Shows
The Legal Ops PodcastTLOP 2.0, The Pulse: March 2025 - Dongles and RabbitholesIn this Pulse episode, Daryl and Elliot discuss:DonglesWho first introduced the idea of LLMs "talking" to LLMs?LLMs actually "talking" to LLMsMaking AIMI a thing DeepseekResearch LLMs (specialization v. generalization)Using words with imperfect definitions, and rabbitholes"Probabilistic loops" and "thinking"
2025-03-1734 minThe Legal Ops Podcast2024 Year in Review, 2025 PredictionsAfter a long break, Elliot and Alex are back. Where did they go? What were they doing? And who is this other guy?
This episode features...
1). Who is this other guy? Introducing Daryl Osuch.
2). 2024 Year in Review: a lookback that features highly critical and mostly arbitrary scores on a scale of 1 (Wrong, and you will laugh about this later) to 10 (Right, and I am scared of your apparent prescience). Alex spent Christmas building small language model apps, Daryl defends LLM mistakes, and Elliot determines we all did pretty poorly.
3). 2025 Predictions: Daryl holds a surprise spelling quiz...
2025-01-231h 13
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Air Canada required to honor AI-generated refund policy, AI's impact on law firm billing and how to craft an organizational AI policyAlex and Elliot chat about: * how to craft an organizational AI policy * a recent tribunal decision requiring Air Canada to honor a refund policy invented by its online chatbot * recent articles on AI's impact on law firm billing and a potential shift towards value-based pricing * another recent article on the need to balance AI's precision with human insight in the practice of law A big thanks to LinkSquares for sponsoring this episode! Check out their website at: https://linksquares.com/ LINKS Air Canada decision: https...
2024-02-2630 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: 2023 year end wrapAlex and Elliot discuss: * The recent leadership challenges at OpenAI and what, if anything, it means for the pace of AI development and adoption * A review of podcast episodes during 2023, their favourites and why * Musings on expectations for 2024 * Elliot's continuing work on the "AI for legal teams" training course, which will be published in early 2024 under the Legal Ops Institute brand This is our last episode for 2023. A big thanks for listening to the show - we'll be back in late January or early February 2024. LINKS
2023-12-1824 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: leveraging AI for knowledge worker productivity, AI provides poor legal advice and no law firm competitive advantage from generative AIAlex and Elliot discuss: * A recent article looking at the effects of AI on productivity and quality of work by consultants at the Boston Consulting Group * A study by an English law firm finding poor legal advice provided by various Large Language Models, including GPT and Bard * A recent article discussing whether or not generative AI will be a source of competitive advantage for law firms * Elliot's anguish, and enjoyment, producing material for the upcoming "AI for legal teams" training course, which will soon be the first course published by the...
2023-11-0930 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: LinkSquares with Tim Parilla and Ashlyn DonohueIn this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot speak with Tim Parilla and Ashlyn Donohue from LinkSquares. LinkSquares helps organizations streamline contract management and drive efficiencies for contract-related workflows with an all-in-one CLM and legal project management platform. In addition to learning about the LinksSquares product, we discuss a range of important issues including how to get buy in for a CLM implementation, which parts of an organization are the main beneficiaries of a CLM system and why data is so valuable to legal teams. LINKS LinkSquares website: https://linksquares.com/ ...
2023-10-2943 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: AI looks like Napster, ChatGPT accesses the internet, workflow and intake in Japan and new gadgetsAlex 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/
2023-10-0327 min
The Legal Ops PodcastCrafting Legal Tech solutions with Justin HectusJustin Hectus is a co-founder and Chief Information Officer at Keesal Propulsion Labs, a consultancy focused on technology and automation of legal processes. With Justin we discussed many aspects of building and delivering technology for legal teams, including: * How to ensure your team stays focused on the core mission and goals * The importance of knowing and understanding your end customer * Shipping early and iterating fast * The future of custom built legal solutions * How to build and retain a team of star players * Developing and cross-training...
2023-09-0452 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: introducing the Legal Ops Institute, contract acceptance via emoji, new reports on AI and its consequences for the legal industryAlex and Elliot discuss: * Introduction to the Legal Ops Institute, essential learnings for legal changemakers brought to you by the podcast * Thumbs up emoji used to accept a contract * Generative AI could reduce law firm revenue by 23.5% * 62% of legal professionals are not using AI * 2023 Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA) Awards LINKS Legal Ops Institute: https://www.legalops.fm/institute Thumbs up emoji: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/thumbs-up-emoji-can-represent-contract-acceptance-sask-court-finds-1.1941866 Generative AI reducing law firm revenue: https://www.geeklawblog.com/2023/08/generative-ai-could-reduce-law-firm-revenue-by-23-5...
2023-08-2131 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: the evolution of legal operations with Tom Stephenson of the Dear Legal Ops podcastAlex and Elliot are joined by Tom Stephenson, host of the Dear Legal Ops podcast, to discuss: * the evolution of legal operations * career progression for legal ops professionals * the intersection of tech, ops and people * the strength of the legal ops community LINKS Tom Stephenson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tstephenson1 Dear Legal Ops podcast: https://www.dearlegalops.com/
2023-08-0634 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal innovation at Netflix with rockstar Jenn McCarronJenn 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 "...
2023-07-241h 03
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: Evisort with Jerry TingIn 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...
2023-07-0240 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: predictions and parties with Kevin Clem from HBR ConsultingAlex and Elliot are joined by Kevin Clem, Chief Growth Officer at HBR Consulting, to discuss: * Predictions about AI, data and the dominance of Microsoft's productivity suite * HBR's "The Mingle" party at the recent CLOC Global Institute (with audio recorded live at the event) A big thanks to HBR Consulting for sponsoring this episode of the podcast and for hosting The Mingle party. You can find more information about them here: https://www.hbrconsulting.com/ LINKS Kevin Clem on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinclem
2023-06-1943 min
The Legal Ops PodcastCLOC Global Institute 2023Want 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...
2023-06-011h 28
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: 2023 CLOC Global Institute, legal department efficiency, adoption of generative AI and core legal tech capabilitiesAlex 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
2023-05-0828 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal tech by the numbers with Raymond BlydRaymond Blyd is seriously into legal tech. His websites, Legal Complex and Legal Pioneer, showcase the legal tech market by highlighting the most innovative brands and, more importantly, the numbers. How much capital is flowing into legal tech? How has the funding market changed in recent times? Who are the winners and losers? What does all this tell us about the current trends and likely future developments? These are all questions that Raymond has investigated and written about, by analysing the numbers and thinking carefully about what they tell us. We covered many topics with...
2023-04-1248 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: GPT-4 is released and passes the Uniform Bar Exam, Microsoft Copilot for Office, re-creating GPT for under $600Alex and Elliot discuss: * The release of GPT-4 * GPT-4 passes the Uniform Bar Exam * Microsoft announces Copilot for Office online * Copying GPT for under $600, by using GPT LINKS Release of GPT-4: https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/14/23638033/openai-gpt-4-chatgpt-multimodal-deep-learning GPT-4 has passed the Uniform Bar Exam: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2023/03/17/how-gpt-4-mastered-the-entire-bar-exam-and-why-that-matters/ Microsoft Copilot: https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/17/23644501/microsoft-copilot-ai-office-documents-microsoft-365-report Copying GPT for under $600: https://newatlas.com/technology/stanford-alpaca-cheap-gpt/
2023-03-2627 min
The Legal Ops PodcastDemystifying GPT and AI for lawyers with Mary O’Carroll and Cai GoGwiltInterest in artificial intelligence has skyrocketed in the past few months thanks to rapid advances in the GPT language model and, equally importantly, many vendors incorporating the model into their products and services. But what does this mean for the legal industry, both now and in the future? To answer this question we invited Mary O’Carroll and Cai GoGwilt onto the podcast. Mary is currently Chief Community Officer with Ironclad, a US-based contract lifecycle management vendor, as well as the immediate past president of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium and the former Director of Legal Operations at...
2023-03-0651 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: round up of 2022 legal tech investment, ChatGPT for Outlook and Word and rumours of a new MacBook Air form factorAlex and Elliot discuss: * A roundup of legal tech investments in 2022 including their thoughts on the trends for 2023 * Microsoft’s potential integration of ChatGPT into Outlook and Word, and what this would mean for the legal industry * Why Elliot is hanging out for the rumoured-to-be-upcoming 15.5 inch M2 MacBook Air LINKS 2022 legal tech investment: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2023/01/20/legal-tech-investments-dropped-in-2022-but-the-number-of-investors-spiked/ ChatGPT for Outlook and Word: https://www.theverge.com/2023/1/9/23546144/microsoft-openai-word-powerpoint-outlook-gpt-integration-rumor
2023-02-1629 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal tech predictions for 2023It's the start of the year and time for a new round of legal tech predictions! In this episode we discuss a bunch of predictions from Gartner, including what we do and don't agree with, and why. Here's a sneak peak of the issues covered: * Big growth in the proportion of funding spent on legal tech * Replacing lawyers with non-lawyers * Ever increasing automation * Capturing the benefits of CLM, or not * Spending on non-specialist technology providers Then Alex and Elliot make some predictions of their own...
2023-01-3144 min
The Legal Ops PodcastBecoming a legal ops professional with Carl MorrisonCarl Morrison is the Director of Legal Operations at MGM Resorts International, based in Las Vegas. He began his legal career as a paralegal, working primarily in litigation support and legal project management. He progressed to management roles in which he lead teams of paralegals to efficiently deliver complex discovery and document review initiatives, eventually combining his existing skills with technology, analysis and strategic advice to move fully into legal operations. We covered many topics with Carl, including: * How he progressed from paralegal to director of legal operations * What specific challenges he encountered...
2022-11-2951 min
The Legal Ops PodcastDesigning a modern legal tech stack with Nam TruongNam Truong is the head of Digital and Innovation at Law Squared, an innovative and young law firm based in Melbourne, Australia. Nam is relatively new to the legal industry, having spent a number of years working with digital products in the financial services industry. This non-legal background, combined with the blank canvas of Law Squared's existing tech stack, enabled Nam and the firm to eschew many traditional legal tech services and instead create a flexible and robust system which leverages modern architectural principles. We covered many topics with Nam, including: * Why he moved from...
2022-11-0244 min
The Legal Ops PodcastInvesting in legal tech with Zach PosnerZach Posner is a co-founder and managing partner of The Legal Tech Fund, an investment fund which focuses exclusively on early stage legal tech start ups. He is an accomplished entrepreneur himself, having started and sold three companies in a variety of industries. In a wide ranging and fascinating conversation, we covered many aspects of the legal tech investment world, including: * What is unique about the legal tech market, and why he and The Legal Tech Fund focus on it * What makes a good start up, both in general and in the legal...
2022-10-0954 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: Malbek CLM with Matt PatelIn this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot speak with Matt Patel, co-founder and COO of Malbek. Malbek provides provides contract review and management software solutions to companies across the globe. LINKS Malbek website: https://www.malbek.io/ Matt Patel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-patel-36680a9
2022-09-1541 min
The Legal Ops PodcastStandardizing the legal industry with Electra JaponasElectra Japonas is the founder and CEO of The Law Boutique, a legal optimisation consultancy which aims to turn law departments into commercial enablers by supercharging their business through legal design. Electra and TLB are on a mission to drive efficiency through standardization. Their first two contract standardization projects, OneNDA and OneDPA, have received widespread adoption and acclaim. Their next venture, Claustack, aims to build on that success by creating a platform which enables all industry participants to start and run their own standardization projects. We sat down with Electra to discuss these initiatives in...
2022-08-2842 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: money pouring into legal tech, switching legal tech vendors, Google's move into e-signature and a recent big capital raiseAlex and Elliot chat about: * Why are investors pouring money into legal technology? * Is it getting easier to switch legal tech vendors? * Google's move into e-signature and what it means for other markets * AirSlate's recent $51.5m capital raise * Why Alex isn't wearing his Apple Watch any more (most of the time) Thanks to HBR Consulting for sponsoring this episode. Find out more about HBR here: https://www.hbrconsulting.com/ LINKS Money pouring into legal tech: https://www.ft.com/content/b6f0796e-0265...
2022-08-0826 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: HBR Consulting with Kevin Clem and Lauren ChungIn this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot speak with Kevin Clem and Lauren Chung from HBR Consulting. HBR is one of the world's largest legal operations consulting firms, headquartered in Chicago with operations throughout the USA, Canada and the UK. In addition to consulting on all aspects of legal operations, technology and strategy, HBR conducts an annual law department survey to analyse and understand developments in the legal industry. In the episode we draw on the survey, as well as Kevin and Lauren's extensive experience, to discuss recent trends in the industry and a number of...
2022-07-2451 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Design with Meera Klemola and Astrid KohlmeierMeera Klemola and Astrid Kohlmeier are legal design pioneers. They are both teachers, speakers and writers, specialising in the application of design principles to legal services delivery. Both have consulted on this topic to the world's largest law firms and in-house teams. For this episode we sat down with Meera and Astrid to discuss their book, "The Legal Design Book", which was published in 2021. We covered many topics including: * Why they wrote the book and why now is the right time to publish it * What "legal design" is and how it differs from...
2022-07-0756 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: lawyers abandoning MS Word, legal tech capital raisings and the M2 MacBook AirAlex and Elliot chat about: * A recent survey suggesting lawyers are (possibly) moving away from MS Word * Recent capital raisings by Evisort, SirionLabs and Dilitrust * The M2 MacBook Air and what's to like (and not like) about it LINKS Lawyers moving away from MS Word: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2022/05/25/are-some-inhouse-lawyers-falling-out-of-love-with-word/ Evisort: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/evisort-raises-100m-in-funding-led-by-tcv-301545180.html SirionLabs: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/10/sirionlabs-lands-85m-to-inject-contract-management-with-automation/ Dilitrust: https://www.dilitrust.com/en/actu/dilitrust-continues-to-grow/
2022-06-2019 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: Hyperion legal business advisory with Eyal IfferganAlex and Elliot interview Eyal Iffergan, Managing Director, Legal Business Advisory at Hyperion Global Partners. Hyperion provides legal operations consultancy services to legal teams across the world. In this episode, Eyal, Alex and Elliot discuss technology roadmaps and data analytics, including: * What a technology roadmap is, why it's important in both private practice and in-house and how it relates to the team's broader strategy. * How legal operations is helping to drive the legal industry to become a "customer driven market". * What legal teams typically do well (and less well) when creating...
2022-06-0653 min
The Legal Ops PodcastCLOC Global Institute 2022The Global Institute is the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium's flagship conference, which is held annually in Las Vegas, USA. The event was most recently held in May 2022 and attracted around 2,500 attendees from the legal operations ecosystem globally. In this episode we transport you to the conference via the many recordings we made at the event. We interviewed speakers, fellow attendees, legal tech vendors and others. We also recorded our thoughts and reflections on many of the sessions, immediately after we came out of them. If you couldn't attend the conference and you'd like to know...
2022-05-231h 09
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: the road to CLOC 2022, legal tech capital raisings and ServiceNow expands its reach into legalAlex and Elliot chat about: * The (literal) road to the 2022 CLOC Global Institute * Legal tech capital raisings by LinkSquares, Filevine and Athennian * ServiceNow expanding further into the legal market This episode would not be possible without the support of HBR Consulting. If you're attending CGI2022, make sure to visit their booth. You can find more information about them here: https://www.hbrconsulting.com/ LINKS LinkSquares: https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/04/linksquares-benefits-from-the-legal-tech-boom-with-a-fresh-100m/ Filevine: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/filevine-raises-108m-series-d-for-legal-work-platform-serving-law-firms-and-corporate-counsel-teams-301525006.html Athennian: https://legaltechnology.com/2022/03/31...
2022-05-1010 min
The Legal Ops PodcastProductivity tips for legal professionalsWant the best productivity tips from your peers in the legal industry? This is the episode for you! Recently we asked our followers on LinkedIn to post their best productivity tips. This comprises the philosophies, tools and other awesome stuff that they just can't live without. And we got a great response! In this episode Alex and Elliot go through all the tips, adding their analysis and views. They also discuss the core elements of productivity, how to approach each element and what works (and doesn't) for them. LINKS Original LinkedIn...
2022-04-261h 07
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: Hyperion market research with Catherine MoynihanIn this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot interview Catherine Moynihan, Senior Director, Strategic Intelligence and Advisory at Hyperion Global Partners. Hyperion provides legal operations consultancy services to legal teams across the world. In addition, their core business historically was the development of in-depth and high-quality research reports on all aspects of the legal tech market. In this episode we focus on those research reports, covering: * What it is about the legal tech market that makes the reports valuable. * What the reports cover, in what detail and how frequently they are updated.
2022-04-1233 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: focus mode, contracts as APIs, automated time-based billing, predicting litigation outcomes and KYC for law firmsAlex and Elliot chat about: * How Alex uses the iOS focus mode to control notifications * A bunch of legal tech capital raisings... * Time by Ping and Zero Systems: automated time-based billing * Common Paper: contracts as APIs * Ex Parte: predicting litigation outcomes * Thirdfort: AML / KYC compliance for law firms LINKS Time by Ping: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2022/03/01/time-by-pings-ryan-alshak-on-the-36-5m-series-b-funding/ Zero Systems: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2022/03/01/and-now-zero-bags-12m-in-funding/ Common Paper: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2022/03/01/common-paper-the-contracts-as-apis-startup-bags-4-5m-seed-funding/ Ex...
2022-03-2324 min
The Legal Ops PodcastWomen in Legal Tech with Jodie BakerIn 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 ...
2022-03-0839 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Google enters the AI-based contract review space, another legal tech directory, a capital raising and an interesting ethical questionAlex 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/
2022-03-0227 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal tech predictions for 2022 and beyondWe’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 * H...
2022-02-0755 min
The Legal Ops PodcastYear end wrap up 2021And… 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 podc...
2021-12-1550 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Legal tech directories, Nuix class action, capital raisings and a new DocuSign investment fundAlex 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/
2021-11-2424 min
The Legal Ops PodcastDiversity and legal operations with Michael CallierMichael 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 * wh...
2021-10-3155 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Tinder for lawyers, what's hot (and not) in 2021, Microsoft's seed investment and recent legal tech acquisitionsAlex 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
2021-10-1327 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe basics of CLM with Colin LevyColin 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...
2021-09-2345 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Litera acquires Kira, the maturing of legal tech and the 2021 Gartner hype cycleAlex 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/
2021-09-0627 min
The Legal Ops PodcastDigital transformation of legal with Mark CohenMark 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...
2021-08-2346 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Alex Su, the man behind the memeAlex and Elliot chat with Alex Su about his hugely popular Tik Tok and LinkedIn videos which poke fun at the legal industry, how he creates great comedic content, whether or not he has faced backlash and how he transitioned from practising law to selling legal tech. LINKS Alex Su on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-su
2021-08-0431 min
The Legal Ops PodcastBecoming CLOC President with Mike HavenMike Haven recently became President of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium (CLOC). He is also the Head of Legal Operation at Intel, a thoughtful and passionate commentator on all things legal operations and he was our first ever guest on the podcast back in 2019. We sat down with Mike to discuss CLOC, the state of the industry and the future of work in a post-pandemic world. Here's a snapshot of what we covered: * Why Mike became CLOC President and what he considered in deciding whether or not to take on the role. * What...
2021-07-2652 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Capital raisings, law rated a high risk job and product design frameworks from the inventor of the iPod and iPhoneAlex and Elliot chat about: * Recent capital raisings by Lexion, Tonkean, Intapp and Legal Zoom * A recent report rating law a high risk profession for psychological hazards * 6 product design frameworks from the inventor of the iPod and iPhone, and what they mean for legal tech LINKS 6 product frameworks from Tony Fadell: https://www.nfx.com/post/product-frameworks-tony-fadell/
2021-07-1030 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLaw department strategy with Susan HackettLawyers are notoriously poor at stepping back from their work to think about what they're doing and how they're doing it. Yet this reflection is vital to ensuring that the right output is being provided in the right way. Optimising the delivery of value to clients requires looking at the big picture, articulating the legal team's competitive advantage and, above all, creating and implementing a strategy. We met with Susan Hackett, CEO of Legal Executive Leadership LLC and former General Counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel. Susan advises law departments and law firms on all aspects...
2021-06-2355 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: M1X MacBook Pros, legal tech capital raisings, Amazon using data analysis to update its disputes clause and The Legal Tech-to-English DictionaryAlex and Elliot chat about: * The highly anticipated M1X MacBook Pro and why Elliot wants one * Recent legal tech capital raisings by ContractBook and Tessian * Amazon using data analysis to update the disputes clause in its Terms of Service * The Legal Tech-to-English Dictionary and Elliot's attempt to define "User Experience" and "Change Management" LINKS ContractBook capital raising: https://venturebeat.com/2021/05/11/contract-automation-platform-contractbook-raises-30m-to-challenge-docusign/ Tessian capital raising: https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/25/security-startup-tessian-which-uses-ai-to-fight-social-engineering-trousers-65m/ Amazon updates its disputes clause: https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/1/22463550/amazon-lawsuit-arbitration-terms-of-service-update-alexa ...
2021-06-1426 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: BrightFlag with Alex KellyIn this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot speak with Alex Kelly, co-founder and COO of BrightFlag. BrightFlag is a legal spend management platform which uses artificial intelligence to automate the review and management of law firm invoices. LINKS BrightFlag website: https://brightflag.com/ BrightFlag on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brightflag Alex Kelly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexkellybrightflag/
2021-06-0143 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Project Management: Projectifying the Legal ProfessionDr. Justine Rogers is a Senior Lecturer in the law department at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Deputy Director of the Future of Law and Innovation in the Profession (FLIP) research stream. Peter Dombkins is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the UNSW law department and a Director in PWC's NewLaw practice. Alex and Elliot spoke with Justine and Peter about their recent journal article entitled "Legal Project Management: Projectifying the Legal Profession", the first academic paper focused on Legal Project Management (LPM). They covered many topics related to LPM including: * What is...
2021-05-1944 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Capital raisings, big players entering the legal market, a new common contracting framework and updated Apple Watch impressionsAlex and Elliot chat about: * Elliot's thoughts on his Apple Watch, after 4 months of using it * Recent legal tech capital raisings * Two big IT players enter the legal market * An ambitious new initiative to develop a common framework for structured contract data
2021-05-0831 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: Ironclad with Jason BoehmigIn this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot speak with Jason Boehmig, co-founder and CEO of Ironclad. Ironclad aims to transform contract management from a low-value administrative task to a core business activity which provides valuable data and insights to the c-suite and other organisational leaders. Central to this mission is the development of the "digital business contract", a truly digital version of the analogue agreements we have worked with for centuries. LINKS Jason on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jboehmig/ IronClad homepage: https://ironcladapp.com/ Shipping container article: https...
2021-04-2741 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Discussing oneNDA with its founder and creator Electra JaponasAlex and Elliot chat with Electra about: * Where the oneNDA idea came from * How it will eliminate NDA negotiations 80% of the time * Who’s involved in the project and what their roles are * The end of the “your paper or mine?” negotiation * Why legal needs its own GitHub * Why contracts are a public asset and should be open source LINKS oneNDA Website: https://onenda.club/ Electra Japonas Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/electra-japonas/
2021-04-2528 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: World's largest legal tech advisory team, Microsoft's "industry clouds", more updates to MS Teams and OneNDAAlex and Elliot chat about: * The merger of HBR Consulting and Keno Kozie, forming the world's largest legal tech advisory team * Microsoft's "industry clouds" and whether or not they will come to legal * New presenter modes in MS Teams * OneNDA, a community-led initiative to create a universal NDA LINKS HBR Consulting and Keno Kozie merger: https://legaltechnology.com/breaking-news-hbr-consulting-acquires-keno-kozie-to-form-700-legal-tech-advisory-team/ Microsoft's industry clouds: https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-unveils-three-more-industry-clouds-for-financial-manufacturing-and-nonprofit/ MS Teams new presenter modes: https://www-theverge-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.theverge...
2021-03-2230 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Tech at Google with Mary O’CarrollHave you ever wanted to know what legal ops looks like at Google? Or are you curious about what the President of CLOC thinks about the future of legal ops? We sat down with the inspiring Mary O’Carroll, Director of Operations, Technology and Strategy for the legal department at Google and President of CLOC, the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium. Mary, Alex and Elliot discussed many topics concerning legal operations and technology, including: * Mary’s journey to becoming one of the most influential leaders in legal operations * The structure of legal ops...
2021-03-1052 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Gartner's five Legal Tech trends, comic-like T&Cs and an update on the Australian News Media Bargaining CodeAlex and Elliot chat about: * Gartner's five Legal Tech trends that are changing in-house legal departments * BankWest's new comic-like terms and conditions * an update on the Australian News Media Bargaining Code * a recent newspaper article outlining how law firms can do more with less (spoiler: via legal ops) * PWC accepting its first Bitcoin payment LINKS Gartner article: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/5-legal-technology-trends-changing-in-house-legal-departments/ BankWest's visual T&Cs: https://www.bankwest.com.au/about-us/media-centre/news/pictures-make-a-thousand-words-in-visual-style-australia-first How law firms can do...
2021-03-0738 min
The Legal Ops PodcastUser Experience Design for lawyers with Karina VazirovaKarina Vazirova is a legal innovator, an experienced product developer and a specialist in user experience and design. Her agency, KV Labs, focuses on UX research, prototyping and design. She also co-founded FemTech Lab, Europe’s first FemTech accelerator. Karina, Elliot and Alex had an insightful chat focused on UX and design in a legal context, including: * Karina’s journey from being an international chess master to working in legal tech and then starting her own design agency. * What “user experience” means. * When user experience should be considered in a legal context...
2021-02-2546 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: Summize with Tom DunlopIn this Talking Tech episode Alex and Elliot interview Tom Dunlop. He's the founder and CEO of Summize, which is a simple, lightweight and easy-to-use tool designed to make it quicker and easier for legal teams to review, summarise and draft contracts. LINKS Check out Summize: https://www.summize.com/ Contact Tom: tom@summize.com
2021-02-1037 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Elliot's new Apple Watch, Ironclad raises $100 million and Australia makes Google pay for newsAlex and Elliot chat about: * early impressions on Elliot's new Apple Watch * Spark, a new dashboard covering fundraising and M&A in the legal tech space * Ironclad raises $100 million with a valuation of almost $1 billion * a recent court decision involving Uber regarding online acceptance of terms and conditions * the Australian News Media Bargaining Code, which could dramatically affect the internet search market in Australia and goes to the core of competition and democracy in the country LINKS Ironclad article on shipping containerisation: https://ironcladapp.com...
2021-01-2736 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Department Metrics with Mick SheehyMick Sheehy is a partner at PWC in Australia and head of the firm's NewLaw practice. He is a former General Counsel at Telstra where he developed and led the legal department's innovation program, which later became its legal operations and transformation function. Mick, Alex and Elliot had a fascinating conversation focused on data and metrics for corporate legal departments. They covered: * Why metrics are important, and why legal departments have generally been slower to adopt them than other corporate departments. * Whether or not it is reasonable to expect lawyers to be data...
2021-01-1859 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Capital raisings, acquisitions, Apple news and a Christmas messageAlex and Elliot chat about a bunch of legal tech news, including: * recent capital raisings by BrightFlag and Summize * a potential tech security vulnerability for Facebook's legal department * Salesforce's acquisition of Slack * Cydia's antitrust lawsuit against Apple * rumours of an upcoming Apple search engine * thoughts on the new AirPods Max over ear headphones * a Christmas message and what's coming up on the podcast in 2021 LINKS Facebook security vulnerability: https://alaa.blog/2020/12/how-i-hacked-facebook-part-one/Salesforce's acquisition of Slack: https://www-nytimes-com.cdn...
2020-12-2034 min
The Legal Ops PodcastTalking Tech: LawVu with Sam KiddThis is the first Talking Tech episode and what a way to start! Alex and Elliot interviewed Sam Kidd. He's the Co-Founder and CEO of LawVu, which is an NZ-based company selling a legal operations platform to in-house legal teams around the world.LINKSCheck out LawVu: https://lawvu.com/
2020-12-0240 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: a new “Talking Tech” stream, Elliot’s AirPods Pro, Apple’s new Macs and Google’s photo storage changesAlex and Elliot chat about their plans for a new separate sub-stream of the podcast called “Talking Tech”. Each Talking Tech episode will be an interview with a law tech vendor discussing their product, how they got started, who the target audience is and what the intended use cases are. Some questions will be easy, some will be hard, and all of them will be interesting and relevant. They also discuss Elliot’s new AirPods Pro, running through what he likes and dislikes about them. They cover Apple’s announcement of a suite of ARM-based Macs, the pros and...
2020-11-1833 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Transformation: a law firm perspective with Chris GeorgiouChris Georgiou is the head of Ashurst Advance, Ashurst's global "New Law" division. He is a former securities and derivatives partner who successfully made the transition from traditional lawyer to legal business professional. Chris, Alex and Elliot covered many topics related to the changing nature of legal practice, including: * When and how did "New Law" get started? * Are the drivers of change consistent across in-house teams and law firms? * The role of professional project management in legal practice. * How will the changes in legal practice affect how law firms...
2020-11-051h 00
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Legal Tech Hub with Nikki Shaver and Chris FordAlex and Elliot chat with Nikki Shaver and Chris Ford about their new venture, Legal Tech Hub.Want to understand the market for a particular type of legal tech? Need to know which vendors operate in your market and in your language? Are you a vendor wanting to make sure potential purchasers know about your product and what it does? These are the problems Legal Tech Hub is trying to solve. Nikki and Chris explain who the site is for, how it works and why you should check it out.LINKSLegal Tech...
2020-10-2229 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: 1st anniversary celebration!The Legal Ops Podcast is one year old today!Alex and Elliot chat about the podcast, including some fascinating stats on its geographical reach, download trends and which is the most popular episode. They also cover what they've learned from producing the podcast over the past year, and what they would both do if they decided to take a 12 month break from their corporate jobs.
2020-10-1524 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Tech: How to choose and implement the right solution - Part 2You've chosen a cool new piece of legal technology, but how do you go about implementing it? What phases will your project go through and in what order should they be tackled? In this episode, Alex and Elliot do a deep dive on all aspects of the implementation process. They cover lots of examples drawn from real life legal tech implementations, including matter management systems, document management platforms, contract automation tools and more. They also discuss a number of important considerations and best practices for all significant tech-related projects, including: * should you form...
2020-10-021h 14
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: 2020 State of the Legal Market report; developments in legal tech and the legal ops consulting marketIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot discuss the recently released 2020 State of the Legal Market report for Australia, including how law firms and other players might adopt its recommendation for reimagination of legal services delivery. They cover recent developments in the legal ops consulting market, who's building consulting capacity and which models might prevail. They also chat about ThoughtRiver's $10m capital raise and the history of funding of AI-based contract review vendors. LINKS 2020 State of the Legal Market report: https://insight.thomsonreuters.com.au/legal/resources/resource/2020-australia-state-of-the-legal-market
2020-09-1735 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Automation: getting started and achieving success, with Evan WongLegal automation is a hot topic. If your firm or department is not already investing, it will almost certainly be on your roadmap. And who better to discuss this with than Evan Wong, the co-founder and CEO of legal automation company Checkbox AI? In a wide ranging and highly practical discussion, Evan, Alex and Elliot covered: * why legal teams should be investing in automation * how to build a business case for automation * how to get started, practically * applying lean principles to project development * why building an automation...
2020-09-0757 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Apple's Fortnite ban and resulting Epic lawsuit; Alex's flight home and his experience in hotel quarantineIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot discuss Apple's recent banning of Fortnite from the iOS App Store and the resulting lawsuit by Fortnite's creator, Epic Games. As with Apple's banning of the Hey.com email app, accusations of abuse of monopoly power have again been brought against Apple, only this time Apple's adversary is a huge, well capitalised company. Alex and Elliot discuss how things could play out, and how this situation compares to a shopping mall where the owner leverages its position to extract above market rents. They also cover Alex's recent flight from the...
2020-08-2427 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Stevie Ghiassi on the legal tech market, a new directory of legal tech players, coronavirus and moreIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot chat with Stevie Ghiassi, CEO and co-founder of Legaler and former president of the Australian Legal Technology Association. Stevie is one of the brains behind the Global Legal Tech Report and was able to answer a bunch of questions that Alex and Elliot mused in the previous episode of The Pulse. They also discussed a number of Stevie's "side hustles", including the upcoming Global Legal Tech Directory and his project aimed at creating a set of common standards for legal tech. Finally, Stevie gave his view on coronavirus and how...
2020-08-1735 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Tech: How to choose and implement the right solution - Part 1So you want to invest in legal technology, but where do you start? In this two-part series you’ll hear from Alex and Elliot who together have a wealth of experience sourcing, selecting and implementing legal technology for both large and small corporate legal departments. They share practical tips while walking through the following stages that will help ensure you choose the right solution: (1) Defining the problem - a practical framework for establishing and justifying the need, contextualising the problem and developing a problem statement. (2) Rent, buy or build? - is this something yo...
2020-08-111h 06
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: CLOC 2020 State of the Industry Survey results and Google’s “new home for home”In this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot discuss the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium’s annual State of the Industry survey results. They covered what was surprising and not so surprising about the results and discussed what trends could be contributing to changes in the industry. They also discussed Google’s announcement to create a "new integrated workspace experience" by combing a number of their products into one place. Alex shares how this will dramatically improve his work day while Elliot shares his healthy skepticism. LINKS CLOC 3rd Annual State of the Industry Survey: http...
2020-07-2122 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Global Legal Tech Report, intriguing MS Teams improvements and follow up regarding Hey.com and coronavirus lockdownsIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot discuss the Global Legal Tech Report, including what it is, who it's for and some of its findings. They also cover the recently announced update to Microsoft Teams which adds two intriguing features: Together Mode, which uses avatars to simulate being physically together, and Dynamic View, which promises a better way to deliver group presentations virtually. They also provide a brief follow up to the Hey.com story discussed in the previous episode, and they chat about recent coronavirus developments in Chicago and Melbourne. LINKS You...
2020-07-1532 min
The Legal Ops PodcastBusiness continuity transformation for legal operations with Steven O'DonnellSteven, Alex and Elliot discuss the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic for legal operations, particularly relating to business continuity. They cover: * The history of legal operations, how it has matured as a discipline and the influence of groups such as CLOC and the ACC * Permanently mobile workforces, the challenges this creates and how to maintain personal relationships and connections in a physically separated working environment * Whether or not paper is "dead", and how the pandemic has affected this trend * The extent to which corporates should be concerned about their law...
2020-07-0655 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Apple's monopoly over access to iOS, and claims of power abuse regarding its rejection of the recently launched Hey email appIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot chat about Hey, a new email service from the Basecamp software company. Hey has been described as the most innovative take on email since Gmail launched in 2004. However the focus of the episode is not on Hey itself, but on the controversy surrounding Apple's rejection of the app from the iOS App Store. Basecamp's CTO compared Apple's behaviour to the mafia, Microsoft's chief legal officer raised serious antitrust concerns and some US politicians have questioned whether Apple is abusing the monopoly that it created over access to iOS. Alex and...
2020-06-2118 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Alex's new AirPods Pro, Slack and AWS integration deal and law firms expanding into new lines of businessIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot chat about Alex's new AirPods Pro and the recent integration deal between Slack and AWS. Then they discuss law firms expanding into new lines of business, why they have historically been slow to do this and what types of businesses it would make sense for law firms to consider. LINKS Australian Financial Review article: https://www.afr.com/companies/financial-services/we-are-redefining-the-law-firm-says-minterellison-boss-20191202-p53g6b
2020-06-1129 min
The Legal Ops PodcastACC Legal Operations Maturity Benchmarking Report: how does your department stack up?Alex and Elliot discuss the recently released 2020 ACC Legal Operations Maturity Benchmarking Report, including:* What type of companies and legal operations departments are represented in the report * What competencies are included in the ACC's legal operations maturity model and how the model compares to CLOC's equivalent model * What the report identifies to be the competencies with the highest and lowest average maturities across all responding companies * How the overall maturity of legal operations departments correlates with organisational size and scale * Which industries have organisations with higher legal operations maturity...
2020-06-0153 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Coronavirus update and e-execution: why it's thriving during the crisis and will it continue afterwards?In this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot provide coronavirus updates from the USA and Australia. Then they discuss e-execution, including how recent legislative changes in Australia have expanded its availability, what risks this entails, whether the changes will continue despite the legislation being temporary and the international perspective.
2020-05-2529 min
The Legal Ops PodcastHow eBay does legal operations with Daniela DwyerDaniela, Alex and Elliot discuss eBay's approach to legal operations, including: * The structure of eBay's legal ops function * Why eBilling was chosen as the function's first major deliverable * The importance of eBay's legal tech roadmap and its alignment with the organisation's wider strategy * How to measure the success of a technology implementation and whether quantitive or qualitative measures are preferred * Whether technology implementations are more or less challenging within technology organisations compared to other types of organisations * Daniela's view on the most pressing issues facing in-house legal...
2020-05-1145 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Coronavirus update, perspectives from the USA and Australia, and whether or not to install the COVIDSafe appIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot provide coronavirus updates from the USA and Australia respectively. They also discuss the Australian Federal government's COVIDSafe app, privacy concerns arising from the app and whether the public benefit is sufficient to outweigh those concerns.
2020-05-0522 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Elliot's headphone troubles, how the legal ops market has changed over the last two decades and Alex's advice to law students and graduatesIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot chat about Elliot's troubles with his Jabra Elite 65t headphones and whether or not the Apple Airpods would have been a better choice. They also discuss how the legal ops market has changed over the last two decades, including developments in both education and professional services. Finally, they discuss whether talent or opportunity is more important to be successful, and Alex offers his tips for law students and graduates looking for a career in legal ops.
2020-04-2724 min
The Legal Ops PodcastCreating a legal ops strategy with Stephanie CoreyStephanie, Alex and Elliot discuss creating a legal ops strategy, including:* What a legal ops strategy is and how it underpins a legal department's technology and operational plan* How to develop the plan, including the extent to which it should be a top-down vs bottom-up endeavour* Why it's important for a legal ops leader to be attuned to the needs of the legal department* Which stakeholders should be interviewed as part of the planning process and whether that task is best done by internal resources or external consultants* How...
2020-04-2259 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Law tech conferences being rescheduled, cancelled or moving online; plus a chat with Jodie Baker, president of the Australian Legal Technology Association, about their upcoming conferenceIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot discuss the conference landscape - which are being rescheduled, cancelled or moving online. For those which are moving online, are they free or charging admission, and what is the value proposition for attendees and sponsors? And they chat with Jodie Baker, president of the Australian Legal Technology Association, about its upcoming conference ALTAcon.ALTAcon website: https://www.altacon.com.au/
2020-04-1423 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Whether or not Elliot should get an Apple Watch, Zoom bombing, the future of the economy and what it means for legal operationsIn this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot chat about the pros and cons of the Apple Watch, how Alex uses his and whether or not Elliot should get one. The also talk about Zoom, including its soaring market capitalisation, recent security troubles, what "Zoombombing" is and how to guard against it. Then they discuss the economic effects of coronavirus, whether we are headed for a "V", "U" or "L" shaped recovery and why the prominence of legal operations may be set to increase.
2020-04-0630 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Coronavirus update and Atrium shuts down; what do we have to learn?In this episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot give a brief update on how things are changing in Australia and the US in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Alex explains his excitement for the new iPad Pro and tries to convert Elliot away from his MacBook. They also discuss the recent news about Atrium shutting its doors, similarities with Clearspire back in 2014, and why they think these business models aren't working.
2020-03-3130 min
The Legal Ops PodcastHandling a crisis: Business Continuity Planning for legal departments and law firmsAlex and Elliot discuss Business Continuity Planning, also referred to as “BCP”. This is particularly relevant right now due to the coronavirus pandemic, and is often the responsibility of legal operations functions.They cover a range of issues that should be addressed as part of any BCP plan, including:* Technology - for remote access, written communications and virtual meetings* Allocating resources - how to identify critical activities, manage bandwidth and split teams* Compliance issues - risk of data breaches, theft, loss and scams* Leave policies - to cover sickness and...
2020-03-2440 min
The Legal Ops PodcastThe Pulse: Coronavirus, Aus vs USA response, Alex stuck in Chicago, cloud vs on-premise softwareIn the first episode of The Pulse, Alex and Elliot explain what it is, why they're doing it and how it will differ from the core episodes of The Legal Ops Podcast. They talk about coronavirus and the differences between how it is being handled in Australia and the USA. With Alex currently based in Chicago, they discuss his plans and whether or not he wants to, or is even able to, move back to Australia. They touch on cloud vs on-premise software, and the pros and cons of each in the current environment, as well as some of...
2020-03-2124 min
The Legal Ops PodcastHow Origin Energy is shifting to knowledge based working with Katrina GowansElliot and Alex interview Katrina Gowans to discuss legal transformation and knowledge based working for in-house teams. Katrina is the National Legal Transformation Lead at Origin Energy, a leading provider of energy to homes and businesses in Australia. They covered:* (5:12) How Katrina became National Legal Transformation Lead * (9:28) The importance of setting a vision for any transformation plan * (13:33) Change management considerations * (16:19) Strategies to “cut through” and get your message to busy people * (21:22) Overcoming skeptics and change resistors * (26:44) The next phase - knowledge based working * (31:59) How to inst...
2020-03-1651 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Service Balance: What it is and how to achieve it with Mitch KowalskiMitch, Alex and Elliot discuss the idea of Legal Service Balance, including:(1) What it is and how to achieve it(2) How to analyse the work done across a law department and group activities according to their risk and alignment to core business(3) What type of resource should be applied to different work groupings(4) How organisations are partnering with their law firms to drive innovation, including the example of Microsoft’s Strategic Partner Program(5) How law firms are responding to the changing market by embedding technology in their service offerings...
2020-03-0152 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal AI: What it is, how it works and its impact on legal practiceAlex and Elliot discuss artificial intelligence in the context of legal practice, including: (1) How AI is defined and whether it requires human-like intelligence (2) The difference between AI and other systems such as robotic process automation (3) How AI is already being used in the legal industry (4) How AI works and what the difference is between Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning (5) Alex’s AI-powered chatbot, how it works and how you could build it too (6) Alex’s and Elliot’s predictions for applications of legal AI that are both f...
2020-02-171h 01
The Legal Ops PodcastDesigning the legal sourcing strategy of the future with Connie BrentonConnie, Alex and Elliot discuss the future of legal sourcing including:
* The Alternative Legal Service Provider (ALSP) market and its huge growth over the last few years
* What to call ALSPs and whether or not the word “alternative” is still appropriate
* Why A+ quality legal work is not always required and how to match the right quality of legal work to the right matter
* How to unbundle large complex legal matters in order to distribute work to different types of legal service providers
* Connie’s view on the most pressing unsolved problems for the legal industry that legal operations and/or leg...
2020-01-2854 min
The Legal Ops PodcastBeyond 2020: The future of legal practice with Peter DombkinsPeter, Alex and Elliot discuss the future of legal practice, including:
* What skills and competencies will be required in the future by lawyers and other professionals operating in the legal industry
* How recent research indicates a dramatic increase in demand for “digital skills”, including in industries outside IT
* What depth of expertise in these new skills will be optimal for lawyers, and what this means for the structure of law departments, law firms and legal operations teams
* How Peter went from being a projects lawyer to working on “black ops” for an international law firm, and why this was a catalyst...
2020-01-1254 min
The Legal Ops PodcastHow Barclays Bank radically transformed its legal panel with Stephanie HamonStephanie, Alex and Elliot discuss a wide range of issues relating to legal ops, including:
* How Barclays Bank radically transformed the management of its legal panel, resulting in huge benefits both to the bank and to its law firms.
* How the bank used data to formulate its strategy and measure the results.
* What it means to shift an in-house legal function from being an enabler to a strategic partner.
* How the bank included new-law companies in the mix of organisations supplying its legal services.
* How Stephanie's background in law firm relationship management set her up for a senior legal ops...
2019-12-0854 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLaw tech in East LondonWhat makes a great law-tech conference? The presentations? The networking opportunities? To what extent does the venue and the dress code matter, or the food and coffee?
In this episode Alex and Elliot chat about Elliot’s recent visit to the 2019 Legal Geek conference in London’s East End, including:
* the awesome industrial venue for the event
* the informal and relaxed vibe
* the pros and cons of the fast-paced presentation style that encourages diversity and breadth at the cost of detail
With extensive audio from the conference, including a number of interviews with aspiring law-tech vendors, you’ll feel like you’re...
2019-11-2548 min
The Legal Ops PodcastHow to convince lawyers to change with Steven Walker of ElevateSteven, Alex and Elliot discuss change management in relation to legal teams, covering:
* What is change management and why is it necessary?
* Are lawyers more difficult to change than other professionals?
* The three vital components of an effective change management strategy.
* Real-world examples of organisational change that went well, and why.
* The state of the legal ops market and what the future will look like.
2019-11-1158 min
The Legal Ops PodcastHow to fund your legal operations journey with Mike Haven from Gap Inc.Mike, Alex and Elliot discuss how to fund your legal operations journey along with your legal department more generally. Mike explains how to track incremental business demand, demonstrate absorption and work with the business to ensure that transformation activities are properly funded and supported. They also discuss the structure of the Legal Operations function at Gap Inc., how Mike became a board member of the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium and why he went surfing after a 15 hour flight from San Francisco to Sydney.
2019-10-2748 min
The Legal Ops PodcastLegal Ops is transforming the Legal IndustryWe all know the legal industry is changing; but who are the people leading the change and how are they doing it? Elliot and Alex set the scene and provide their thoughts on the state of the legal ops market. Links Mentioned: CLOC State of the Industry Survey 2019: https://bit.ly/2OTKsOA CLOC State of the Industry Survey 2017: https://bit.ly/2uNV9vj
2019-10-1437 min