In this insightful interview with Peter Duffy, we explore the critical aspects of fostering successful collaborations between law firms and startups, staying attuned to essential LegalTech advancements, and strategies for achieving wider internal buy-in for innovation within law firms.
Bradley Collins: Hi Peter, successfully implementing legaltech solutions within leading law firms is clearly a major challenge – what are your thoughts on how law firms and startups better work together going forward?
Peter Duffy: Law firms need to take a collaborative approach with startups and provide sufficient support to help them navigate the nuances and expectations of the firm. Startups often struggle with the stringent standards of law firm IT security teams, the lengthy internal approval processes, and the rigid expectations of legal end users.
Law firms may need to hand-hold startups through the quirks of their process and ensure they create an environment encouraging all involved to communicate openly throughout. This collaborative approach sets the scene for building and nourishing a lasting partnership.
Bradley Collins: Are there particular tech/innovation advancements that law firms absolutely need to be paying particular attention to right now, and why?
Peter Duffy: AI has made huge advancements recently, and many firms are exploring the potential of large language models, so it’s most important to track the progress of this technology over the coming months.While monitoring this advancement is worthwhile to understand its potential role in a firm’s tech strategy, firms should prioritise and pay the most attention to the value they can deliver with their existing tech stack.
Most firms have already procured proven products such as document automation, matter management, and process automation, to name just a few. Still, firms leave value on the table if this existing technology isn’t widely adopted, which is frequently the case! Emerging technology is exciting, but it should be within the objective of delivering value, which firms can most readily achieve by first maximising the adoption of their existing tech purchases.
Bradley Collins: Finally – what advice can you offer to Law Firm leaders that want to innovate certain processes, but are struggling to get wider internal buy-in?
Peter Duffy: Optimise for quick wins which can deliver value early and then leverage these successes to build broader momentum. Law firms often look to transform a process through a lengthy project and provide all improvements in one big bang. No value is delivered until a change is in the hands of end users, so it can be challenging to get firmwide buy-in when a project has no tangible successes to showcase until the very end.
It’s more practical to initially focus on one key pain point users face within a process and resolve this as quickly as possible. End users love a speedy solution to the problems that frustrate them most and become powerful champions in driving firmwide internal buy-in to innovation efforts.
Key Takeaways:
1. Collaborate Effectively with Startups: Law firms should adopt a collaborative approach when working with startups, offering support to navigate internal processes and security standards, fostering open communication, and building lasting partnerships.
2. Prioritize Existing Tech Stack: While staying informed about AI advancements is crucial, law firms should prioritize maximizing the value of their current tech investments, ensuring broad adoption of proven products like document automation and process automation.
3. Achieve Internal Buy-In with Quick Wins: Focus on resolving specific pain points within processes quickly to deliver tangible value. Demonstrating early successes gains support from end users, who become advocates for innovation efforts within the firm.
