smart. Big firms are figuring out how to do that.  In this episode you'll learn about:Mike’s journey from logistics to law to being an author The importance of systems-level thinking in the legal professionWhy law schools need to re-evaluate how to teach and prepare students for the practice and business of lawWhat is the legal supply chain and why it’s important to understandBackground to the Churn model created in lawSUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher It is just impossible to be available all the time and still do the work of expertise. And in our really complex, modern legal system. Clients expect both of those. They expect you to be a super nerd about the exact thing that they're dealing with because they saw that on TV. And then they expect you to be incredibly responsive and there for them all the time because that's what Amazon taught them. You can get a copy of Mike’s book - Lawyer Forward on Amazon. Find out more about Mike on his website, and connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.     

Dr. Allan McCay has a PhD in Law (University of Sydney), is an admitted solicitor in Scotland, Hong Kong, New South Wales, and Tasmania (Australia). He is an author of several books, and teaches at the University of Sydney Foundation Program and will again be lecturing in Criminal Law at the University of Sydney Law School in semester 2, 2020.   And so, on that view, it seems like the human consciousness doesn't seem to add much because ultimately human decision making is algorithmic and as these algorithmic machines are getting better and better they will surpass us. And, there are dire implications for the future work.   As I was reading that, I kept from thinking, well if David Hodgson's view is right then that's not, that's not true. So if David Hodgson's view is right then there is some kind of advantage in the workplace from being a conscious human and the certain kinds of humans can, engage in a certain kind of judgment, when they make decisions that are not open to a non-conscious algorithmic machine.  So in a nutshell: consciousness provides a facility for judgment in the past, have probably had an evolutionary advantage, that is lacking in algorithmic non-conscious machines. According to my paper, which uses David Hodgkin's views this may be economically advantageous to us because using this judgment that we have as a result being conscious may provide an advantage in the workplace.  In this episode you'll learn about:Allan’s interest in neuroscience, ethics and the lawWhat advantage humans may or may not have over artificial intelligent agents in the workplace of the futureImpact of neuroscientific evidence in sentencing. Could the presence of certain protein markers (e.g, MAOA) lead to a plea for mitigation in sentencing? What is the Australian Neurolaw Database What are brain-computer interfaces (BCI) The possibility of people committing offenses by way of BCIWe talk through some hypotheticals - how BCI offenses challenge the core of criminal lawHow might human consciousness impact the future of work, against the future of algorithmic machines that will soon surpass us in decision makingSUBSCRIBE AND REVIEW:  iTunes // Spotify // Pocket Casts // Stitcher The question of what, advantages humans may or may not have over Artificially intelligent agents in the workplace of the future.You can find out more about Allan on his website. Connect with him on LinkedIn, and Twitter. You can explore Allan’s books below:Free Will and the LawNeurointerventions and the Law  

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.