In the unusually beautiful setting of Chateau Canet in Carcassonne, France, circa 40 legal tech leaders gathered last week (19-21 November) for an inaugural IT conference, where the focus was on networking, learning, and wine tasting.
Run by former Milbank IT director Annette Brown and Roy Harris, who some of you will know from NetMotion Software, Uncorking Innovation was what I would describe as a ‘people-first’ conference on many levels. It was instigated by IT directors who have made good contacts and friends at high-end legal tech conferences abroad in the past. And many of the sessions revolved around learning about how people think, enabling us, therefore, to overcome resistance to change.
As we reflect on some of the key takeaways, Kerry Angel, director of IT at leading UK law firm Harbottle & Lewis told me: “As IT leaders, we spend a lot of time looking after our internal customers and our team. Having some time away from that and focusing on personal development as well as strategic ideas is so important.
“This event has given us the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other, build and cement our network relationships as well as develop ourselves. When we listen to other people, we realise we are not alone – it doesn’t matter what size firm we are from, our issues are still the same.”
The Client
On day one, after a number of vendor presentations (the conference organisers were very generous in handing over the floor to vendors on much of the first afternoon, forgive me for not covering those sessions here), I had the privilege to host a panel with GCs Marianne Gilbert and Nicola Phillips. Gilbert started out legal life at Freshfields and has held senior in-house roles at companies including ITV and Acamar Films. Phillips, who started at Dentons and also ran a team at ITV, is now chief legal officer of Arqiva.
We discussed the valuable role that IT directors and chief technology officers could play in pitching to clients in this tech-first world era.
Gilbert asked how many people in the room had recently been involved in a client pitch. The answer was zero. With clients crying out for tech support and solutions, there is a clear opportunity here. Clients, the panel said, are looking for holistic solutions beyond pure legal advice, and firms are in many cases not stepping up to the opportunity.
The panel also highlighted some of the challenges when it comes to the use of AI. Instead of costs going down, in some cases they have gone up. What is required is transparency and good communication around pricing and the roadmap.
Social Mobility Partnership
Next up was Barry Matthews, group deputy general counsel of Pennon Group and founder of the Social Mobility Partnership, which helps young people from low-income backgrounds achieve professional careers, with work placements and support from industry.
Matthews described his own challenging background and how his ability to play rugby opened doors for him that might not otherwise have been open.
In these days of push-back on DEI initiatives, Matthews said that diversity is essential for successful complex problem solving: ‘groupthink’ means limited perspectives.
Social mobility, Matthews said, is something that everyone can relate to – everyone can relate to poverty’s impact on opportunity, and the fact that it is wrong. Firms can make a difference through structured mentoring programs and bringing in underrepresented candidates as part of assessment periods that don’t rely on one dimensional assessments.
To find out more about SMP see here: https://smbp.org.uk/
Change management with Jazz Cool
Following an evening of wine tasting revolving around the Chateau’s own incredible wines led by wine merchant and connoisseur Justin Maples, the next morning started with the keynote session on change management led by performance specialist Jane (Jazz) Cool.
Cool talked about resilience and adaptability and how to master and lead change. She helped the group to identify five different behavioural responses to change:
Victim: “Why does this always happen to me?” – everything is done to them and they feel they have lost control
Critic: Sceptics asking testing questions, untrusting
Bystander: Sitting on a fence, watching others before jumping in
Charger: Can create collateral damage, don’t look before they leap, like a bull in a china shop
Navigator: Plans route, finds the most effective/productive path to an end result
The behaviours, Cool said, are based on your environment and confidence levels, and people can move between responses depending on the situation.
It is important to understand where people sit on the change continuum framework in order to help them adapt to change and you then need to understand their mindset, which can be broken down as follows:
Metathesiophobia: Fundamental fear/phobia of change (trauma-based)
Conditional Adopter: “If I see X in place, then I’ll consider change”
Adaptive Mindset: Acceptance when necessary, growth mindset emerging
Proactive Innovator: Optimizes by anticipating future needs/challenges
Infinite Mindset: Continuous change embrace, like video game with unknown landscape
Most people sit between conditional and adaptive, Cool said.
The techniques to help them embrace change can be tailored and include reason; inspiration; questions (to help establish the benefits); conditional negotiation; favour/persuasion; feel good factors (such as compliments); and reference to silent allies/respected colleagues. Of course, there are compliance only techniques too, including ‘do it because I’m your boss’ or ‘do it or else.’
Cool recommended getting people involved early on in a change programme to increase buy-in. Regular communication is essential as is using appropriate techniques relevant to persona. Structured training and support within a clearly defined process will provide a safety net for conditional adopters. Managing expectations in which you see things from the user perspective and offer suggestions and options can be helpful. So can celebrating small wins and successes.
It’s key to manage expectations along the way, with clear language and a collaborative approach.
James Temple, chief operating officer of Seddons GSC, said to me after the conference: “We’ve used Jazz at multiple partner meetings where we talk about strategy and we bring her in to help people understand how to manage and deal with change and resistance to change.
“Jazz’s change continuum framework is completely true of law firms and it’s interesting because until you put people into categories, it’s hard to talk about how you manage them. Once you understand the first bit, you can then talk about influence techniques so you can bring people along on the journey.”
Shane Scott, former IT director of Gowling WLG, added: “In law firms you don’t get the budget to engage with people on that level but if you look at big corporates, the change piece has its own budget. In law firms there is a tension any time you are taking fee-earners away from working but then you risk failing to achieve the benefits that come from good adoption, which comes from good change management.”
Unspoken AI Session with Duncan Eadie
While much of the conference was not about AI, legal IT director-turned-consultant Duncan Eadie’s session was about the unspoken questions posed by AI.
Eadie talked about a 10-year evolution of AI, starting out with tools such as Luminance, ContractPodAI and ROSS, through to the launch of ChatGPT and the GenAI revolution (my word not his).
There are many challenges now for law firms, including those around costs and pricing; shadow IT; and the risks of inaccuracies in output. The billable hour provides no incentive to use AI and can create resistance. Looming in the background are tech-first legal services firms such as Garfield AI, which look set to disrupt the market.
However, it will soon be negligent not to use AI and what is required is a firm-wide, consistent response and comprehensive training, Eadie said.
Improvisation Workshop
A workshop led by James MacGregor, founder of Ethical eDiscovery, and improvisation trainer Heather Urquhart, who MacGregor has worked with in the past, had everyone up on their feet. Urquhart shared exercises to demonstrate how to break down barriers, exercise active listening, and understand the power of language in how we communicate.
Urquhart started by pairing people up to share their life story in 60 seconds. James Harrison, partner and IT director at leading medical negligence firm Leigh Day observed: “This session was really good – I’ve known Chris White for years and never known that much about him.”
Partners had to repeat back what they heard. The group also had to pair up to practice communicating in different ways, starting sentences with ‘Yes and…’ or ‘Yes, but…’ to see how the conversation changed.
Challenging times call for a more collaborative approach, and this focus on language was at times hilarious (perhaps, you had to be there) and thought provoking.
Brown observed: “Language, training and improvisation, used correctly, can enhance our workforce and even reduce sickness leave.”
Epitome profiling
The last of the talks were from the founder and global managing director of workforce transformation and psychometric profiling platform Epitome. Jan Lambrechts, a hugely engaging speaker from Belgium who now resides in Singapore, gave a wide-ranging talk about the need to think outside of the box when it comes to the skills that we will need in the future years to come.
Epitome facilitates workforce optimisation through a combination of psychometric profiling, AI, data analytics and skills mapping.
Your current workforce may be exactly who you need with a little training, he pointed out. An accountant with the right training is a data scientist.
Harrison said: “Jan was brilliant in terms of the skills gap and evolving roles or repurposing existing people instead of hiring new ones.”
Conference close and initiatives needing our support
There was more to this residential conference than a few words here can convey, including Beaujolais wine tasting on the second evening and some fun and games.
There was also a strong emphasis on supporting projects and charities of worth. In addition to hearing about the SMP above, the conference stood in support of SimPal, which is battling digital poverty in the United Kingdom. Life in the UK can be challenging for many and staying digitally connected is no longer a luxury – it is essential for basic banking and even doctors’ appointments, but many people can’t afford a mobile phone or laptop. To find out more and donate laptops and mobile phones or donate, see https://www.yoursimpal.com/
The conference organisers also supported a community project for one of our own – Kerry Angel’s son Matthew is a young, talented racing car driver who is looking for backing and sponsorship. He has already been working with a number of legal tech vendors and individuals, including fellow racing car driver Simon Clark, and you can find out how to support him here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-angel-020430257/
Congratulations to Annette Brown and Roy Harris on a conference that delivered old-school fun and values with new school thought and ideas. It was a welcome escape.
The sponsors who made the event possible and who were brilliant company were Jylo, Speech, 1823, Laurel, SCC, RGH, Claritas and Definely. Thanks to marketing consultant Mike Gallop for sharing a few AI notes with me after the event. Needless to say, all the really funny stuff has been taken out.
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