Introduction\n
\nI'm David Kerr, I've been the CEO at Bird & Bird for 26 years. And I built it up from being a small London firm to being a global leader in technology.
Part 1: Harnessing technology to improve client services\n
\nFor me, I think that it's not just about technology, it's really about client service and the best way to deliver legal services, harnessing technology. And I think that's one of the things that many people misunderstand. I'm talking to many lawyers, they think there's some sort of wonderful magic wand that you can wave. And suddenly a technology system will sort the SQLs. When actually my experience is it's really about improving the processes, improving the communication links and harnessing tech to do that.
I've been passionate about using LegalTech in more innovative ways, mainly because of the conversations with clients that have had for so long. Now, people have been wanting a better way of managing legal work, a better way of bringing all the different parties together that are in a big litigation or a big transactional work or a series of, series of deals. And I think the old way of just relying on email is the way of communicating and very old fashioned ways of communicating, just look obsolete. The ambition should be to move all of that to a more efficient platform, a better way of doing law.
\nPart 2: The key to innovation\n
\nWhat I found is that inside our law firm, and I think inside most large companies, there are certain individuals, lawyers who really want to break the mold. Who want to do things new and want to experiment with new services. So throughout this early period, when we've been trying to help collaborate, or one of the firms collaborating with LawAdvisor I've been trying to focus on these individuals, the innovative ones, the ones who are happy to be pioneers in, in pushing the thing forward. And then you have to move out from there to the wider community of lawyers because they will follow. But it's very important to do it in that sequence. You can't just impose a platform on all lawyers inside any law firm or company overnight.\nIn Bird & Bird we've always invested a considerable amount every year in, at a new technology or refining existing technology. And that will remain the case going into the future for certain services. We also like to partner with them so that we can live jointly, listen to what the clients really want and adapt services to meet the requirements. For me, that's the sort of key to innovation. It's not just having a great idea and building a system you've got to, you've got to build it with a dialogue with what the company really want, what the law firm really wants. So that's the approach we try and adopt, the culture we try and have.
I think from the very early days, we shared a vision with LawAdvisor as to what we wanted to build. And so many of our more innovative lawyers have been working on a whole range of different practice areas from litigation, patent litigation, through to employment and M&A. Developing modules that can really work for the benefit of law firms and the corporates. And we've been astounded at how flexible the system really is compared with what else is out there in the market.\nSo we're really excited about this.
\nWhen I first met Brennan, I couldn't believe what I saw because he had already built an embryonic version of what is now Fibonacci and LegalEye. And what excited me was that it was exactly the direction of travel that I thought the whole law industry should really be moving in. I could almost not believe that he'd already accomplished that. So I was really thrilled to work with LawAdvisor in that innovative journey. But right from the very beginning, we realized that, sure we could work with them, but this has to be open to all law firms and all companies, because that's what the industry needs.
\nPart 3: The tech-enabled law firm\n
\nSo I think right from the very beginning, it's, we knew that all lawyers tend to be quite conservative. Well, maybe not all. I think we know that there is, a number of them are quite innovative and want to push the barriers. And so it's the question of harnessing them and we found that they are, you may think all lawyers are the same because they're just conservative, there are some that are less conservative than others. And actually they are really happy to use, and eager to use new services once they’re visible to them on the screen, and then they, so they may not be in the early adopter camp, but they're in the really keen to use camp when it's a usable service.
For me, it's not just about the technology. However, we're also investing heavily in process improvements. So for example, we've recently created a new practice group of legal project managers. And for me, they are critical in terms of implementing technology solutions because it's only by working out how the case should be managed that we can really refine the system.
\nThe dream I've always had is that one day the general counsel of a large company can wake up in the morning and they can turn on their device at home. And that their most immediately important things to address are visible to them via the platform. They can drill into it in depth if they need, they can contact the right people if they want to ask questions and the list of things which really do urgently need that response. And it's also possible to immediately organize your life in a way that at the moment is very tough. Yeah. I think that the average in-house lawyer, who's got a nightmare in terms of just managing the various law firms they’re using, as well as the cases they're doing, and the internal client. I think the dream I have is to try and make that easier, but also clarify what the role of the firm, external firms are.\nSo I remember in the, in the really early days, the first big project that we were trying to set up multi-country litigation, ourselves, one or two other law firms. What I really loved was the way LawAdvisor worked with us. I think it was almost like a month, quite detailed design work, detailed questions, trying out various things to see if they were refining it.
\nAnd it just showcased the flexibility of the system, that came with quite complex requirements. And at the end of the day, it forces the lawyers to ask quite deep questions about what the process improvements need to be in, how things are working, the outcome, a great system, much more efficient delivery of legal work.
\nGood for the law firm. Good for the client.
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