Warrick McLean, CEO & Principal, Coleman Greig Lawyers
Today’s legal department leaders are charged with creating a legal service delivery strategy for their organisations that not only provides top-quality, timely legal services, but does so in a way that maximises value. To achieve this, leaders have a dizzying array of options to choose from as a result of globalisation, disaggregation of legal services, new market entrants, new technology capabilities, and of course, the rise of Legal Operations. In this opening session, we’ll explore some of the changes taking place, how it’s affecting the in-house world and their clients, and what it means for our future.
Mary O’Carroll, Director of Legal Operations at Google & President of CLOC
There is no doubt that the legal profession is in the midst of a massive transformation – and that continuing with a business-as-usual strategy is no longer an option for lasting success. It is imperative that we embrace change and explore new ways of working.
To enable innovation, we need to create an environment where all legal professionals can thrive and where change is the new normal. In this panel we have assembled legal professionals with diverse hands-on experience in leading change and preparing their organisations for the future. From changing culture to changing legislation this panel will share their hard-earned experiences to help you lead and drive innovation and change!
Moderated by:
Warrick McLean, CEO & Principal, Coleman Greig Lawyers
Panellists:
Hon Andrew Little, Minister of Justice & Minister for Courts
Helen Mackay, Director, Juno Legal
Erin Ebborn, Director & Principal Lawyer, Portia
Maria Sopoaga, Solicitor, Auckland Council
Everyone has the capacity to be innovative and creative in their work. But understanding that you have a voice and choosing to use it to promote change can be challenging for many of us. You and your voice are the software to drive you, your team and your leaders to elite performance. Speaking your truth when it comes to creativity is not only important, it provides purpose and a reason to contribute. Speaking up, is not just about the creative moment. It’s knowing you can contribute to meetings, or confidently deliver a proposal to a client or suggestion a new approach to your boss. In this engaging, fun and interactive presentation, you will discover what it feels like impact the world around you and do it with greater confidence and inner strength. With practical and simple techniques, you will walk away with strategies to help you speak up and feel more confident the next time you have those critical conversations.
The number-one hazard for innovators is getting stuck in the “tar pits of knowledge”. Understanding how to unlearn, adapt and re-learn is an important weapon in the innovator’s arsenal. In the digital economy, honing our uniquely human skills – imagining, dreaming, creating – is taking centre stage in the quest for innovation both inside, and outside of organisations.
Sarah Hindle, General Manager, Tech Futures Lab
The creation of an environment in which innovation can flourish requires deliberate action by law firm leaders. In this presentation, Caryn draws on her extensive experience to explore the challenges and opportunities that you might encounter when embarking on an innovation journey and useful frameworks through which new ideas and opportunities can be welcomed and tested. She will also provide practical tips to enable the successful delivery of your innovation initiatives.
Caryn Sandler, Partner & Chief Knowledge & Innovation, Gilbert + Tobin
With the rapid innovation in technology and growth in the internet of things (IOT) the opportunities for organisations to harness this and deliver value are enormous. However, relentless cyberattacks, rising data breaches and changing global privacy regulations require organisations to mitigate increasing risks and costs.
This session will discuss:
Moderated by:
Susan Bennett, Principal, Sibenco Legal & Advisory, Founder & Executive Director, Information Governance ANZ
Panellists:
Diahmin Warner, Director, Simply Privacy Ltd
Sarah Auva’a, Lead Digital Trust Partner, Spark
Hayley Miller, Partner, Kensington Swan
This panel of legal+tech experts will provide practical insights on how to successfully leverage technology to transform your business processes and practices. Using real examples, they will discuss both the opportunities and the challenges to changing the way you deliver legal services, sharing what they have done, the ‘hits’ and ‘misses’ along the way, what they are doing now, and what comes next.
Moderated by:
Gene Turner, Managing Director, LawHawk
Panellists:
Tila Hoffman, Special Counsel & Business Transformation Manager, MinterEllisonRuddWatts
Lindie Walsh, Consultant, Efficient Practice
Jaesen Sumner, Founding Partner, Ford Sumner
Three leading in-house lawyers share their personal innovation war stories, outlining the key strategies, tactics and tools they have adopted to drive change in their departments and organisations. Discover what worked (and what didn’t) plus the challenges they overcame along the way. You are guaranteed to find something you can take away and implement in your own team!. The session concludes with a Q & A with each speaker, led by Helen Mackay.
Tom Lane, General Counsel & Company Secretary – Pacific, Coca Cola Amatil
Katie Bhreatnach, General Counsel & Company Secretary, Airways New Zealand
Siân Wingate, President, ILANZ
Q & A moderated by:
Helen Mackay, Director, Juno Legal
In our discussion we’ll explore the opportunities for exponential growth in the value that legal teams can deliver, by harnessing the data and insights gathered from emerging technology and processes. We’ll also discuss the risks and opportunities for service providers to participate in this evolving space. You will hear the practical experiences from Telstra and PwC through this fireside chat with learnings you can take back and implement in your team.
Sam Kidd, CEO, LawVu
Tim Boyne, COO & Head of Product, LawVu
Denise Doyle, Legal Transformation Lead, Telstra
Mick Sheehy, Partner, NewLaw PwC
It’s been 13 years since the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act introduced the 21st Century to the profession of law. Is it time for a change? Get a sneak preview of the Law Practitioners Act 2025 – a full five years before it is even written – and see what the future might hold for law in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Jarrod Coburn, CEO, Portia
Technological developments continue to raise issues for Government, business and society and have profound implications for legal practice. In this environment, legal educators must prepare law graduates for legal practice in an increasingly dynamic tech-driven environment. This presentation will outline the key findings of a two-year research project TeLENZ and explore the opportunities and challenges of taking a whole curriculum and national approach to legal technology curriculum development.
Wayne Rumbles, Associate Professor, University of Waikato
Ever wondered what you would do if you were not a lawyer? In this talk, Jenny takes us on her career journey and explains how having an LLB and your skills as a lawyer can benefit your move into business, She share key lessons she has learned along they way on the Importance of having commercial acumen and business thinking in any context and the Importance of building relationships across all levels and disciplines.
Jenny Zhi Cheng, Senior Business Development Consultant, DLA Piper
In this dynamic talk, Nick will discuss what McCarthyFinch haslearnt from three years of R&D and experimentation with some of the largest players in the legaltech world and explain what are real threats and what is hype, and can you do for free today to improve how you deliver services and what does legal looks like in 10 years?
Nick Whitehouse, Co-founder & CEO, McCarthyFinch
Discover. After working as the IT head for Australian law firms, Steve founded Client Sense to help law firms better leverage their firm’s communication data, Steve will showcase how Client Sense can be used to increase and protect revenue by informing your business development, client retention, succession planning and cross-selling activities.
Steven Tyndall, Director & Founder, Client Sense & NextLegal
Discover how one of New Zealand’s largest law firms went about launching a technology-driven legal service designed to disrupt the market for small to medium business. Hear how Tompkins Wake is thinking differently and leveraging automation and AI to provide innovative and affordable legal solutions for SMEs.
Jon Calder, Chief Executive, Tompkins Wake
Managing the increasing volumes of data is a major pain point for any firm. As a result, legal professionals are always looking for better ways to optimise data investigation, streamline workflows, and significantly reduce the staffing, time, and cost associated with traditional document review. This panel of law firm and consulting leaders will discuss the benefits of advanced analytics, predictive coding, and continuous active learning tools, and explore how these tools can significantly boost efficiencies and improve quality in the discovery effort.
Sarah Cordner, Senior Director of Client Services, Epiq
Glen Cowie, Senior Director of Legal Solutions, Epiq
Jessica Matena, Associate, Harkness Henry
During this session, we’ll cover the foundations of Legal Design and take participants through a simulated Design Sprint workshop.
Charlotte Baker, Legal Designer, Wavelength.law
Much has been written about the impending arrival of the Big 4 ‘Horsemen of the Future Law Apocalypse’ and we are finally seeing signs their threatened entrance becoming reality! What moves have the Big 4 made so far and what’s likely to come next? What is their overall strategy and how do they think about NewLaw vs BigLaw? What are the natural advantages and disadvantages for the Big 4 in Legal? Why is technology and data the key to success for all players in the legal ecosystem? Discover the answers to these questions and more from a leading player in the space.
Mick Sheehy, Partner, NewLaw PwC
The emergent, impactful and transformative role that new legal service providers play in the global legal marketplace is increasing. Different to the practice of law, the delivery of legal services combines people expertise, smart process and value-driven technology solutions. It responds to the challenges confronting General Counsel, C-Suite and business generally including escalating management demands for operational efficiency, speed and value enhancement; while serving as enterprise defender and business partner; managing existing and new risks; and navigating the speed and complexity of global business. General Counsel in APAC must do this with flat or declining budgets – and amongst global geo-political uncertainty. This session explores how legal service providers in APAC will help the legal industry to navigate the new frontier?
Titus Rahiri, Director & Founder, KorumLegal
As the finale of an action-packed day of practical insights from legal thought leaders, technologists and innovators, we look ahead to envision the future of law. The panel will discuss what the future holds for the profession and the delivery of legal services. They will explore what is possible with new opportunities to innovate through people, process and technology, both for today and the future. The discussion will inspire you to apply new thinking to your role and organisation, to help you adapt and thrive in a continuously changing market.
Moderated by:
Warrick McLean, CEO & Principal, Coleman Greig Lawyers
Panellists:
Mary O’Carroll, Director of Legal Operations at Google & President of CLOC
Caryn Sandler, Partner & Chief Knowledge & Innovation Officer, Gilbert + Tobin
Nick Whitehouse, Co-founder & CEO, McCarthyFinch
Titus Rahiri, Director & Founder, KorumLegal
