Event Review – Innovative Legal Services Forum 2019

On 31 May I attended the Innovative LegalServices Forum in Prague, Czech Republic. It brought together a number ofspeakers from around the world to discuss the latest happenings in legal techand legal innovation. The day consisted of a number of talks and paneldiscussions from those running legal tech businesses, legal innovators andlawyers.

The layout for the talks was akin to an awards dinner, with a scattering of circular tables facing a brightly lit stage (pictures can be seen here).  The screens on the stage radiated colourful graphics as the speakers entered stage left or right, starting with Brian Kuhn from IBM Watson. One of his key points was that artificial intelligence (AI) would not replace lawyers, but if firms wanted to remain competitive they should adopt a high-level AI strategy. He went on to say that the technology itself was not the threat but law firms’ use of it would be.

He concluded by saying the “days of a predictable life is over” andthat people should now accept uncertainty. This was mirrored in a later talk byOrsolya Gorgenyi from ELTA who informed the audience they should carry out lifelong learning and embrace the growth mindset. She also said that the futurelawyer would need the following skills: people skills (EQ), project managementskills and creativity.

Ondrej Materna, CEO of Legito, discussedtrends in document automation and echoed Brian Kuhn’s sentiment earlier in theconference by saying that legal tech will “changethe way that lawyers work, but will not replace lawyers”. The followingspeaker, Andres Felipe Laserna, discussed efforts being made in South Americato use legal tech. He went on to say there was a real opportunity for usinglegal tech for the greater good to solve inequalities in the provision ofjustice.

Jonathan Patterson (MD of DWF Ventures)spoke about DWF’s business within a business, which is devoted to creatinginnovative solutions for the firm or their clients. He finished by saying thatfuture lawyers should have technical legal skills, creativity and resilience.Keeping with the future lawyer trend, a panel later in the day was asked howprospective lawyers should approach entering the fast changing legalprofession. The most memorable answer was “Whateveryou do have your heart in it. If you do that money will come.”.

Other notable speakers included Lesley Wanwho gave an inspirational talk directed at those wishing to progress intoin-house senior positions by taking on non-executive directorships at acharitable organisation. Lauren Riley, CEO of The Link App, also discussed howlaw firms should move away from using email as the method of communicationbetween lawyer and client.

The conference was closed by Jordan Furlongwho went through a number of case studies of good legal innovation from aroundthe world. This included alternative legal service providers, firms that hadchanged the way the bill or calculate bonuses and those that have adopted AItechnology. He followed this with a list of four things that will improveinnovation:

1. Organisations should engagewith change leadership rather than just change management;

2. For those wishing to innovatethey should know their innovation ‘constituency’ – who do you need to persuadeor satisfy?

3. Measure what matters andpublicise every success; and

4. For those facing adversity toinnovate, innovation is its own justification because better is better.

He said that to innovate you shouldcollaborate with people that aren’t like you. They will see the risks oropportunities that you didn’t even know about.

He finished the conference by sending amessage to all those wishing to innovate:

“Bebrave”

MM