Vancouver: November 29th, 2022
8.30am-5.00pm
Coast Coal Harbour Hotel
1180 West Hastings Street
Law Firms + Legal Sector Service Providers: $499
In-House Counsel: $399
Tables of eight are also available for purchase.
Located in a premium location at the conference, a table offers convenience, flexibility and a significant cost discount on a per delegate basis. For more information contact andrew@adbinsights.com
The premier legal event in Western Canada. Focused on the intersection of business and law, the Canadian Legal Innovation Forum returns with a live conference in Vancouver on November 29th, 2022.
This year our unifying theme - Sustaining innovation: taking stock and maintaining momentum - is designed to address the topics most important to your success and growth in the evolving legal landscape.
Change has become ubiquitous across the legal sector. It is rapidly becoming technology-enabled and primed for acceleration in this sphere. Process management, ways that practitioners collaborate, and the way that legal services are delivered are being re-imagined. And the battle for talent is more competitive than it has ever been.
Innovation is no longer a buzzword for the legal sector; it’s an imperative.
ACCREDITED FOR 7 HOURS OF CPD CREDITS BY THE LAW SOCIETY OF BC
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND
Gain practical and actionable insights to help you drive innovation in your legal practice
Build a network of leaders focused on driving change in Western Canada's legal sector
Engage with a platform for legal practitioners to take stock of the acceleration of innovation during the pandemic and what it means for the legal sector
Discussions will focus on how the innovation story is evolving at the intersection of business and law for legal departments, law firms, alternative legal service providers and their third-party partners
Accredited for 7 hours of CPD credits from the Law Society of BC
STRUCTURE
Full day event held in Vancouver (November 29th, 2022)
6 engaging panel discussions with Q&A
A design thinking sprint to encourage active participation amongst conference participants
Opportunities for networking throughout the day
SPEAKERS INCLUDE
We seek out speakers at the top of their game to bring you the latest, most innovative thinking for law firms, legal departments, and strategic leaders. Below is a snapshot of this year’s experts.
PANEL THEMES
LAW FIRMS
Optimizing your law firm’s practice: how are firms innovating when it comes to people, process and technology?
How are mid-sized law firms adapting in a rapidly shifting legal marketplace?
Evolving the client relationship: how are legal teams evolving their service models to better collaborate with clients to deliver results?
LEGAL DEPARTMENTS
How to make the business case for and deliver change in your legal department
Leading at the intersection of business and law: how are leading lawyers in key sectors driving value in their organizations?
STRATEGY & LEADERSHIP
The people puzzle: how are law firms and legal departments attracting, developing and retaining talent in an era of change
Design thinking sprint: learn the key principles of design thinking and apply them in a breakout session for a key challenge facing the legal sector
AGENDA
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8.15 - 8.45 am: Registration and Breakfast
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8.45-8.50am: Welcome to the Forum
Andrew Bowyer, Founder, The Canadian Legal Innovation Forum
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8.50-9.40am: Optimizing your law firm’s practice: how are firms innovating when it comes to people, process and technology?
Operating in an increasingly complex legal marketplace, law firms are quickly realizing that to compete and evolve they must provide legal services in new and innovative ways to deliver value for their clients.
Innovation in legal service delivery is anchored in improved processes, leveraging talent and supporting both with technology to deliver results. On this panel, we’ll look at specific examples of how law firms are innovating on the ground, including:
How is innovation in law firms going mainstream? What are the drivers of this? What risks are facing law firms who do not?
How are law firms harnessing people, processes, technology and content to deliver results?
Examples of how law firms are evolving their businesses models: productization, shifting from a practice led to a sectoral focus and pricing models and remote working
Speakers:
Digby Leigh, Managing Partner, Digby Leigh & Co
Tamara Kronis, Counsel, Ross & McBride LLP
Karen Tuschak, Founder + CEO, Spider Silk Solutions
Malcolm Muthulingum, CEO, LEAP Canada
Chair: Aaron Wenner, CEO, CiteRight
In association with:
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9.45-10.35am: How to make the business case for and deliver change in your legal department
Facing increasing pressure, delivering value for their organizations must form a central pillar of legal departments’ strategies. To do so requires focusing on identifying pain points, creating a strategy to address them, defining priorities and making the case for investment.
On the panel we’ll focus on how legal department leaders are defining, developing and implementing strategies to deliver value for their organizations.
Our discussion will include perspectives on:
How to identify pain points within organizations. What areas do legal departments play a key role in identifying and solving for?
Prioritizing innovation initiatives. Areas such as contract review, collaboration, compliance and budget/spend management ranked at the top of the list for our 2021 CANLIF Legal Department report. Here we’ll look at how legal departments are prioritizing innovation initiatives to drive change in their organizations.
Building the business case for change. How are in-house leaders making the case for investment in their legal departments?
Speakers:
Ranj Sangra, Associate General Counsel, Ballard Power Systems
Cory Olson, Director of Planning + Legal Operations, Telus
Paula Pepin, Founder + CEO, LexGo (Fmr. General Counsel, Hootsuite)
Michael McGinn, Innovation Manager, Fasken
Chair: Sahil Zaman, Head of Legal Transaction Management, iManage
In association with:
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10.35 - 10.55am: Networking Break
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11.00-11.50am: Evolving the client relationship: how are legal teams evolving their service models to better collaborate with clients to deliver results?
Facing increasing pressures, many legal teams have embraced the fact that legal services need to be delivered in innovative ways to add value for their clients (both internal and external).
Innovation in legal service delivery is anchored in improved processes and project management, having the right teams in place to execute effectively and leveraging technology. An emphasis on collaboration between - spurred by the pandemic - is also driving change. The result is that many legal teams are now focused on iterative, dynamic and constantly evolving approaches to how legal services are delivered.
On this panel our speakers will review what novel approaches they are taking in terms of legal service delivery and why, how they are collaborating with end users to redesign the legal value proposition and how they are building new types of teams to deliver results.
Speakers:
Sep Alavi, Counsel, Borden Ladner Gervais
Nolan Hurlburt, Canada Director, Knowledge and Legal Operations, Dentons
Brandy Falkevitch, Associate Counsel, Flatiron Construction
Peter Sanford, Partner, Deloitte
Chair: Malcolm Muthulingum, CEO, LEAP Canada
In association with:
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11.50 - 12.10pm: Presentation - How drive innovation in your legal practice
Kyle Stinson, Sales Team Leader, LEAP
In association with:
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12.10 - 1.05pm: Lunch Break
In association with:
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1.05 - 1.55pm: The people puzzle: how are law firms and legal departments attracting, developing and retaining talent in an era of change?
The legal market is witnessing an unprecedented shift when it comes to talent. Lawyers are changing firms, moving in-house, to alternative legal service providers and in some cases moving out of the profession entirely. This is having a significant impact on the shape of the sector and promises to continue to do so for years to come.
On this panel, we’ll review the following:
What are the key drivers and trends shaping the battle for talent in the legal sector?
What are law firms and legal departments doing to attract, develop and retain talent in a dynamic marketplace?
Portfolio careers. What types of new career paths are available to lawyers versus traditional ones?
Passion, purpose and generational change. A new generation of lawyers is taking the reins in the legal sector. Purpose driven, portfolio careers must be matched with authentic organizational values (flexibility, diversity and inclusion, collaboration). What does this mean for the legal profession moving forward?
Speakers:
Sharan Sanga, Director, Professional Development + Marketing, Farris
Jennifer Vermiere, Director of Professional Resources, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang
Greg Palm, Co-Managing Partner, Hamilton Duncan
Stephanie Hacksell, Partner, Hunter West Legal Recruitment
Chair: Aynsley Laluk, Chief Operating Officer, Hamilton Duncan
In association with:
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2:00-2:50pm: How are mid-sized law firms adapting in a rapidly shifting legal marketplace?
Mid-size law firms are facing a number of challenges including a highly competitive landscape, client pressures on the legal value proposition, pricing pressures and legislation that is upending highly profitable business models.
On this panel, we’ll look at how mid-size firms in Western Canada are responding to challenges with their own version of innovation, including:
Why do law firms need innovation strategies? Here we’ll outline the business case for innovation including how it can create new revenue streams, enhance client relationships and help maintain an edge in a competitive marketplace.
What are the key drivers and trends changing the competitive landscape for mid-size law firms? And how are these law firms responding in terms of defining and executing on forward looking, innovative operating strategies?
Significant changes to ICBC rules to personal injury lawsuits in BC are forcing many BC law firms to innovate in order to evolve. What practice areas are BC law firms previously focused on personal injury law moving into and why? What successes and challenges are they facing in redefining their business models?
Speakers:
Morgyn Chandler, Managing Partner, Hammerco Lawyers
Sara Forte, Lawyer & Founder, Forte Workplace Law & Not Your Average Law Job.
Amanda Bafaro, General Counsel, BridgePoint Financial
Richard Bell, Partner, Bell Alliance
Chair: Tiana Van Dyk, Senior Director, Client Services, Epiq
In association with:
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2.55 - 3.15pm: Networking Break
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3.15pm - 4.05pm: An introduction to design thinking: how can its principles be applied to challenges faced by the legal sector?
The legal sector faces disruptive challenges to its existing model. These challenges center around technological change, increased competitive/client pressure on traditional legal service delivery models and engaging and retaining talent. Design thinking - a human centered process for creative thinking - offers a toolkit for legal practitioners to help address these challenges.
The one hour session will be led by Richelle Molaro (COO of BLG Beyond). During the presentations, our presenters will:
Outline the key principles of design thinking and why it matters for the legal sector
Present real world case studies of how design thinking can be applied in a legal context
Facilitate a discussion with the audience to apply design thinking principles to challenges they are facing in their own practices
Want to learn more about design thinking? Click here.
In association with:
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4.10-5.00pm: Leading at the intersection of business and law: how are leading lawyers in key sectors driving value in their organizations?
In a complex operating environment, the importance of the role of general counsel is rising. Areas such as corporate governance and ESG, privacy, compliance and organizational strategy all sit at the top of the corporate agenda. And having an effective and empowered general counsel to address these areas is key.
On this panel, our speakers - leading general counsel from Western Canadian organizations - will look at how their roles are evolving in terms of adding significant value to their organizations.
Topics covered will include:
Examples of how the role of general counsel is evolving to meet mission critical needs of their organizations and what these mission critical needs are.
How are legal departments evolving their departments’ structure and strategy to better align with the business?
How are legal departments engaging with business partners to design and implement bespoke solutions to support growth?
Speakers:
Alice Davidson, Chief Legal Officer, Mogo
Karim Amlani, Senior Director, Legal, Hootsuite
Miranda Lam, Chief Legal Officer, Acuitas Therapeutics
Katie Jamieson, SVP - Legal, Herschel Supply Company
Chair: Danielle Okay, Senior Legal Counsel, Kalexius
In association with:
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5.00-6.00pm: Post Forum Networking Drinks
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