For firms like KWM, she said, this will mean a renewed focus on delivering outcomes to meet unique client needs by way of different-looking solutions that depend on idiosyncrasies, including the utilisation of tech platforms that firms co-design with clients and then develop in-house.

“Regardless of any technical components, it comes down to deeply understanding the client’s pain point or opportunity, before working closely with clients to build a solution that is fit for purpose, and ultimately creates value for their team and or customers,” she explained.

KWM’s journey

Speaking about the firm’s Transformation Program, Ms Mahoney said that while it was launched earlier this month, planning and design for it began back in 2018.

KWM’s leadership team had realised, she recalled, that several factors were shifting the legal landscape, including but not limited to the rise of legal tech, which she said will ultimately enable lawyers to work smarter.

“There was a clear opportunity to uplift the firm’s digital literacy to meet the evolving needs of our clients. We were also seeing an expansion of the players in the legal ecosystem,” she posited.

“Start-ups were offering a range of bundled and unbundled services, alternative legal service providers were increasing, the Big 4 for the second time were creating legal offerings, and emerging technology was entering the market at an unprecedented pace and scale, culminating in a range of different options for clients.”

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Taking such matters into consideration, Ms Mahoney said that KWM adopted the view that it must invest in emerging technologies as well as the digital literacy and capabilities of its people, so that the firm remained in a position to deliver optimal outcomes for its clients moving forward.

“The result after deep analysis, planning and consultation was designing a Digital Transformation Program, comprising 20+ interconnected initiatives, to introduce new ways of working and create meaningful change that delivered business impact,” she said.

“My vision for the program is to continue to listen, design and execute on our original aspirations. Build a dare to try culture, curate open mindsets, and increase our people’s LegalTech proficiency to create value for our clients in a cost-conscious market.”

The Multiplier

One initiative falling under the firm’s Transformation Program banner is The Multiplier, which Ms Mahoney said is designed to recognise lawyers who are augmenting their deep technical expertise with enabling legal tech to drive efficiency.

“When a lawyer applies a LegalTech tool on a matter, they receive a ‘boost’ in their productive hours – this multiplied time is never carried through to the client,” she said.

The firm launched The Multiplier in December of last year, she noted, and it has already recorded “strong adoption” of the initiative in that time, having seen it leveraged for 267 clients across 364 matters at the time of this interview.

At the heart of The Multiplier, Ms Mahoney continued, is the billable hour, which the initiative turns on its head so as to incentivise exploration of more efficient ways of working, upskilling in the technology and, ultimately, creating better value for clients across the board.

“The Multiplier works to both motivate our lawyers to engage with emerging technology (accelerating their digital proficiency), while simultaneously delivering more effective outcomes for clients,” she said.

“While at the outset The Multiplier looks to be focused on the role of LegalTech, it is the deliberate combination of people plus technology that is at the core of this initiative. By bringing these two elements together, The Multiplier enables our people to unlock the power of LegalTech.”

Hurdles to overcome

Where there exist myriad tech-enabled opportunities across the legal profession – both for clients and lawyers – Ms Mahoney said perhaps the biggest one is reducing barriers to exploring new ways of working, by leveraging legal tech.

“If people have the chance to learn more about a technology, explore potential use cases and practice applying it as part of their regular routine, they will achieve two things,” she proclaimed.

“First, they’ll increase their proficiency, which will ultimately deliver business impact across both in-house teams and within firms. But just as importantly, they will have experienced the power of a dare to try mindset.”

Many legal professionals are not equipped with digital literacy and capability from the outset, Ms Mahoney mused, underlining how essential it is to be given the opportunity to explore emerging technologies and practise leveraging them before applying on a client engagement to create value.

“This learning process is key to driving digital literacy, and I would argue, at the heart of embedding long-term shifts in behaviour,” she surmised.

Looking ahead

When asked what legal tech developments she is excited about moving forward, Ms Mahoney said she will be keeping a keen eye on the democratisation of coding and automation, through the increased use of “no code low code” platforms, enabling lawyers to automate legal tasks without deep coding knowledge.

What this means in practice, she outlined, “is that a lawyer who has no prior experience or expertise in coding will be empowered to build their own technology-enabled solution at the time they need it”.

“I think people at the intersection of technology and law will be keeping a close eye on the rate and scale at which people adopt emerging technologies to create new ways of delivering legal services, ultimately producing enhanced client experiences,” Ms Mahoney concluded.

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