Automates

In our first podcast of 2025, Ben is joined by Jon Bartman, Co-Founder of the Law Tech Consultancy. Together they discuss: 

• The increasingly common journey from lawyer to tech founder
• The fact that implementing tech is not just a big law play
• The challenges and opportunities brought by a crowded legal tech market
• The importance of legal tech founders having a realistic understanding of their market
• The unique characteristics required of lawyers

Plus their mutual experience of The Legal Tech Fund (TLTF) Summit and Jon being a proud board member of the European Legal Tech Association (ELTA)

This episode of Automates features values-driven Caitlin McFee, Head of Growth at Capacity. Caitlin explains: 

• Her reasons for getting behind the mission of Capacity and how it helps firms operate as better businesses
• That firms must look beyond 'wellbeing days' to truly transforming the experience of working in a law firm
• Using work allocation as a lever to affect change
• The inherent challenges in attempting to fundamentally change the way the legal industry works
• Balancing the needs of the firm and the associates with the desire of the partner to have control
• The cultural differences between the UK and US in adopting tech
• Creating an open and flexible startup culture

Plus, here's a link to the referenced must sign up newsletter about everything the legal industry cares about https://legaldigest.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Our guest this episode is Greg Lambert, Chief Knowledge Services Officer at Jackson Walker, co-creator of 3 Geeks and a Law Blog and one half of The Geek in Review podcast, a true OG in the online legal sphere. Some standout points covered:

• The ease of information sharing within an industry as nuanced as the legal industry
• The merits of an emerging technologies committee
• How listening to and understanding the business is the starting point for pinpointing the right solutions to their challenges, and the answer is not always technology!
• How the AI buzz can spark valuable conversations within the business that otherwise would not have come to be
• The importance of delving beyond pouring data into LLMs but thinking about how to make use of that data and extract value 
• The tough fact that using Generative AI to handle legal research is one of the hardest things you could do with Generative AI!

Plus a two minute summary of changes in the macro environment over the last 20 years. And - he *only* received two sales emails from vendors pitching tech during the one hour recording of this session!

This episode, Ben speaks to Bighand CMO Briana McCrory about all things marketing. Bri offers her perspective on:

• The importance of company culture in encouraging long staff tenures
• Building a marketing function around changing buyer behaviour
• Evolving from a single product company to a multi product company
• The value of data-led research reports at various stages of the buying journey
• Rapid growth and fostering a growth mindset
• The collaborative legal tech community - competitors or not!

Catriona Wolfenden talks us through her journey from reluctant solicitor to Product & Innovation Director at Weightmans.  

Discussing the firm's (much to Ben's fascination) 34-strong Product & Innovation team, Catriona covers:

• Striking the right balance between virtual work and physically getting together with some sharpies and Post-Its.
• Maintaining culture when split across different offices and hybrid working arrangements
• The predicament that there are always way too many product & innovation projects than you can ever service 
• The sometimes 'alien' function of sales within a law firm
• Adapting to wearing a software vendor hat 
• The soft skills to look out for in fresh out of university legal engineers
• Shifting from billable hours to the 'it's ok to fail' mentality of innovation 

And many more topics. Whether you're considering legal career, a law grad, an experienced lawyer looking to cross over to the world of innovation, a supplier or simply a legaltech fanatic, there's something for everyone here, folks!

Our guest this episode is Jason Dirkx, Director of Practice Technology Solutions at Paul Hastings. Jason offers some excellent insights into the law firm/tech vendor relationship and the optimal set up for a law firm's tech & innovation department.

Some snippets:

• Contrary to popular opinion, lawyers don't need to learn to code or prompt, leave it to the experts!
• The law firm of the future recognises cross-discipline expertise
• Don't think of the relationship as client and vendor, think of it as a partnership
• Startups and tech companies don't always have to focus on growth at all costs
• Innovation teams aren't a deliberate blocker to successful legal tech sales

This episode of Automates features a coffee shop chat with none other than Catherine Bamford of BAM Legal. Ben and Catherine discuss:

• Best practices for assessing the tech landscape and selecting new solutions
• Bringing Knowledge Management back into the legaltech fold
• Overly tech-led innovation teams
• The essential practice of process mapping
• Embracing the complexity of legal processes without trying to oversimplify
• Using AI to overcome blank page paralysis 

Grab a brew and have a watch/listen!

Ben talks to Alex Hamilton, who shares the journey that led him to found Radiant Law in 2011, with a new approach to contracts using tech driven tools and a lean approach.

Some takeaways: 

• Fixed fee pricing turns the focus to adding value for clients
• Relationships are at the centre of contracts, and contracts can kill relationships!
• Automation and technology frees up humans to apply creativity and focus on relationships

Plus Alex tells us of his aspirations of one day winning the Shingo Prize and the new holistic edition of his book 'Sign Here'.

Glenn LaForce, Chief Knowledge & Innovation Officer at Holland & Knight,  joins Ben on this episode of Automates, where he runs us through his illustrious career and discusses:

• Why you have to be aligned with your IT function in order to breed success
• How dorm-storming the firm from all angles can ensure a smooth rollout of tech updates
• The difference between conducting a proof of value vs a proof of concept
• Why lawyers are really great at writing prompts, and they don't know it
• The legaltech, KM & innovation community really is made up of the best people!

With a healthy dose of camaraderie and stories of Pearl Jam, it's a great listen!

This episode of Automates features a rare conversation outside of a pub environment for Ben Wightwick and Alex Smith, Global Product Lead at iManage. Alex gives an excellent insight to the structure and function of a product management team within a large Legaltech organisation. Topics include:

• The ability to execute change quickly once there is a firm foundation in place
• How market trends can sometimes punch you in the face and sometimes shake your hand
• The value of being exposed to customers as a product function
• The value of networking 
• The genuine desire to see change happen in the legal industry
• How all roads ultimately lead back to knowledge!