Fringe Legal

Nicola Shaver is the global Director of Knowledge Management at Paul Hastings LLP in New York. In her role, she focuses on opportunities to optimize processes and introduce tools that will improve efficiency and productivity, and on leveraging the firm's intellectual capital to better serve clients. Nicola has worked in the legal services industry for over 15 years in three different jurisdictions. Nicola is passionate about finding innovative solutions to existing problems, building a culture of innovation within law firms, and instilling an empathic approach to design.

Angela Dowd is the Director of Practice Innovation for the law firm of Burns & Levinson LLP in Boston, Massachusetts. In her current role with the firm, she is works with practice groups and administrative departments to increase efficiency and streamline business processes. She has also been active member of the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) for many years, speaking at the annual conference. She is in her second term on the Board of Directors, currently serving as President. In addition, she has spoken at Association of Legal Administrators, Legal Marketing Association and the Law Firm Alliance conferences.

Paul Domnick is President of Litera Microsystems, having been President of Litéra Corp from 2014 to 2017. He brings unique insight into the utility of the Litera Microsystems’ risk management solutions having previously been CIO of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer for five years. Before taking on this role in early 2007, Paul was head of global IT sourcing for Zurich Financial Services.

Thomas Haines is a software engineer and entrepreneur . He is the CEO/Founder of Practice Insight and he currently works on the company's latest tool - WiseTime, an autonomous, privacy first timekeeping software. Tom holds a BSc, LLB (Hons), and LLM, and has qualified as a solicitor, barrister and Australian registered patent attorney.

I was lucky enough to be able to sit down in-person with both two amazing leaders - Andrea Markstrom (CIO at Blank Rome) and Meredith Lonner (Administrator at Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo). Andrea and Meredith are from very different firms, not just in the type of law they practice, but also more obviously, the size. There were plenty of contrasts between how Meredith and Andrea approach similar topics, such as looking at technology, working with the partnership, and even how they found themselves to be in legal. However, (and perhaps surprisingly) there were similarities also and I walked away from the conversation with plenty of learnings.

I speak with Stevie Ghiassi. Stevie wears a number of hats, and most recently he published the viral book Blockchain for Lawyers. Rather than talking about the ins-and-outs of blockchain technology, instead we try to answer the question: why lawyers and law firms should care about blockchain technology and smart contracts? And, how the technology will impact the profession in the future.

Kate Simpson is the National Director of Knowledge Management at the leading firm, Bennett Jones LLP. In this episode we discuss everything from what knowledge management means to Kate, her approach to KM projects, and how one can become a intrepreneur & disrupt from within.

In this inaugural episode of the podcast, we speak with Joy Heath Rush, the CEO of ILTA about her views on the changing legal landscape. Joy talks about testing assumptions she had about the ILTA community, trends she's seeing in the legal profession, and what firm leaders can put into action immediately to make a noticeable difference.

A sneak peak into Season 1 of the Fringe Legal podcast. Episode one comes out of March 8, 2019. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to be notified of new episodes.