LawFest organiser Andrew King continues a series of interviews with key legal professionals with their innovation and technology stories.
Pauline Glancy is the Practice Manager at Haigh Lyon Lawyers.
What has been your experience or interaction with legal innovation and technology?
I feel that I have had a positive interaction with both. People are now not afraid to question why we do something in a certain way. Instead, people like me are asking, how can we do this more effectively and efficiently and what are the technology tools that are available that might help us along the way.
What changes have you seen in your firm, team or organisation recently?
My firm is not afraid of change and are embracing it. It is also not left to the management team to implement new ways of working but rather it is open to everyone in the firm to contribute ideas and solutions. The words paper less isn’t a scary concept anymore. A clean and paper free desk can be seen around the office. With the use of dictation technology such as Bighand lawyers are becoming more and more armed with the tools needed to work smarter. This also allows our secretaries to be more than typists. Instead they are more involved in the file and thinking one step ahead of what might be needed from them next.
What challenges or barriers do you face when innovating or looking to use new tech?
Most new technology is great but what happens if it doesn’t interact with your current software? I find this the biggest challenge. E.g. This new trust admin system can do everything from A-Z but it won’t integrate with Infinity our current practice management system. Or this new cloud phone set up is top of the line but it won’t work with our current computer system.
What opportunities do you see with legal innovation?
A move away from time billing and to value based services for clients. Using technology to improve productivity of legal authors by flexible ways of working. Lawyers can now access their files from anywhere and don’t have to be next to them at their office cubicle.
With greater adoption of tech and more innovation, how do you see your role evolving in the future?
Instead of just managing people to deliver the outcome it has evolved into utilising the combination of people, technology and innovative ideas to deliver better outcomes for or clients.
LawFest is focused on innovation and tech in the legal profession, why do you think it’s important for legal professionals to attend an event like LawFest?
Aren’t we all looking to achieve the same thing? This is a great opportunity to get in a room with like-minded people who are looking to make a positive change or people who have already trialed it who are willing to share their thoughts.
Andrew King is the founder of Legal Innovate (https://legalinnovate.nz/). He helps lawyers and organisations successfully innovate through leveraging technology to help improve the way they deliver legal services Legal Innovate includes LawFest (https://www.lawfest.nz/), LegalTech Hub (https://legaltech.nz/) and E-Discovery Consulting (https://www.e-discovery.co.nz/).