Digitally transforming the legal industry
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Digitally transforming the legal industry
DECEMBER 2019
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J O H N S O N W I N T E R & S L AT T E R Y
Ross Forgione, Chief Information Officer at JWS, discusses digital transformation within the legal industry
J
ohnson Winter and Slattery (JWS) is an independent national Australian law firm with over 60 partners based across five
offices in Australia. JWS advises major Australian and international corporations, investment funds and other clients on challenging transactions and disputes in Australia. “We create value through 04
legal and commercial analysis, pragmatism, the effective application of technology, project management and a collaborative work style,” says Ross Forgione, Chief Information Officer at JWS, who has over 30 years’ experience in information technology engineering. JWS’ vision is to be a leader in the legal industry, producing high-quality legal work for Australia and its sophisticated commercial clients. Since its founding in 1993, Forgione highlights that JWS’ systems have evolved organically with built up and built out layers. During his time at the firm, Forgione has worked to evolve and modernise the firm’s layered systems through iterative transformation over time, creating a strong foundation for its operations and producing a system that JWS can leverage and extract benefits from. DECEMBER 2019
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J O H N S O N W I N T E R & S L AT T E R Y
“ We create value through legal analysis, commercial analysis and pragmatism, the effective application of technology, project management and a collaborative work style� Ross Forgione Chief Information Officer, JWS
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DECEMBER 2019
CLICK TO WATCH : ‘JOHNSON WINTER & SLATTERY CASE STUDY’ 07 Driving meaningful change is a
says Forgione. “We collect analytical
primary challenge for Forgione, who
information from the data we ingest,
highlights that JWS is continuously
generate or export to identify how our
looking at its internal processes to find
process are performing internally and
ways to deliver more value to its clients.
externally.” JWS has established key
Forgione also outlines that while JWS
partnerships with Microsoft, VMware
provides Australian legal advice, it has
and Pure Storage to further assist
clients, both domestic and foreign, that
unlocking the potential value we can
conduct business globally. Therefore,
derive from these data. “We have
part of Forgione’s job is to ensure any
worked very closely with VMware and
current or future technology imple-
Microsoft, maintaining a strong rela-
mented by the firm can support and
tionship with both organisations. Their
is compliant with international best
strategic paths help us understand
practice. “Our goal is to identify oppor-
what we need to be thinking about now
tunities to be as efficient as possible,”
for the future.” w w w.j ws. com . a u
J O H N S O N W I N T E R & S L AT T E R Y
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Forgione has recently attended a
he says. “We are currently investigating
number of international legal technol-
how we can use AI and other machine
ogy conferences focused on driving
learning based software tools and
change that will improve the delivery
services to enhance the value of our
of services to clients and create a bet-
data and improve the ways in which we
ter working environment for the firm’s
service our clients.” Although Forgione
people. The conferences also gave
acknowledges that “AI will – for some
Forgione the opportunity to discuss
industries – make the world a better
common challenges, potential goals
place”, in terms of the legal industry, he
and opportunities with his peers in the
sees the application of AI broadening
industry, in particular involving artificial
over time with current applications lim-
intelligence (AI). “I don’t think I’ve been
ited to specific tasks. An area Forgione
to a conference in the last three years
has seen AI benefit the legal industry
where AI hasn’t dominated the agenda,”
is bulk contract review, removing
DECEMBER 2019
“ Our goal is to identify opportunities to be as efficient as possible” Ross Forgione Chief Information Officer, JWS
the need for lawyers to review large amounts of information. Other areas of innovative technology that Forgione and his team are looking into include leveraging Big Data. “We’ve got over 25 years of data, which we are now mining and analysing in our innovation incubator to develop useful insights to assist legal practitioners when making decisions,” he says. JWS is currently working with Pure Storage, building its data warehousing platform. “We hold large volumes of data at JWS, and if our platform is
E XE CU T I VE PRO FI LE
Ross Forgione Ross (MBA) is a seasoned professional with more than 30 years’ experience in the design, delivery and integration of IT services and major organisational change programmes. He has extensive senior management, services delivery, strategy & architecture/management, with subject matter expertise in information technologies, IT to business alignment, business process improvement, project management and transformational leadership. His skills have been developed through business and IT consultancy in manufacturing, professional services and broadcasting organisations, combined with active leadership roles held with Austereo and Johnson Winter & Slattery Lawyers.
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J O H N S O N W I N T E R & S L AT T E R Y
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11 not able to deliver the performance and reliability we need, it may take too long to receive actionable results, which isn’t practical for a commercial organisation.” Forgione, however, does explain that the implementation of technology needs to be carefully considered. Although there are significant benefits
1993
Year founded
HQ
Sydney New South Wales
of new technology, there are challenges to be mindful of too. “As a business you need to identify where the opportunities lie and assess them. If it makes commercial sense to proceed with a technology driven
200+
Number of employees
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J O H N S O N W I N T E R & S L AT T E R Y
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“ A s a business you need to identify where the opportunities lie and assess them� Ross Forgione Chief Information Officer, JWS
DECEMBER 2019
initiative – then proceed,” he says. “But, if you can be effective without having to apply new technology, and you can accomplish a very quick resolution with existing technology or people that will stay in place and continue to serve its purpose, then take that route.” When implementing new technologies firms such as JWS need to consider the following areas: • Is the technology easily implemented and rolled out to the end users (be they lawyers or other employees in the organisation)? Are the costs associated with the new technology, including in relation to its purchase, the training required to use it and the costs of the inevitable disruption caused by most changes in workflow going to deliver an appropriate level of return once the technology is used in the business? • What impact, if any, might new technology have in relation to the security of our client’s information and the integrity of our systems? To the extent that new vulnerabilities might arise, what steps can we take to remedy or mitigate these risks? • Can the new technology be widely w w w.j ws. com . a u
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J O H N S O N W I N T E R & S L AT T E R Y
“ We’ve got over 25 years of data, which we are now mining and utilising it in laboratories to further 14 remove bias and develop useful insights for legal practitioners to use when making decisions” Ross Forgione Chief Information Officer, JWS
used so that the new benefits can be enjoyed at scale? • What impact will the new technology have on the performance of our existing systems and infrastructure – is this manageable? When it comes to data protection and cybersecurity, JWS ensures it covers all its bases. The firm not only utilises encryption technology, penetration testing, response plans and real-time monitoring, but also conducts
DECEMBER 2019
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specific security awareness education
passionate people, who experiment
programmes for its staff members,
both within its innovation incubator and
in addition to carrying out training
in the provision of services to the firm’s
courses and demonstrations.
clients, is what drives JWS’ ability to
Reflecting on the firm’s development,
stay ahead of fast evolving technology.
Forgione believes the firm’s biggest
JWS expects to be among the most
success has been how quickly JWS
innovative providers of legal services in
has been able to adapt and embrace
the Australian market for a good many
new technology in order to introduce
years to come.
innovations to best serve clients. Forgione believes that networking, attending conferences and the firm’s w w w.j ws. com . a u
Johnson Winter & Slattery Level 25 20 Bond Street Sydney, NSW 2000 Australia T +61 8 8239 7111 www.jws.com.au