Johnson Winter & Slattery December 2019

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Digitally transforming the legal industry


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Digitally transforming the legal industry

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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

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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


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