It’s the second annual NextUp conference today (27 November) and we’re expecting a full house for a mix of presentations from senior figures in the industry to multiple practical workshops on areas such as how to engage and build relationships with the business to achieving operational excellence and overcoming challenges in providing support and maintenance. I’ll be updating this article throughout the day with a live feed and photos of the event.
Mike Rebeiro, partner, global head of technology and innovation at Norton Rose Fulbright will open the day with an introduction to NextUp, which supports ambitious IT professionals who are looking to build their own network and grow their knowledge and understanding of the industry.
Rebeiro will also give a keynote talk about the changing demands of clients and future business models as technological disruption creates a perfect storm for the legal profession.
I’ll be interviewing a panel of IT directors – Mike Nolan, IT director at Berwin Leighton Paisner; David Wood, global IT director at Watson Farley & Williams; and Tony McKenna, director of information technology at Gowling WLG, about how the IT industry is evolving, its challenges and how they have achieved success.
And the findings of our workshops, which also cover areas such as assessing the business need and delivering the right output, and managing the RFP process, will be presented back to the audience at the end of the day. With big thanks to our sponsors, Nikec, Philips, Picture More, Tikit, Workshare and DocsCorp.
Oh yes and then its drinks and the Orange Rag Christmas party complete with rockeoke band
and the inaugural ‘Legal IT Factor’. Perhaps the odd photo.
Keep your eyes here, I’ll keep you posted!
Caroline Hill (editor in chief)
10am Mike Rebeiro, global head of technology and innovation, Norton Rose Fulbright – Law Interrupted
Liberalisation is a huge threat in the UK – you no longer have to be qualified tot provide legal services.
New market entrant
s can come in and dis-aggregate the supply chain: there is a high level of regulation on law firms and a lower level on new entrants. This is much like Uber, which is less regulated than black taxis. Uberisation will hit us as a profession.
The threat is not from accountants but technology providers who realise that if they pivot, their technology can be used for law as a platform/law as a service.
Google is buying AI companies like there is no tomorrow. Once they have got an AI platform it won’t be long before they pivot.
10.30am David Wood, global IT director, Watson Farley & Williams; Mike Nolan, IT director at Berwin Leighton Paisner; and Tony McKenna, director of information technology at Gowling WLG share their insights into how the legal profession has evolved and how they overcame the challenge of introducing change. Chaired by Caroline Hill.
Roundtables
11.45am Engaging the business: building relationships with fee-earners and other stakeholders, chaired Jane Livesey (pictured left), engagement consultant at Linklaters and Alex Smith (pictured right), programme manager at Tikit.
Planning and preparation: assessing the business need and analysing how IT can deliver the right output. Co-chaired by Mike Nolan and Dan Thompson, sale management at Phillips.
Procurement best practice: managing the RFP process and validating proposals against the business needs.” Co-chaired by Stuart Chapman, IT applications manager at Osborne Clarke and Ben Mitchell, vice president EMEA at DocsCorp.
14.30 roundtables continue
Project deployment: ensuring deployment is undertaken in conjunction with the business and lawyers’ input. Co-chaired by Mark Sawyer, head of IT infrastructure at Slaughter and May, and Keith Bell, VP of sales at Workshare.
Service delivery: Transitioning to the business, encouraging adoption, providing effective training and customer service. Co-chaired by Jo Owen, operations director at Cripps and Oliver Morris, managing director of Picture More.
Operational excellence: overcoming the challenges in providing support, maintenance and monitoring effectiveness. Co-chaired by Anthony Stables, interim IT director at Harbottle & Lewis, and Damian Jeal, managing director of Nikec Solutions.
