Pushing the cultural envelope to redefine legal services
Lucy Bassli’s career is defined by legal innovation. She is an attorney, author of The Simple Guide to Legal Innovation: The Basics Every Lawyer Should Know (published by the American Bar Association), and former Assistant General Counsel of Legal Operations and Contracting at Microsoft. During her tenure at Microsoft, she redefined how legal work is done and created one of the first managed service engagements with a law firm.
“I spent the better part of my career working on new ways of doing my work: trying different resource models and creative arrangements with external service providers,” said Lucy. “I had to push the envelope of what was culturally acceptable at Microsoft, and drive service providers to take on new risks.”
Setting new standards through experimentation
Fortunately, Lucy had won the trust of management at Microsoft, which afforded her the flexibility to experiment.
“This resulted in industry-leading solutions to the contracting problems many companies face —especially the large complex, global companies who struggle with overwhelming volumes in processes that have organically grown over time.
“The processes I changed transformed the way contracts were handled at Microsoft and set a standard for modern contracting processes at the time,” said Lucy. “This provided the foundation for broader applications across other areas of the legal department, and propelled me onto my new career path: consulting with companies on their legal operations and contracting processes.”
Her expertise lead to her appointment as a strategic advisor for LawGeex, an AI legal start-up that automates contract review. She also has developed a partnership with Dentons’ NextLaw In-House Solutions, a strategic legal consultancy practice. Lucy also works closely with corporate legal departments and law firms on legal service delivery, automation, smart risk-taking and alternate resourcing models. In 2015, she was named to the National Law Journal’s list of Outstanding Women Lawyers.
Legal services ‘stuck in old ways’
As legal services remain entrenched in traditional operating models, the opportunities for innovation are almost endless.
“Legal innovation is a catch-all for so many opportunities, it is no wonder that the word is confusing and overwhelming to many,” observed Lucy. “There is an endless number of directions that anyone can take legal innovation and really make it their own.
“The most immediate and obvious opportunity is in delivering better or more effective legal services,” said Lucy. “Legal services are so stuck in old ways of doing things that almost any small change can have a significant impact.
“The next great opportunity is to create more efficient legal services,” Lucy said. “Whether in commercial legal services provided by law firms to big corporate clients, or legal aid, there are countless ways in which services can be more efficient. Simple process changes can completely revolutionize the client experience.”
According to Lucy, this means new career opportunities are exploding across the legal industry.
“Innovation is a threat only to those who are unwilling to accept change and not preparing for their future in a changed world of legal services,” said Lucy.
Seldom-used technology will mainstream
As a consultant, Lucy sees disruption coming from technology that already exists, but is vastly underused. This may include technology common to other industries, but yet to be adopted by legal departments and law firms.
“The pressure to use technology will force legal professionals to slowly embrace those technologies that will become standard very soon,” she observed. “For example, the legal profession was very slow to adopt and embrace email. In time, even the legal professionals had to accept that the benefits of using email far outweighed the risks.”
The other major change she expects is a larger acceptance of risk involving new technology.
“Cutting-edge legal technology is what I am most curious about,” said Lucy. “I see the use of AI in contract review and analysis becoming commonplace in the next several years. It will not be perfect, but like the bumps experienced with offshore outsourcing, over time, the overall benefits will outweigh the risks—perceived and actual.”
Demystifying the definition of innovation
“We need to demystify the definition of “innovation” and give lawyers permission to take baby steps,” urged Lucy. “I actually wrote the book mentioned earlier (The Simple Guide to Legal Innovation: The Basics Every Lawyer Should Know) for the purpose of simplifying innovation. There is so much confusion in the legal press, and sensational headlines are only creating more fear, rather than encouragement. Those of us working in innovative legal services must embrace anyone curious about innovation and enable them to make changes in their daily practices and work with their clients to co-create new ways of working together.”
Dare to ask difficult questions
“Advice I regularly give new attorneys or those early in their career is to ask why things are done a certain way,” said Lucy. “I encourage them to ask difficult questions even if they don’t get satisfying answers. Often it is the unsatisfying answers that prompt changes and create opportunities.”
She admits this is often not easy, particularly in big firms where partners are not incentivised to change their practices, or make business models more efficient.
“They may be hard to find, but there are always supporters, who will support a young attorney’s new ideas. I strongly encourage younger attorneys to seek out people within their organisations with whom they can openly discuss ideas and genuinely feel comfortable and safe.”
Lucy praised the Centre for Legal Innovation (CLI) for its role in supporting innovation.
“The CLI is critical because law schools are the core of the legal ecosystem,” said Lucy. “Law schools are a hotbed for intellectual thought leadership and yet have an equally long journey to change their approach, alongside others across the ecosystem. As the sole providers of attorneys into the legal marketplace, it is incumbent upon law schools to review and revise the curriculum taught to law students. The CLI can be the impetus for law schools to bring together other key stakeholders who can influence the direction of the legal profession. Without entities like CLI, I’m afraid progress will be even slower.