Business development with the WOW Factor

Law Without Walls, or LWOW, is the brainchild of Michele DeStefano and Michael Bossone of the University of Miami. LWOW is a type of hackathon, an event that uses collaboration (and often technology) to accomplish an objective, or solve a problem, in a short space of time. It is a learning initiative designed for practising and aspiring legal and business professionals. LWOW focuses on innovation, collaboration and transformation in law. Above all, it is an opportunity for law students from around the world to work alongside today’s lawyers and to be inspired about embracing future challenges of working in the legal profession.

The NatWest/Dentons 2023 team

A diverse team from Dentons (spanning business development, innovation, employment law, TMT and the executive team) travelled to St Gallen, Switzerland, to attend this year’s LWOW conference. Six members of NatWest’s Outsourcing, Technology & IP team attended, including team head Kenny Robertson, who acts as an innovation coach at the event. St Gallen was the third time members of the NatWest team have taken part in LWOW and it is a much-anticipated highlight in the team’s calendar.

All attendees worked in teams made up of legal professionals and law students across the globe. LWOW aims to pull together multidisciplinary teams, working with people from different backgrounds, ethnicities and ages, combining in a collaborative way to create viable solutions to real problems related to the business of law and/or social justice. The NatWest/Dentons team comprised two Dentons lawyers (“lead hackers”), three NatWest lawyers (Leigh as “project manager” and two “lead hackers”, Neil Campbell and Hannah Gardner), our “Innovation Coach” Mari Cruz Taboada (head of Client Management & Legal Innovation at Lexington Consultants), and the team was completed by three law students from Chile, Australia and the US (“student hackers”).

The Ritz challenge

Leigh explains how the event unfolded: “A key strategic pillar for the Outsourcing, Technology & IP team at NatWest is client centricity: ensuring that we are not only providing sound legal advice but that we are doing so in a way that creates a positive customer experience for our internal stakeholders. With that in mind, the problem statement that we explored at LWOW was: if the Ritz provided legal advice, what would it look and feel like?

“So that we could better understand what our internal stakeholders would like from us, and how they view the service that they currently receive, Michele DeStefano interviewed three senior leaders from the Bank’s technology department. Those interviews, as well as insights from other industries (particularly the hospitality industry), helped the students come up with some excellent ideas as to how we could solve our exam question.

“The students’ favourite idea was then built out and pitched in the form of a five-minute ‘ignite’ presentation to all other attendees and to a panel of judges. Over the course of the weekend, the teams undertook challenges relating to leadership, mentoring, communication, project management, innovation and problem finding/solving.”

Outcomes

The result was an energising and intense three days, where clients and their lawyers worked together in close collaboration and were inspired by the fresh approach the law students brought to the discussions. Those students have also established relationships they can rely on as they move forward in their career, as highlighted by Niske Arya from Deakin University, one of the students in the NatWest/Dentons team:

“LWOW made it clear that collaboration between lawyers and other professionals, when functioning as a cohesive unit, can improve the customer experience. Most importantly, my team (Dentons/NatWest) developed a strong bond and camaraderie. As a result, they have given me an invaluable opportunity to secure work experience.”

Leigh adds: “From the client’s perspective, not only have we built closer relationships with a panel law firm, but we have also left St Gallen with lots of new ideas, initiatives and perspectives that we can evolve to meet our team’s strategic goals.”