Register For The Future Flexible Firm
A series of forums for the legal and professional services sectors in London, Southampton, Manchester and Edinburgh
Welcome to the Future Flexible Firm events page. If you want to be at this year’s friendliest and most informative event for leaders in legal and professional services firms, you have landed on the right page!
After two years in forced hibernation, we are taking our ever-popular AgileFirm Forums on the road again, and we can’t wait.
Informative, innovative, insightful, the half day forums are customer-led in content and delivery. There is also quality time for networking and sharing experiences with your peers over drinks at the end of each Forum. As per previous years, we are likely to sell out again…
Hosted by
What’s it About?
These events bring together like-minded firms and leaders in Legal Operations, IT and Management to share insight and experiences on the changing priorities, challenges and needs of the modern law firm and how this is shaping strategy and investment to ensure maximum efficiency and flexibility… The Future Flexible Firm.
Expect to meet Managing Partners, CTOs, COOs, CIOs, IT and Facilities Directors from leading legal and professional services firms.
Why Attend?
Great keynote speakers from Legal on two very important and timely topics, combined with a panel of regional firms exploring the findings of our biggest ever Legal survey – The Future Flexible Firm – with input from over 50 of the Top 200 mid-tier firms.
The event will deliver insight and experiences covering people, process, profit and planet. You wouldn’t want to miss it…
Where and When?
Taking place in London, Southampton, Manchester and Edinburgh, these Forums are intentionally limited in size, to enable us to ensure a more relaxed and interactive environment for our invited guests so they come away with great ideas, great insights and great contacts.
As per previous years. we expect the Forums to be oversubscribed and to try and mitigate this and accommodate all the invited firms, we are limiting to two guests per firm.
Can’t make it but want to see the Future Flexible Firm Report when it is published? Complete the registration form below.
Event partners
Video Highlights From Previous Years
A great opportunity to hear about what other firms are doing, what the challenges are, and how they’re being tackled.
Michelmores
One of the most worthwhile events in the legal IT calendar.
Zylpha
The panels were informative and inspiring. We’ve come away with some really good ideas to take back to the business.
Carpenters
Speakers Include
Duncan Eadie - Polar Explorer, Legal IT Director
London, Manchester, Edinburgh
Duncan Eadie is one of the few people to have stood at two north poles, travelling across the Arctic Ocean sea ice.
He has skied across Greenland, the world’s largest icecap outside of Antarctica, climbed Europe’s highest mountain and was a member of the first British team to cross the remote Penny Icecap.
He is also author of the book Cold Feat: A Journey to the North Magnetic Pole.
He has spent his technology career in both professional services and finance, including roles as Equity Partner and IT Director, and is able to draw upon the challenges presented to today’s organisations.
Chris White - IT Advisor, Consultant & Mentor
Southampton
Chris White started his career in the Financial Services sector, undertaking organisational design and business transformation projects within the likes of Schroders, Henderson Investors and the pension giant NPI Asset Management, where he held the IT Director role.
He joined the legal world in 2001 as CIO at Ashurst, where he built what become recognised as one of the best IT operations of any law firm globally, something recognised by being awarded the International IT Team of the Year at the 2009 Legal Technology Awards.
After 2009, Chris held other large roles within the sector, holding CIO roles within the likes of Kennedys, HFW, and Clyde & Co, where he led an IT team of 140 staff across 40 global offices.
Chris now holds a portfolio of advisory, consulting and mentoring positions. He also leads the strategic consulting arm of the highly respected legal and professional services-focused technology consulting and managed services firm, QuoStar.
Peter Owen - Legal IT Director, Consultant, Speaker & Mentor
All events
Peter is the founder and director of Lights-On Consulting limited, a leading independent IT and Management consultancy specialising in legal and professional service sectors. Lights-On has been operating for over 18 years and advises a wide variety of clients from niche regional to large global firms.
Before that Peter was the IT Director of Eversheds for 10 years and took Eversheds through the overnight merger of 7 firms to form the 4,500 sized firm it was then.
Peter started his Career in DuPont, mainly in the oil, gas and energy sectors working in all areas and spanning 10 years in roles from programming to forming service desks and from business analyst to IT management.
Joanna Goodman - Journalist, Author, Legal Content Contributor
All events
Joanna Goodman is a freelance journalist and author, writing and speaking about AI and emerging technology. She has been the Law Society Gazette’s IT columnist for over 10 years and she has covered tech and media topics for The Guardian.
As well as writing features and articles, her recent work includes creating AI/IoT content for Google writing about lawtech and innovation for Oxford University, the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and LawtechUK, and hosting a podcast interviewing tech founders.
Her bestselling book, Robots in Law: How Artificial Intelligence is Transforming Legal Services, was the one of the first about legal AI. Joanna lives in London and has an MBA in strategic management from Kingston Business School.
Agenda
Tuesday 6 June 2023 – Hosted at Milbank LLP
Forum 15.00 – 18.00. Agile Firm Summer Drinks 18.00 – 20.00
15.00
Registration, coffee, pastries and catch ups with peers
15.30 – 15.45
David Newman, Director, Agilico
Welcome to AgileFirm 2023
15.45 – 16.15
Duncan Eadie, Polar Explorer, Legal IT Director
ESG: The Cold Realities of a warming planet – Leadership Lessons from the Top (of the world)
An upbeat, punchy talk drawing on real life experience in the Arctic and also highlighting some of the changes that are taking place.
16.15 – 16.45
Joanna Goodman, Journalist, author, content contributor to The Guardian, Law Gazette
Rise of the Machines
ChatGPT is the fastest growing consumer application in history, and it is this year’s hot topic in legaltech. Joanna’s talk will give you the low-down on legal AI: where did it come from, what’s happening now, and where is it going? What are generative AI and large language models, and what are law firms doing with them? What are the latest vendor offerings and what do they do? Is it important to be an early adopter and what do you need to know to help you decide? What are the opportunities and risks now, and as this technology becomes even more widespread and pervasive? And finally, how can AI help your firm become the future agile law firm?
16.45- 17.00
Comfort and refreshment break
17.00 – 17.45
The Future Flexible Firm
An interactive and informative Q&A panel session with the Leaders in Ops, IT and strategy across several forward thinking firms, hosted by Peter Owen, Lights on Consulting.
Our Future Flexible Firm panellists include:
- Annette Brown, Head of IT at Milbank
- Dave Eagle, Director of IT at RWK Goodman
- David Fazakerley, Director at Saffery Champness
- James Temple, Chief Operating Officer at Seddons Law
- Dorigen Sykes, Managing Director at iTrain Legal
17.45 – 18.00
Summary, close of Forum sessions
18.00 – 20.00
Our AgileFirm Summer Drinks Social on Milbank’s roof terrace. Drinks, nibbles and networking with your peers/fellow leaders in Legal.
Tuesday 20 June 2023 – Hosted at Agilico HQ, CanDo House
Forum 14.00 – 17.30. Agile Firm Summer Drinks 17.30 – 20.00
From 12.00 *optional
Legal technology open house in our tech pavilion
Unique to the Southampton event, firms wishing to arrive earlier can meet our key technology partners and explore our legal agile toolkit, including cloud offerings around IT infrastructure, print, document management, document capture and more.
14.00 – 14.45
Registration, coffee, pastries and catch ups with peers
14.45 – 15.00
David Newman, Director, Agilico
Welcome to AgileFirm 2023
15.00 – 15.30
Chris White, IT Advisor, Consultant & Mentor
Managing Business Transformation and Innovation Effectively and Securely in a Rapidly Shifting Landscape
It is very clear that there is general acceptance that firms are facing significant challenges from many directions. In order to succeed (and indeed survive) firms will need to transform. This session looks at how to manage that transformation and the barriers you may meet along the way. It will cover:
- Creating a vision for your future firm
- Getting buy-in
- Developing a roadmap/plan
- Governance
- Challenges you may meet and how to overcome them
- Measuring success
15.30 – 16.00
Joanna Goodman, Journalist, author, content contributor to The Guardian, Law Gazette
Rise of the Machines
ChatGPT is the fastest growing consumer application in history, and it is this year’s hot topic in legaltech. Joanna’s talk will give you the low-down on legal AI: where did it come from, what’s happening now, and where is it going? What are generative AI and large language models, and what are law firms doing with them? What are the latest vendor offerings and what do they do? Is it important to be an early adopter and what do you need to know to help you decide? What are the opportunities and risks now, and as this technology becomes even more widespread and pervasive? And finally, how can AI help your firm become the future agile law firm?
16.00- 16.30
Comfort and refreshment break
16.30 – 17.15
The Future Flexible Firm
An interactive and informative Q&A panel session with the Leaders in Ops, IT and strategy across several forward thinking firms, hosted by Peter Owen, Lights on Consulting.
Our Future Flexible Firm panellists include:
- Nigel Smith, Managing Partner at Ellis Jones
- Julian Hamblin, Partner at Trethowans
- Annemarie Pye, Director of Operations at Taylor Rose
- Yvette Moss, IT Director at Steele Raymond
- Dorigen Sykes, Managing Director at iTrain Legal
17.15 – 17.30
Summary, close of Forum sessions
17.30 – 20.00
Our AgileFirm Summer Drinks Social on Agilico’s roof terrace. Drinks, nibbles and networking with your peers/fellow leaders in Legal.
Tuesday 4 July 2023 – Hosted at Weightmans LLP
Forum 14.00 – 17.30. Agile Firm Summer Drinks 17.30 – 20.00
14.00 – 14.40
Registration, coffee, pastries and catch ups with peers
14.40 – 14.50
David Newman, Director, Agilico
Welcome to AgileFirm 2023
14.50 – 15.20
Duncan Eadie, Polar Explorer, Legal IT Director
ESG: The Cold Realities of a warming planet – Leadership Lessons from the Top (of the world)
An upbeat, punchy talk drawing on real life experience in the Arctic and also highlighting some of the changes that are taking place.
15.20 – 15.50
Joanna Goodman, Journalist, author, content contributor to The Guardian, Law Gazette
Rise of the Machines
ChatGPT is the fastest growing consumer application in history, and it is this year’s hot topic in legaltech. Joanna’s talk will give you the low-down on legal AI: where did it come from, what’s happening now, and where is it going? What are generative AI and large language models, and what are law firms doing with them? What are the latest vendor offerings and what do they do? Is it important to be an early adopter and what do you need to know to help you decide? What are the opportunities and risks now, and as this technology becomes even more widespread and pervasive? And finally, how can AI help your firm become the future agile law firm?
15.50 – 16.15
Refreshment break/catch up with peers
16.15 – 17.15
The Future Flexible Firm
An interactive and informative Q&A panel session with the Leaders in Ops, IT and strategy across several forward thinking firms, hosted by Peter Owen, Lights on Consulting.
Our Future Flexible Firm panellists include:
- Nisha Morjaria, Head of Innovation, Talbots Law
- Glyn Morris, Partner, Higgs LLP
- Melanie Bulmer, Head of Operations, Clarion
- Michael Rimmer, COO & Partner, Horwich Farrelly
- Stuart Whittle, Partner & Chief Technology and Innovation Officer, Weightmans
17.15 – 17.30
Summary, close of Forum sessions
17.30 – 20.00
Our AgileFirm Summer Drinks Social on the roof terrace upstairs at Manchester’s iconic 20 Stories restaurant and cocktail bar. Drinks, nibbles and networking with your peers/fellow leaders in Legal.
Tuesday 10 October 2023 – Hosted at Brodies LLP
Forum 14.00 – 17.30. Agile Firm Summer Drinks 17.30 – 20.00
14.00 – 14.45
Registration, coffee, pastries and catch ups with peers
14.45 – 15.00
David Newman, Director, Agilico
Welcome to AgileFirm 2023
15.00 – 15.30
Duncan Eadie, Polar Explorer, Legal IT Director
ESG: The Cold Realities of a warming planet – Leadership Lessons from the Top (of the world)
An upbeat, punchy talk drawing on real life experience in the Arctic and also highlighting some of the changes that are taking place.
15.30 – 16.00
Joanna Goodman, Journalist, author, content contributor to The Guardian, Law Gazette
Rise of the Machines
ChatGPT is the fastest growing consumer application in history, and it is this year’s hot topic in legaltech. Joanna’s talk will give you the low-down on legal AI: where did it come from, what’s happening now, and where is it going? What are generative AI and large language models, and what are law firms doing with them? What are the latest vendor offerings and what do they do? Is it important to be an early adopter and what do you need to know to help you decide? What are the opportunities and risks now, and as this technology becomes even more widespread and pervasive? And finally, how can AI help your firm become the future agile law firm?
16.00 – 16.30
Refreshment break/catch up with peers
16.30 – 17.15
The Future Flexible Firm
An interactive and informative Q&A panel session with the Leaders in Ops, IT and strategy across several forward thinking firms, hosted by Peter Owen, Lights on Consulting.
Our Future Flexible Firm panellists include:
- Steve Dalgleish, Shepherd and Wedderburn, Head of Technology
- Sarah Blair, Thorntons, Director of IT
- Helen Archibald, previous Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Murgitroyd & COO at Thorntons
- Damien Behan, Brodies, IT Director
17.15 – 17.30
Summary, close of Forum sessions
17.30 – 20.00
Our AgileFirm Autumn Drinks Social. Drinks, nibbles and networking with your peers/fellow leaders in Legal.
Featuring:
Ciara Harvie, an impressively talented classical mezzo-soprano singer from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ciara has already achieved so much in the early stages of what’s destined to be a fabulous career, including performances at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Voice UK, The Roundhouse in London alongside Stormzy and Paloma Faith, a private event performance for ‘Game Of Thrones’ star James Cosmo, and international performances in Tuscany, Amsterdam and Budapest, to name but a few.
There is a brilliant community willing to share both successes and failures to help others and forge partnerships both new and old.
Sherrards Solicitors
The insights and experiences shared at today’s event acted as another important reminder of the wider benefits of adopting agile working practices.
DAC Beachcroft
The Future Flexible Firm – Register Now
NB, limited to two attendees per firm
