Innovation in Law Firms

Stuart and Catriona are both highly regarded leaders in the world of legal innovation, known for their ability to not only generate groundbreaking ideas but to make them happen in the real world. They have consistently demonstrated a knack for developing the right capabilities within their teams and Weightmans, creating an environment where innovation is not just a buzzword, but a driving force evidenced by tangible success.What sets them apart is their hands-on, battle-tested experience and consistent delivery of results. They have earned their reputations by rolling up their sleeves, leading from the front, and navigating the complex and often gritty process of driving change and implementation. Their approach is real and is streets apart from the theoretical - they’ve been in the trenches, learning from challenges, overcoming obstacles, and refining their methods through real-world successes and lessons learned. The battle scars they carry are a testament to their resilience, adaptability, and ability to lead and turn innovative ideas into operational excellence.They not only envision the future but create it. For these reasons and more this book is essential reading.

• About the authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viiAcknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ixDisclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiIntroduction: What has Donoghue v. Stevenson got to do with innovation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiiiChapter 1: A faster horse or the moon on a stick? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1Client-led innovation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4The business of law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Chapter 2: Getting started – big picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Getting started with no money and no team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15The importance of a vision (and Board support) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17What does success look like? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18“You know this might not work, right?” – being comfortable with the uncomfortable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Forming, storming, norming, and performing – bringing together people with curiosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Listen, talk, network, and listen some more – deciding what to do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22It’s not just about the technology – starting the hearts and minds journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Chapter 3: Getting started – proofs of concepts and methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31The ideation process – creating a hopper of ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31Does it solve a problem and is it doable? Prioritizing ideas . . . . . . . . . . 34Running a pilot – from timing and success criteria to risk approval and everything in between . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37An A-Z of useful (legal and non-legal) methodologies – taking what is useful and applying a liberal dose of common sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Example pilot action plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Chapter 4: Skills, team, and bringing others with you – recruiting your “pirates in the navy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59How it helps to be a jack of all trades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59How to encourage rebel ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Intrapreneurship – finding your “pirates in the navy” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Innovation is contagious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63It is not the size of the innovation team that matters, but the careful curation of it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Chapter 5: When it works – lessons learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Not all subject matter experts are born equal – how to spot the right ones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Ensuring you have the right people, in the right room, at the right time, on the right page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77How to help your subject matter expert with innovation . . . . . . . . . . . 82How your subject matter expert should help you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87We have an interested client, now what? Minimum Viable Products and managing expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Is it repeatable and scalable (and does it always matter)? . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Chapter 6: Change management – dealing with people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93The “I’ve promised the client an app for that” lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94The naysayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96The keyboard warrior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98The obdurate litigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100The “That should be free for my client” lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101The enthusiastic amateur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102The “Can we have an app for that” lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103The technology visionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105The overcommitted lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106The baffled-by-Excel lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108The only interested the week before my appraisal lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . 109The gold dust lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Chapter 7: So, you want me to collaborate? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Internal collaboration – working with lawyers and business services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Working with clients – the moon on a stick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121Working with external suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Working with other law firms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Working with academia – is there a disconnect between research and reality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Working with funding bodies – dealing with life at a different pace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131Working with micro and start-up businesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Chapter 8: When things go wrong – bouncing back from lessons learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Solving the wrong problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135Solving a symptom and not a root cause . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Seduced by the art of the possible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Boiling the ocean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Being swayed by the loudest voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143The wisdom of crowds or following like lemmings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144Assuming the end user knows what they want . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Having a solution before you know what the problem is . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Spending time on the urgent rather than the important . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Failing – not enough? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Chapter 9: If you build it, who will come? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149From pilot to roll-out – hurdles, pitfalls, and the problem of reacting to anecdote rather than data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150What are you measuring – what does adoption success look like? . . . 152Innovation solutions becoming business-as-usual – how do you gather momentum and let go? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156Following the crowd – adoption because everyone else is using it . . . 157Chapter 10: Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Professional obligations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159People and organizational barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Chapter 11: Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Marketing teams – awards and the warm PR glow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173IT teams – products, architecture, and security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176Risk teams – a changing risk appetite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Internal client and legal teams – just do it (even if we cannot define “it”) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Chapter 12: The next big thing – looking forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Has all the digital lipstick gone? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185Towards a sustainable innovation model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185What next after the O-shaped lawyer? Upskilling future leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186About Globe Law and Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191