LEX Connect 2004

This year’s LEX Connect UK had a lot to live up to. Favourable reviews of last year’s Lex Connect, included Charles Christian’s comment: “We are also hearing nothing but compliments about the quality of the delegates and the format of the Ark Group’s LEX Connect event in Amsterdam1.” The ground had been laid for high expectations for this year’s UK event, which was held on 19-20 January 2004. Caroline Poynton went along to see what the delegates would think of it all.

Ark Group’s Connect events have been designed as an alternative to the traditional conference. Rather than delivering merely a series of presentations over two days, LEX combines a variety of interactive workshops with consulatative one-to-one meetings between delegates and legal-solution providers.

Delegates at this year’s LEX Connect UK could choose between 16 workshops, led by speakers including: Laurence Harris, Kendall Freeman; Andrew White, Bird & Bird; Ian Reaves, Hammonds; and Kevin Doolan, Eversheds. Covering a wide range of topics, from improving client relationships to mobile working for law firms, there was clearly, as one delegate described: “Something for everyone.”

The only drawback to such a format was the necessity for delegates to choose eight out of the 16 workshops, as they ran concurrently in two streams, one covering strategy and planning and the other focusing on system implementation. Perhaps in future, certain sessions could be repeated, either at the event or at a future conference, so that delegates can make the most of what proved to be an excellent line-up of speakers.

Of the workshops I attended, Christopher Jackson of Richards Butler and Kevin Doolan of Eversheds take particular credit for involving the audience and encouraging participation. Leading what should be an interactive session can be difficult, especially at the beginning or end of the day, but delegates were generally keen to contribute to the discussion, particularly once the event’s networking sessions had worked their magic and delegates relaxed into the second day.

Many sessions also raised interesting and highly topical issues. Ian Reaves, client relationship partner at Hammonds, talked about internal cross-selling in law firms and the inhibitive nature of the law-firm partnership/practice structure. Many of his ideas, particularly on sales planning, are still controversial, with one delegate saying: “Selling is a problem because it is the clients who drive things. Shouldn’t it be about meeting clients’ needs?” However, there were also comments suggesting firms have taken steps to drastically improve internal knowledge sharing, with a general acceptance that clients belong to the firm as a whole, rather than individual fee earners.

On the KM front, delegates heard from Andrew White at Bird & Bird, which has recently launched its ‘solution lab’ to address the firm’s knowledge sharing. Some good discussion was raised, from the usefulness of the label ‘knowledge management’, to the role of PSLs in enabling knowledge sharing. White’s ideas and experiences were practical and insightful and based on the latest developments at the firm (Solution lab is still in the business-critical and ongoing implementation phase at the firm).

Apart from the workshops, the event included frequent networking sessions and pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings with solution providers. I was a little concerned that the meetings would be logistically difficult, with over 50 delegates to be introduced to nine solution providers over the course of four break-out sessions across two days. The organisers, however, ensured that the format worked very smoothly. A typical delegate comment was: “Ensuring we met the sponsors was very efficient.”

The lead sponsor of this year’s event was SAP, a company that has recently entered the legal arena with its implementation of an ERP system across Linklaters’s 30 offices worldwide. SAP’s business manager for legal, Andrew Miller, led a workshop on day one on measuring and improving law-firm performance, which was linked into the panel session of day two via delegate feedback. Both sessions demonstrated the determination of SAP to both understand and meet the needs of the legal profession. It will be interesting to see how they progress the legal side of their business in future months and years.

Other solution providers included Voicepath, Canon eCopy, Nortel Networks, Xoomworks, Datashare, E1Business, FloSuite and Computacenter. Many of these are similarly new to the legal market and saw LEX Connect as a good launch-pad for their legal focus. For the legal profession as a whole, it is also refreshing to see these new entrants; they will keep the competition on its toes and ensure the best products and solutions are delivered to the firms that are now investing in IT like never before.

Ark Group is now looking forward to LEX Connect Europe, which is to be held on 1-2 March in Amsterdam. With two good LEX Connect events now firmly in the bag, all the signs look promising for another success story. Reference: 1. ‘Legal trade shows – the fallout continues’ in Legal Technology Insider (2 July 2003)