Lawyers On Fire Podcast

Lawyers on Fire chat with Marianne Saarikko Janson who has been the founder of Fondia Oyi, the first publicly listed law firm of the Nordics. And Fonida is not just another law firm but has rather disrupted the legal market in Finland. Lawyers on Fire explore the story of Fondia and what Marianne has in store for the future.

Lawyers on Fire have spoken with MAX BLOCK, CEO and Founder of Advocado (advocado.de). Advocado lowers the threshold for clients to interact with lawyers and at the same time makes the work for the lawyer more efficient. Max talked to us as part of our German Legal Tech Talk Series (in Northern German) and this is an English summary of our discussion.

Advocado ist eine Online-Plattform aus Deutschland, die Verbrauchern Rechtsberatung zum Festpreis anbietet. Lawyers-on-Fire sprachen mit Gründer Maximilian Block über die bisherigen Erfahrungen und weiteren Pläne von Advocado.

Mitchell Kowalski is a Visiting Professor in Legal Innovation at the University of Calgary, the legal innovation columnist for the National Post, a Global Legal Innovator and the author of Avoiding Extinction: Reimagining Legal Services for the 21st Century. He was formerly a partner at one of the world’s largest law firms and has also served as in-house legal counsel. Lawyers on Fire spoke with him about his new book The Great Legal Reformation which he published in late 2017, 500 years after Martin Luther started the first great reformation.

Sebastiaan Bos is one of the key artificial intelligence experts in Legal Tech. His expertise extends beyond his role as Director of Solution EMEA at HighQ and Lawyers on Fire had a chance to speak with Sebastiaan on his view of the legal tech market and what he thinks law firms and young lawyers should do now.

Xenion führte in den letzten Wochen die "Legal Design Challenge" durch. Lawyers on Fire unterhalten sich über den Hintergrund, die Teilnehmerbeiträge und die Gewinnerauswahl. Außerdem gibt es einen Ausblick auf künftige Veranstaltungen.

Jochen Brandhoff is the organizer of the Legal Expo - The European LegalTech Expo & Congress in Frankfurt on 23 and 24 October, 2017. LOF spoke with ihm in the German Legal Tech Talks series and this podcast summarizes the German discussion with him for our English listeners.

Was macht ein typischer Jurastudent in seinen letzten Semestern? – Richtig, er geht ins Rep. So auch Dr. Jochen Brandhoff, der erste Gast unserer German Legal Tech Talks Reihe. Allerdings ist er aus einem anderen Grund ins Rep gegangen – er hat es mit einem Partner gekauft, um die Inhalte onlinefähig zu machen. Jus2Click hieß das vermutlich erste rein webbasierte juristische Repetitorium. Das war aber nicht die letzte Berührung des heutigen Gesprächspartners mit Disruption und Innovation: Jochen Brandhoff veranstaltet die Kongressmesse LEGAL ®EVOLUTION – The European LegalTech Expo & Congress. Der Anspruch ist nicht gering: LEGAL ®EVOLUTION soll zur jährlichen Leitveranstaltung der digitalen Transformation des Rechts in Europa werden. Und das Beste: spontan hat Jochen Brandhoff noch ein besonderes Angebot für Lawyers on Fire im Gespräch gemacht. Anhören lohnt sich also! Hier die Fragen an Jochen Brandhoff: Sie sind Rechtsanwalt und haben schon zu Referendarzeiten ein Legal Tech Unternehmen im E-Learning

You are a designer, not a lawyer. Why did you become interested in legal contracts? You just defended your dissertation on Friday! How did it go? How would you summarize the three key findings of your dissertation? What do you think of Blockchain contracts? You also founded Legal Design Jam. What is this? What is your message to lawyers wanting to get ready for tomorrow’s digital world? Are there any favourite books you recommend? Any tools?

Carsten and Jochen talk about the interviews they conducted in 2016 and share their most interesting moments and findings. They then go on to take a look at what is ahead in 2017. The discussion is in German and an English will be available.

Dr Zev J. Eigen is a data scientist focused on cutting edge applications in HR, labor and employment law, and legal services. A former professor at Northwestern, and visiting professor at Yale and NYU, Dr Eigen was honored as one of "40 Under 40 Rising Legal Stars" by the National Law Journal, and is frequently quoted in the media as an expert on big data and predictive analytics. He is a nationally recognized expert in these fields appearing in the media frequently (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes, NPR, Bloomberg News, Reuters, Chicago Tribune, NBC, CBS, FOX, etc.). Zev is a frequent speaker on matters pertaining to workplace data analytics. Lawyers on Fire spoke to him after his speech at Legal Tech Westcoast in San Francisco.

Michael is an attorney with 13 years of experience in private and in-house practice. His time directing operations and providing legal counsel to a process improvement firm in China led to his experience in process improvement, project management, and change management. Michael works with internal and external clients to design and improve legal processes and to lead deployments of attorneys, process and technology for strategic initiatives. With a focus on systems, innovation and process performance effectiveness, Michael helps deliver legal solutions that reduce costs to clients, increase value, create deeper client satisfaction, and produce results. Lawyers on Fire met Michael after his speech at this year’s Legal Tech West Coast conference in San Francisco.

Dr. Cornelia Nett ist General Counsel für GE Capital in Deutschland. Seit ihrem Start bei GE in 2006 hatte sie verschiedene Positionen in der Rechtsabteilung inne und verantwortet nun den gesamten Bereich Legal von GE Capital Deutschland. Vor GE war sie sechs Jahre lang für die Kanzlei Shearman & Sterling LLP in Frankfurt tätig, spezialisiert auf Leveraged Finance Transaktionen. Neben Ihrer Arbeit als General Counsel hat Frau Nett einen Verein gegründet – „X˛ - Power of Two” (http://www.poweroftwo.de), der Karrierewege von Frauen z.B. beim Einstieg oder Wiedereinstieg in das Berufsleben unterstützen und gleichzeitig den steigenden Fachkräftemangel reduzieren will. Gemeinsam mit anderen erfolgreichen Professionals sieht sie das enorme Potenzial gut qualifizierter Frauen, das heute oft nicht voll ausgeschöpft wird. Frau Nett traf Lawyers-on-Fire in Frankfurt und berichtet über Ihre Motivation und Arbeit.

US-based Ron Friedmann has spent over two decades improving law practice and legal business operations with technology, knowledge management, and alternative resourcing. Today he is one of the world’s leading experts and bloggers on legal tech. Meeting Carsten in Nürnberg, Ron shares his views on the legal marketplace, current trends and opportunities for the next generation of lawyers.  

Dr. Sascha Theißen ist seit 2013 Senior Vice President Legal/ General Counsel einer führenden internationalen Verlagsgruppe. Er begann seine Karriere als Anwalt und war zunächst sechs Jahre für zahlreiche Unternehmensmandanten tätig. Dabei spezialisierte er sich aufs IT Recht und wurde Fachanwalt für Gewerblichen Rechtsschutz (IP). Zugleich erwarb er einen Dr.-Ing. in Informatik. Als GC hat Herr Theißen erfolgreich Kanban und agile Managementmethoden eingeführt und die strategische und operative Unterstützung aller Geschäftsaktivitäten durch die Rechtsabteilung massiv ausgebaut. Er ist umfangreich interessiert und engagiert. Vor allem beschäftigen ihn Medien und Geschäftstrends, Innovationsmanagement, digitale Geschäftsmodelle, Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, BWL und Politik. Lawyers on Fire sprach mit Herrn Theißen in Stuttgart.

US-based Ron Friedmann has spent over two decades improving law practice and legal business operations with technology, knowledge management, and alternative resourcing. Today he is one of the world’s leading experts and bloggers on legal tech. Meeting Carsten in Nürnberg, Ron shares his views on the legal marketplace, current trends and opportunities for the next generation of lawyers.