The Summit on Legal Innovation and Disruption
Great Location • Audacious Mission
• In Association with McCarthy Tetrault
Agenda
SOLID Toronto – July 17, 2019
8:30am – 9:00am Registration and Networking Breakfast
9:00am Welcome Ceremony – Call to Action and Summit Overview
Table Introductions
Session 1: The Big Picture – Macro Drivers of Change
Isabelle Pierre – General Counsel, KIK Custom Products
“The Proactive General Counsel”
Isabell took KIK Custom Products from an overworked, reactive law department model to a proactive risk and audit focused department by restructuring how her team thinks about legal competencies (surprise, it includes internal audit) and customer service. The result… a speedy and proactive law department that supports the business, reduces risk at an institutional level and enhances shareholder value.
Marc Jenkins – Director of Legal Operations, Senior Counsel, Asurion
“How to Get Started: Jump Starting an Innovative Legal Program – From 0 to 60 (Spoiler Alert – It’s Hard)”
Marc Jenkins shares his journey from 2 months of frustrations to 3 years of wild success, and how you can do it too.
Vivek Hatti – Director, Legal Operations, Avis Budget Group
How Legal Went From Reactive Cost Center to Proactive Business Generator
Gone are the days of legal strictly being a reactive cost center. Vivek will discuss how lawyers can stop looking at themselves as an expense category and begin to step into business-generating roles where they can proactively contribute value and revenue for their organizations.
Matthew Peters – National Innovation Leader, McCarthy Tetrault
Predicting the Future: 5 Practical Steps to Stay Ahead of the Curve for Legal Success in 2025
Looking at leaders in the legal industry today, there are predictions we can make with a reasonable degree of confidence about what 2025 will look like for our profession. Matt will discuss the significant opportunities to take advantage of now. At the end of the talk, participants will walk away with Matt’s ideas on what the future will look like, 5 steps to plan for the future, opportunities to pursue/areas to avoid, and a frank look at the skills and aptitude you will need to move your department forward.
Table Discussions and Town Hall
Morning Break
Session Two: Innovation in Action – Corporate Use Cases
Catherine Casey- Chief Innovation Officer, Disco
“Surviving the swipeocalypse- adapting to the new digital dataverse”
Catherine Casey Chief Innovation Officer of Disco will talk about Innovations in technology.
Dan Dagan – Associate General Counsel, Siemens Canada Limited
“We Created an AI Solution – Now What? Maintaining a Culture of Corporate Legal Innovators”
Two years ago, the law department of Siemens Canada entered the company’s global innovation challenge and made headlines for their risk-taking, innovative ideas and new technology. Dan will outline how he and his team got here, what it means to be “constant innovators,” how to stay in the mindset of creating, and most importantly the next step of operationalizing ideas and getting people to implement them.
David Kirtley – General Counsel, Americas Mettler-Toledo International, Inc.
“”Tooling Up” to Create More Productivity, Business Value, and Better Retention of Lawyers”
As General Counsel of the Americas for a global organization that has doubled in size over the past 12 years, David will share his game plan for how better tools allow his legal department to go from reactive to proactive, as well as maintain the same size and outside counsel spend while the rest of the company grows. Smart investments also free up time for his lawyers to address business oriented risk management concerns and training initiatives to help retain the best team.
Paul Zappala – Executive Vice President Legal and General Counsel, Brookfield Asset Management
“Changing the Perception of Legal in Developing a Data-Driven Business Line”
From early in his career, Paul has walked the line as a hybrid attorney and business person. Using real-world examples from developing data-driven businesses at Brookfield, Paul will outline lessons learned on how to change business perceptions of legal, get involved early in the process, and ultimately identify/contribute to revenue-driving business opportunities.
Table Discussions and Town Hall
12:30pm – 1:15pm Lunch – Tables switch
Session Three: Innovation in Action – Process Driven
New Table Introductions
Av Maharaj – VP Legal and Corporate Affairs, The Kraft Heinz Company
“Traditional Legal Roles are Obsolete – Incentivizing Both General Counsel and Outside Counsel Towards Change”
Law firms relationship with top clients are at risk – 70% of General Counsel are unhappy with their law firms. Likewise, General Counsel is facing a similar crisis of confidence with the board and their internal clients. How do we incentivize change in the legal community, encourage an entrepreneurial mindset, and find ways to add more value as legal work is becoming more commoditized?
Melissa LaFlair – Director of Legal Operations, WSIB Ontario
“Building the Car While Driving” – How to Stay on the Road with Legal Innovation
The rate of change in innovation is so rapid that we no longer have the luxury in having everything settled, planned, and organized. Melissa will share how she is implementing legal operations practices while “hurtling down a highway in a car that’s in the process of being built.” From aligning with the business and gaining buy-in, to using data to identify processes that can be automated, Melissa focuses on the elements that keep her team on the road to success.
Doug Harris – General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada)
Evolution of Advice: The Role of Legal in Implementing Industry-Wide Innovative Technology
The investment sector is facing industry-wide challenges impacting both regulated companies and customers. Doug will discuss the role of Legal in the regulating entity in implementing data-driven technology that will create a roadmap to service models of delivery and relationships. How has legal advice evolved and what does it look like moving forward?
Table Discussions and Town Hall
Afternoon Break and Table Switch
Session Four: Innovation in Action – People Driven
New Table Introductions
Steve Cimicata – General Counsel, Volaris Group, an operating group of Constellation Software Inc.
Hiring and Training the Entrepreneurial Lawyer in a Decentralized Global Business Environment
How do you run a legal department in a radically decentralized organization? By hiring, training and retaining entrepreneurial lawyers. Steve gives an overview of how he identifies and hires tomorrow’s legal entrepreneurs (look for true diversity), how to build a trusted team (communication), and what’s high risk enough to require the GC’s attention.
David Cowen – President, The Cowen Group
NextGEN Legal Talent and Allied Professionals
We’re in the early stages of building a community of tech-savvy, ultra-resourceful attorneys. These are people trained in the law, but who also possess the critical thinking skills and tech knowledge to help create the future of the legal industry. (If you understand design thinking, that’s even better.)
Table Discussions, Town Hall and Final Thoughts
4:00pm – 5:00pm Cocktails
Thank you for joining us. We hope to see you at our next SOLID.
SOLID Hong Kong, June 4, 2019 SOLID Toronto, July17, 2019
SOLID East, September 11, 2019 SOLID London, November 7, 2019
What is SOLID?
SOLID is a TED Talk style summit focused on innovation and the business of law. Did you ever listen to a great SOLID Talk or panel and wish you had time to engage and brainstorm in real time on how to apply those ideas to your business? 14 speakers will give TED-style talks around the intersection of innovation, advanced technology and the business of law. They share what they are doing, how they are doing it, and the business impact it has.
Our talks are followed by facilitated table talks, sprint panels, and town hall discussions, whereby participants discuss what they know now that they did not know before the session started and how to apply these lessons to their own organizations. SOLID provides participants with maximum interaction with peers and colleagues in a round table, workshop environment to assess current challenges and design concrete solutions.
SOLID Insight
SOLID Events In 2019-2020
70%
Corporate Legal Executives & General Counsels
20%
Law Firm Executives & Counsels
10%
Technology Companies & Allied Professionals
Past Events Snaps
Reasons to Attend SOLID
Our day will be broken into four themed segments focused on innovation and disruption. We will focus on challenges and barriers, identify opportunities for meaningful change, and develop solutions for all market segments.
100 legal professionals and subject matter experts from law departments, law firms, alternative legal service providers, and academics.
Purposefully moderated tables with curated participants from all market segments.
Participants will switch their tables 2 times throughout the day.
“Solid is unique in size, format and quality of participants and presenters. I met so many talented professionals, given the intimate setting I was able to collaborate with others who shared similar challenges, was inspired by the innovative ways others approach them and gained strategic insight into emerging capabilities that I could bring back and apply. It’s a great forum to expand your insights into innovative approaches that are driving real improvements for how corporations deliver legal services. It’s not your ordinary conference if you want to engage in a thought provoking learning experience while expanding your network. I would highly recommend it.”
Deb Tatar
VP Corporate Systems at MetLife
“If you can attend this, I highly recommend it! Compliance Discovery Solutions was at SOLID East last month in NYC. The format allows for an exchange of ideas with a variety of legal professionals. In one day, I felt like I learned as much or more as I’ve learned from multi-day conferences!”
Maria Maccarone
Vice President, Client Solutions at Compliance Discovery Solutions
“Before SOLID I would say I was a bit of an accidental innovator. I was naturally interested in looking for new and better ways to structure and manage my legal department and spend, but I was not aware of the incredible depth of knowledge out there about how to do that most effectively. SOLID brought all of the pieces together for me and allowed me to make lasting connections with others who are innovating within their teams and across the legal industry. I now have a much deeper understanding of how to draw upon a wide array of resources and technology to reshape what we are doing in a way that drives more value for less total spend. It’s also just a really fun and interesting group of people and the whole experience has expanded my circle of go-to colleagues.”
Jennifer Warner
VP Legal at Columbia Sportswear Company
“I think the most valuable thing for me has been the chance to collaborate with, but also to listen to clients. Getting to hear first hand from GC’s and the C-Suite about their pain points and expectations is truly valuable. It really helps us to “sense check” and to ensure we are not only listening, but hearing and acting on what our clients expect and need from their outside counsel.”
Bryant Isbell