Speaking at the Janders Dean Horizons event, held in Sydney at Pier One, Sydney Harbour on 4–5 July, Westpac head of operations compliance, legal & secretariat, Michael Boot, shared what he envisions to be the big trends on the horizon for Australia’s in-house community.

Specifically touching on what he speculates to be the in-house legal resource and workforce that will come next, Mr Boot highlighted the need for teams to adapt to a new way of thinking, caused by recent industry shake-up.

“With regulatory change, reviews, reforms, litigation and inevitable fall-out from the royal commission, it’s become clear that we need a workforce for the future. One that’s able to flex in terms of both capability and capacity,” Mr Boot said.

“I see this trend continuing with a core of highly skilled in-house professionals, supported by a wider team able to respond to [a] change in demand. This is where, I believe, the gig economy will drive the future, where we turn to young freelancers who are able to balance work and lifestyle needs from home while turning to their knowledge of new technologies and business models to market themselves.

“Freelance lawyers are adaptable, self-motivated and resilient and capable of delivering the high-quality service that businesses like ours deliver to our customers.

“The freelance market continues to boom. Growth in technology and social hubs make it increasingly possible for freelancers to secure work and skills on demand — such as [LOD] Lawyers on Demand, who incidentally are on our panel firm list — [and] continue to grow and achieve success.”

In addition, Mr Boot predicted that a change in customer expectations will see business’ legal teams require more skills.

“As our competitors increasingly become the Amazons and Googles of the world with sleek customer interfaces and smooth delivery, simply being a technically great lawyer won’t be enough,” Mr Boot said.

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“Creating an ecosystem that promotes play and having a relentless commitment to customer focus is key.”

Mr Boot concluded: “In summary, develop your strategy. Have a mechanism for delivering it and support that delivery through a workforce of the future. Hopefully you can then establish a service revolution of your own and transform with ‘business-as-usual’ to ‘transformation-as-usual’.”

Also speaking at the Janders Dean Horizons event was Ernst & Young deputy general counsel Adelyn Koh, who encouraged law firms and legal team to utilise cultural targets; Faigenbaum Family Lawyers principal Talya Faigenbaum, who spoke abut how innovation is upending family law; and DLA Piper partner Peter Jones, who highlighted the need for practitioners to effectively manage client expectations. 

Emma Musgrave

Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.

Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences. 

Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.

She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University. 

Email Emma on: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.