The Psychology of Legal Innovation

June 2017

Abstract

Lawyers contain all of the latent creativity required to shape their personal and professional worlds. Unlocking that potential is a matter of expectation and exposition. Cost pressure and urgency have produced a narrow framing error in the way we think about legal innovation. The pressure to do more with less (and faster) is real, but the bigger picture involves a fundamental transformation in the means of production of legal knowledge and advice. The strategy for the future of legal must involve both incrementally innovating to solve the immediate pain point of cost and time pressure, and radically innovating to reimagine the way that law and lawyers create and preserve value for their clients. There are clear evidence based methods for creating the conditions for innovation. Telstra’s Legal Innovation Forum is examined as a case study of how to implement innovation within a legal team.

Author

Bruce Hardy

Legal Counsel - Technology, Innovation & IP, Telstra Corporation, Australia

Bruce Hardy is a Legal Counsel in Telstra’s global Technology, Innovation and Intellectual Property team. He is also a Stream Leader (Data & Metrics) in Telstra’s Legal Innovation Forum, driving research and development of the tools and frameworks to support lawyers of the future. Outside of the law, Bruce is the Deputy Chair of Theatre Works – Melbourne’s third largest professional theatre company, and former Artistic Director of BottledSnail Productions, the production company for Melbourne’s legal industry.

Company

Telstra Corporation

Telstra Corporation Limited (known as Telstra) is Australia's leading telecommunications and technology company which builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets a range of connectivity, technology, software, mobile, internet and entertainment services both in Australia and around the world.

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