“It was driven by our clients. Our clients have told us that they like us bringing them insights and understanding their industry/business as well engaging with them on the current challenges and opportunities they face, and so The Future Project is one way we do that!” said Renae Lattey, managing partner – clients and mergers and acquisitions.

“We wanted to facilitate a different kind of dialogue with and between our clients around the emerging issues and trends that will shape their business in the years to come.

“Through listening to our clients we realised that many of them were grappling with similar challenges, even though they may operate in different industries, and we saw an opportunity to create a forum for sharing insights and ideas to help them to navigate the future and convert challenges into opportunities.

“We identified an initial list of themes that were relevant to clients across multiple sectors and where we had the right mix of expertise to provide a meaningful contribution to the discussion. We will evolve this list over time based on where we see opportunities for our clients.”

Ms Lattey explained that the next year will see staff listen to clients, share their thinking and provide discussion opportunities on the future of finance, energy, cities, technology and consumers, food and agriculture, health and the legal industries. The objective will come to life through a series of events, Ms Lattey added, as well as through though leadership and digital campaigns which focus on the future economy and what it means to KWM clients and the sectors in which they operate.

“It is about creating opportunities for collaboration and learning from others. We are very fortunate to work with a large number of clients across multiple industries and we can use our position as their trusted advisor to bring people together to create a network for them to connect around a common challenge or opportunity,” she said.

“It is also a way to challenge our clients, and ourselves, to think beyond today and the day-to-day, to engage, and debate about what’s around the corner.

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“We’re hoping clients will be involved as we take The Future Project to market – we recently held Future of Privacy panels in Sydney and Melbourne where we really enjoyed working with people we know and respect in the industry as well as our clients.”

However, its not just clients that are set to reap the benefits of The Future Project, according to Ms Lattey, who explained that staff will also see numerous opportunities as a result of its launch.

“Our lawyers are interacting with our clients every day and they will play an integral role in making The Future Project a success. From helping shape The Future Project, identifying and refining the issues we talk about with our clients, and most of all engaging and connecting with each other, and our clients on really exciting, and thought provoking ideas and concepts,” she said.

“In fact, many of our lawyers are currently involved in helping shape some of the future regulations in these areas.

“On an internal front, it’s been a wonderful cross-practice and sector opportunity for collaboration.”