Episode 11: Sustaining Legal Innovation: Incubators, Accelerators and R+D

It's not enough to be innovative or innovate! It's not a one off proposition. In the legal industry today, it's increasingly about continuous improvement, agility and embedding these core capabilities in law firms/legal departments so they underpin and drive the way business is done every day - this IS the new firm/organisational culture. But, so much change so quickly can also be exhausting.    We asked Maya Markovich, Chief Growth Officer at Dentons' Nextlaw Labs, how firms/organisations are introducing, advancing and sustaining legal innovation - and a whole lot more! Nextlaw Labs was a pioneer in the law firm R&D space and has continued to experiment, iterate, expand and lead despite increased activity and competition in the market.    Topics we discussed included:

1. The difference between an incubator, accelerator and legal R&D department
2. The difference in the lawyer, legalpreneurs and entrepreneurial mindset
3. The impact and importance of a multidisciplinary approach to innovation
4. The role of intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs in law firms and legal departments
5. The role, function and impact of Chief Innovation Officers and innovation committees and, what they need to thrive
6. Whether or not law firms should be investing in legaltech development
7. How collaboration is the glue for law firms/legal departments and multidisciplinary approaches to the development of legaltech and the implementation of innovative projects
8. What’s driving the current significant increase in investment in legaltech/AI globally and if the legal industry is approaching a tipping point
9. And, what’s the BIG thing on the legaltech/AI or the legal innovation horizon in the next three years.

  Thank you, Maya, for an amazing conversation and for hosting us in sunny downtown Oakland, California!