Business of Law Podcast

Osler Undertakes Legal Innovation

Candice Carr — Thu, 27 May 2021 23:06:37 +0000

Mike Fekete & Jennifer Thompson

“It’s pretty rare for a law firm to undertake something like this” (Mike Fekete (Technology Partner and National Innovation lead @ Osler) and Jennifer Thompson (Head of Osler Works)).

Mike and Jennifer joined me for this podcast to discuss how Osler is driving innovation, building tools, and launching platform solutions with reusable elements to help clients work better. In this talk, we focused on one of their many solutions – Osler Capture – a collaborative information sharing platform hosted on Microsoft Azure allowing lawyers and clients to collect and share sensitive information from multiple sources.

Their journey has many of the elements that our Modern CELA team at Microsoft loves to see: (i) focus on real client problems; (ii) interdisciplinary collaboration; (iii) meeting people where they are; (iv) user-friendly experiences; and (v) measurable impact. And Osler built it…for their clients.

We talk about the problem they were solving for (3:59); their approach to building the solution (6:30) and the building blocks they used (9:07).

Mike and Jennifer speak about the importance of their interdisciplinary team to bring the solution to life (13:42), challenges they faced in building out the solution (16:33), driving tech adoption (19:00), and the goals in measuring value and success (20:40).

This is not a single use application; it is a platform solution investment (22:28). Even though they chose to first target the undertakings process in Canada, Osler Capture has multiple possible use cases such as data breach notifications, regulatory investigations, and tax audits. Legal teams (in-house and law firms) across the globe can identify with these scenarios.

We close with the overall experience – from ideation to use (24:50). Thanks for joining us. Reach out to Mike and Jennifer to learn more about innovation at Osler!

Tackling Change & Complexity

Candice Carr — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 13:36:18 +0000

Chris Clearfield and Jason Barnwell

“On the edge of the uncomfortable“. Words spoken by Chris Clearfield (Coach, author, consultant) as he reflects with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel at Microsoft) and Candice Carr (Senior Corporate Counsel, Storyteller at Microsoft) on tackling change and complexity. How do we get comfortable with the uncomfortable (the podcast in its entirety – no timestamps necessary!)?

We talk about the genesis of the work between Chris Clearfield and Jason Barnwell (2:48) and the great partnership with Modern CELA during early stages of our team’s development (5:58). How should we think of complexity (9:24)? How can a small 3-person team tackle a complex problem (13:27)? Where do you start when the complexity is cultural and we face the uncomfortable (20:45)?

We reflect on our own growth (34:18), examine the risks of linear approaches to change (45:33) and close on different models of change (48:41).

Get more on Chris’ perspective on change, including the chance to download a primer, at The Art of Organizational Change – Rethink Risk (chrisclearfield.com)

Business of Law Podcast – Predictive Analytics, Compliance and Risk

Candice Carr — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:30:16 +0000

Join Modern CELA as we speak with Alan Gibson (Attorney, Business Developer at Microsoft) and Matt Kral (Director, Digital Risk Solutions at PwC) about their partnership in building predictive analytics tools. We know data is important. We know it helps us to make better decisions, spot trends, and mitigate risks. As an attorney, I always thought that was to be left to data analysts and I could not see the value to my practice. Alan and Matt have changed that narrative by using Microsoft technology to build incredible solutions that helped our legal department better support our business clients and protect Microsoft. After we speak about their individual career journeys (1:05), we learn more about the partnership they formed and the purpose of the solution that they brought to market (5:40), how they moved from a culture of “reactive” to “proactive” in solving critical problems (11:40), the building blocks of the solution (16:51), the future of the solution and compliance analytics for Microsoft CELA internally (21:54), how to get all customers excited about the solution (25:35), the effect of the pandemic on interest and needs (33:00), challenges they faced (36:27), the future for the legal industry in this space (43:25), and how we can listen, learn and help our customers derive the value they seek (48:13 (when Alan asks if it’s ok to mention something controversial…yes of course! Thankful for those last words of wisdom! )

Alan mentions that we should speak to Chris Nelson (Assistant General Counsel leading Compliance Analytics Program internally in Microsoft CELA with a fantastic team) next. I agree.

Business of Law: Protecting Journalists Part 2 (the part about digital transformation)

Candice Carr — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 21:16:59 +0000

In Part 2 of this 2-part series, Candice Carr speaks with Beth Henderson (Pro Bono Director and Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft) and Pablo Castro (Business Program Manager for CELA Programs at Microsoft) about the digital transformation story supporting an incredible pro bono initiative that tackles the right to information.

First, Revisit Part 1 for refresher and inspiration. Second, listen to this podcast to learn from Beth and Pablo about the challenge they tackled (3:14); the technology building blocks they used (5:10); how the team built something seamless with universal ease for multiple end users (9:32); a few of the challenges they faced and overcame (11:38) and how the team is ensuring knowledge transfer for future builds (16:03). As we think holistically for pro bono, Beth and Pablo will continue to drive digital transformation in the pro bono space, including for our pro bono partners, clients and customers (20:21). Third, watch as Pablo conducts a detailed demo of the Protecting Journalists digital transformation solution.

Protecting Journalists Pro Bono Program Part 1

Candice Carr — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 16:00:30 +0000

In Part 1 of this 2-part series, Jason Barnwell speaks with Thomas Burke (Partner and Chair, Pro Bono & Social Impact Committee at Davis Wright Tremaine), Beth Henderson (Pro Bono Director and Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft), Sima Sarrafan (Senior Corporate Counsel at Microsoft), about their partnership in the “Protecting Journalists” pro bono program. Learn about the issue being solved (1:45) and how a CLE inspired Sima to expand her pro bono portfolio (2:25). Microsoft’s Corporate, External and Legal Affairs department prioritizes pro bono work, and supports attorneys, like Sima, in such pursuits (5:13; 7:00). Learn about Sima and Tom’s journey to create a 2-in-the-box system (12:22), the customers they serve (17:15), and how the survival of journalism is intimately connected to our democracy (23:07). Understand the markers for success (30:50) and what kept them going when the pandemic hit (36:38). Learn how to get involved (37:57) and see the relevant links below. focus

Part 2 will feature the digital transformation story that helps drive this amazing work.

For more information visit: Protecting Journalists Pro Bono Program – Davis Wright Tremaine.

To request assistance under this program, contact one of the nonprofit partners below.

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

First Amendment Coalition

Washington Coalition for Open Government

Business of Law Podcast – Microsoft’s Pro Bono Program, Dilley Detention, and Election Protection

Candice Carr — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 05:44:16 +0000

Microsoft’s Pro Bono program supports its employees in doing righteous work. Jason Barnwell speaks with Beth Henderson (Pro Bono Director at Microsoft; Senior Corporate Counsel), Megan Yoshimura (Principal Corporate Counsel), and Jen Scully (Assistant General Counsel) about their experiences with various Microsoft Pro Bono programs. They discuss Beth’s unique role in an in-house counsel legal department (0:54), her responsibilities and goals (2:56), the new Microsoft Annual Pro Bono Report (6:04), and the challenges she faces as they work to tackle unfairness (8:39).

Learn about Megan’s inspiration to launch the Dilley Detention Center project with Microsoft colleagues (11:59), the experience and impact in Texas (13:58), how she integrates pro bono into her day job (15:51) and how Microsoft’s legal department created a “culture of pro bono” (17:19). They address whether pro bono experiences contribute to an organization’s business value (21:46) or help employees work better together (24:04).

After a historical election year, learn how Jen and Megan found a way to meaningfully support election protection and voters’ rights in a non-partisan way ( 27:25). Listen to how collective intelligence can help a team get smarter and work better (36:00) and how you can take learnings from doing righteous work into your primary day job (37:40). If you want to build a pro bono practice for yourself (41:44), this podcast will inspire you to get started.

References:
Microsoft on the Issues: Sustaining pro bono services during the pandemic with technical innovation

Business of Law-LegalTech University

Candice Carr — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 11:30:35 +0000

Nicola Shaver (Managing Director, innovation and knowledge, at the law firm Paul Hastings) was recently named 2020 Innovative Leader of the Year in the International Legal Technology Association’s Distinguished Peer Awards. Candice Carr (Senior Attorney, Storyteller, Modern CELA at Microsoft) sits with Nicola to discuss her innovative solution around empowering new attorneys with digital transformation skills – LegalTech University. They discuss Nicola’s role [1:25], challenges and gaps identified when creating LegalTech University and its importance [4:26], how LegalTech got started [9:04], the journey [14:33], technology platform that was used [18:26], the program launch [19:40], the global pandemic effect on program design [20:12], success stories [23:49], leveraging data [27:57], next steps [29:28] and what Nicola sees for the program’s future [34:20].

Business of Law Podcast-We have Robots!

Devon Johnson — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 16:35:55 +0000

Kenneth Kozakura (Advisory Analytics & Automation Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers), Rob Greenall (Sr. Program Management Manager-Legal Operations at Microsoft), Tom Orrison (Director of Legal Operations at Microsoft) talk with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel-Modern CELA (Legal) at Microsoft Corporation) about the decision to partner with PwC [2:26], the kinds of digital transformation projects that the PwC team does for Microsoft [5:15], challenges that brought Microsoft’s Legal Operations to Ken’s team [7:33], end-to-end engagement for this project [11:30], how the teams selected processes for automation [15:20], the provocative reaction to the pilot (we have robots (!!)) [21:14], appreciation that our work is hard, but a lot of fun, interesting and energizing [22:19], finding the right technologies for the right problems [25:04], automation demo [30:52], wins and learnings [35:22], bridging the new capabilities into the legacy stack [37:22], what the future holds [41:14], recommendations on partnering with organizations like PwC [44:23], closing comments [45:56].

Including Kenneth Kozakura contact information below:

kenneth.y.kozakura@pwc.com

Business of Law Podcast-How to Scale a Practice?

Devon Johnson — Tue, 21 Jul 2020 00:09:25 +0000

David Rudin (Assistant General Counsel – Open Source and Standards at Microsoft) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel-Modern Legal at Microsoft Corporation) about David’s path and interest in law [5:57], standard’s in open source [8:04], training process to become an attorney [8:55], big to small common ground [9:51], skill sets to solve the problem [10:47], does it scale [12:53], transactions that scale to practice [16:30], quantum standard license agreements [17:30], bring automation to large volume to scale [18:25], partnering with engineering [19:20], make things simple in the partnership [24:50], how to build trust [25:50], problem solving for both engineering and legal [27:30], defining common goals and real issues [29:30], presenting data and real numbers to engineering [31:12], creating a decision tree for series of risks [34:03], community coming to an win-win agreement [37:36], standardizing standards [38:20], simplicity of contracts [43:57], business side of terms [46:48], inputs and outputs in transactions [48:28], system of measuring outcome [50:14], community relationships [51:17], see the value in the bigger picture [52:10], understanding the relationship and culture [55:05], value as an attorney and seeing the boarder ecosystem [55:59].

Business of Law Podcast-How to run a Legal Department like a Business

Devon Johnson — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 16:34:40 +0000

Jeff Carr (race car driver, Manhattan Mixologist and former General Counsel) talks with Candice Carr (Senior Attorney, Storyteller, Modern Legal at Microsoft Corporation) and Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel, Modern Legal at Microsoft Corporation) about his journey through his career [0:50], business of law [4:46], role of general counsel within a business [8:12], progress with the operator, manager, and leadership roles [13:13], key values [16:40], defining culture [21:40], shifting ourselves to a preventative mode [23:23], having a discipline structure [27:44], general counsel adapting to challenging times [30:40], optimize digital transformation [35:20], how to change our approach [36:30], leaders on the bus with us [41:01], what does his future look like [43:30], being involved in this journey and driving impact into the modern world [47:18], and bringing it forward [48:40].

Business of Law Podcast – Ballard Spahr’s COVID-19 Legal Response with Digital Transformation.

Devon Johnson — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 18:03:50 +0000

Melissa Prince (Chief Client Value and Innovation Officer at Ballard Spahr LLP), Sarah Happy (Director of Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence at Ballard Spahr LLP) and James Boyer (Director of Matter Management and Efficiency at Ballard Spahr LLP) talk to Candice Carr (Senior Attorney, Storyteller, Modern Legal at Microsoft) about Ballard Spahr’s LLP COVID-19 Legal Resource with Digital Transformation, introduction to the team at Ballard Spahr LLP [0:41], value add service [3:49], example of customer needs [3:59], Ballard Spahr’s new COVID-19 data and information tracking tool for customers [6:40], solution for customers and other end users [7:17], how clients found information before the tool [8:44], building blocks for the solution [12:41], what tools are used for the tracker [14: 32], power of automation [16:44], demo presentation [18:23], resources needed to build your solution [22:18], how long it took to stand up, challenges did you face and overcome building your solution [24:58], usability and feedback of the tracker [28:33], drive engagement or adoption by your customers [29:50], putting the customers need first [35:15], and value add to our customers [39:40].

Business of Law Podcast-Clive Gringras discusses an International Legal Practice Built for the Future

Devon Johnson — Fri, 03 Apr 2020 00:41:34 +0000

Clive Gringras (Head of Technology at CMS) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel-Modern Legal at Microsoft Corporation) about Clive’s path and interest in law [8:28], different view on law [10:04], greatest love is the law [10:58], seeing Microsoft from the inside [12:12], how decisions are made [14:56], what is judgement [19:31], value based billing and partnership [22:39], working to solutions [25:48], incentives for retaining talent [28:08], talent diverse perspective [30:52], issues and challenges in the UK [34:48], partnership with Microsoft in diversity [40:33], and looking forward in the future of the practice of law [45:41].

The Business of Law Podcast-The Episode about Podcasts

Devon Johnson — Fri, 17 Jan 2020 23:22:38 +0000

A video version of this episode is available here.

Krishna Sood (Senior Attorney Experiences and Devices Product Group at Microsoft) and Laura Ewbank (Senior Attorney AI & Research Product Group at Microsoft) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) and Devon Johnson (Business Program Manager at Microsoft) about why you want to make a podcast [1:06], podcast ecosystem [4:18], how to scale and having a shared library [5:16], building framework for the podcast [6:20], where to source podcast topics [10:16], what audience do you want to reach [13:51], what type of metrics are captured [15:47], how we produce a podcast [17:59], production process [18:11], recording the episode [18:54], how we mix the episode [23:40], what is the frequency/cadence we have for the podcasts [25:43], how do we publicize [26:30], references to other relevant content [28:31], using word press as our website host [28:49], what is a RSS feed [31:32], and circling back on this conservation [31:32].

References:

The a16z podcast episode on producing an effective podcast.

The office recording setup

The recording equipment hardware order

Business of Law Podcast-Design Thinking

Rebecca Benavides — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 18:33:43 +0000

Joshua Kubicki (Chief Strategy Officer at Bold Duck), Kim Craig (Co-founder & Experience Designer at Bold Duck), Joe Nord (Attorney, Competition Law Group at Microsoft), and Grant Hewlett (Manager | Client Business & Advisory Solutions at Reed Smith LLP) talks with Rebecca Benavides (Director of Legal Business at Microsoft) about how we integrate design thinking [15:43], what is design thinking and business design [15:54], first impressions and thoughts about attending this workshop [16:20] what processes are applied to these workflows [19:55], what does change management entail [22:20], user experience [25:19], applying the learning to practice [26.19], how to keep the team engaged in processing mapping [30:56], seeing a different lens on each other’s work [33:30], creating realistic practices that work for the team [34:33], defining design thinking and it’s importance [35:40], seeing through a lens from a diverse perspective [40:44], reaction from clients and the real world benefits [44:53], importance of pilots [49:38], insights with processing data [59:10], recap/parting words [1:03:07] and were we can find Bold Duck next [1:07:55].

References:

Business of Law Podcast-Super Interns

Devon Johnson — Fri, 26 Jul 2019 15:51:56 +0000

Sarah Tansey (Legal Intern at Microsoft) and Craig Maughan (Legal Intern at Microsoft) talk with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about their experiences as early career legal professionals and their summer intern experience in Microsoft’s Legal Department, including: their backgrounds [2:43]; what skill sets are being applied to the legal world [4:07]; the importance of gaining new perspectives [4:55]; why mission-driven career experiences matter [11:50]; how a professional life integrates with a personal life [15:00]; Microsoft lawyers’ roles within the respective business groups [20:05]; educational opportunities that have shaped their professional careers [25:32]; learning how to do real work [28:15]; why relational skills matter [32:15]; the process on getting into law school [38:45]; preparing for interviews with law firms [50:10]; and what concerns them about the profession they are inheriting [1:03:23].

References:
1. Revisionist History Season 4, Episode 1-Puzzle Rush
2. Revisionist History Season 4, Episode 2-The Tortoise and the Hare

Post image features Sarah Tansey, Craig Maughan, and the Microsoft/LinkedIn/GitHub Legal Interns with Brad Smith (Microsoft President and Chief Legal Officer)
Image credit-Coolcaesar, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63236663

Business of Law Podcast-Building an Enterprise Ready Bot

Devon Johnson — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 20:32:27 +0000

Martha Sperry (Director – Legal Operations & Analytics / Senior Counsel at Travelers) talks with Deborah Pursifull (Principal Program Manager at Microsoft), Amitabh Mukherjee (Principal Program Manager at Microsoft), Mahendra Kumar Arvapalli (Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft), Prasanna Balaraju (Senior Program Manager at Microsoft), and Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about what conversational AI powered chatbots are [9:40], why we use them [10:52], what it takes to build an enterprise-ready bot using conversational AI [11:37], a technical deep dive and demonstration of ZELA, Microsoft Legal’s client facing bot experience [22:10], and considerations when building your conversational AI powered experiences [1:10:41].

References:

ZELA Demonstration Deck used in this episode.
Business of Law Podcast-Tagulous Demo for CLOC Las Vegas Institute 2019
Business of Law Podcast-Creating a Bot Brain using QnAMaker.ai, a Microsoft Azure Cognitive Service
Business of Law Podcast-Deploying a Basic Web Chat Bot to Microsoft Azure
Brad Smith Bot demo from 2017 Mid-Year Question (MYQ): A very rough prototype bot experience shown to Corporate, External, and Legal Affair’s leadership in 2017 to generate awareness of conversational AI capabilities.
Making a Bot in Five Minutes: A training video produced following MYQ 2017 to show people how quickly they could create a bot using Microsoft’s technologies.
Corporate External and Legal Affairs (CELA) Productivity Hackers Innovation Hypothesis

Business of Law Podcast-Danielle Johnston Holmes discusses how she crafted a career by owning her definition of success

Devon Johnson — Tue, 02 Jul 2019 18:36:16 +0000

Danielle Johnston Holmes (Associate General Counsel of Patents at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) and offers an incredibly thoughtful retrospective on her 21 year tenure at Microsoft, including: why partnership with outside counsel matters [1:55]; her work leading patent portfolio development [3:00]; recent strategy shifts and how they scale their business [4:20]; what prompted them to invest in outside counsel feedback processes [7:05]; the cultural challenges in delivering feedback to and having hard conversations with outside counsel [8:30]; the patent team’s outside counsel management committee and applying a data-driven approach [10:30]; the value of visiting your partners on their turf [14:50]; how she came to Microsoft [16:40]; how she was introduced to diversity in the legal profession [17:50]; investing D&I is good for your career and the importance of building relationship networks beyond the day job [21:15]; working part time and advancing her career [24:30]; how she defines success beyond the corporate ladder [28:55]; her recipe for resilience [31:15]; why she retired from Microsoft [41:20].

Business of Law Podcast-LCLD Fellows Alumni Speaker Series: Pathways to Leadership, hosted by Lane Powell

Jason Barnwell — Wed, 12 Jun 2019 12:00:02 +0000

A video version of this episode is available.

Lane Powell hosted a Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellows Alumni Speaker Series event focused on Pathways to Leadership where Katina Thornock (LCLD 2014, Director, Corporate Counsel, Global Litigation at Starbucks Coffee Company) moderated a conversation among Caldwell Camero (LCLD 2014, Senior Global Trademark Counsel at Fluke Corporation), Daniel Prince (LCLD 2014, Partner at Paul Hastings), Jill Long (LCLD 2014, Partner at Glassman Coaching + Consulting), and Merisa Heu-Weller (LCLD 2016, Chief of Staff, Technology + Corporate Responsibility and Director, Criminal Justice Reform at Microsoft Corporation) in which they discussed their significant positive career growth as leaders in the profession and their organizations since taking part in LCLD. They candidly discuss their journeys, the ingredients in LCLD’s secret sauce, and their key learnings acquired on the path to leadership. What is LCLD?

In 2009 a coalition of general counsels came together to form an organization driven to accelerate diversity and inclusion in the legal profession: the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD). The organization is now comprised of 300 organizational members and has nationwide reach. More than 2,000 individual lawyers and law students have participated in its programs and are members of its alumni groups. LCLD, its members, and its alumni are now creating impact at-scale.

This event was produced by Makalika Naholowa’a (LCLD 2015, Head of Trademarks at Microsoft Corporation) Bonnie Lau (LCLD 2013, Partner at Dentons), and Erin Hess (Programs Manager at Leadership Council on Legal Diversity) in partnership with Stephanie Stephens (LCLD 2013, Shareholder at Lane Powell).

References:

Business Law Podcast-Orrick and Microsoft Legal Productivity Hackers discuss innovation and Microsoft Teams

Jason Barnwell — Thu, 23 May 2019 15:52:18 +0000

Vedika Mehera (Innovation Advisor at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP), Aneesh Mehta (Attorney for Experiences and Devices Engineering Organization at Microsoft, South Asian Bar Association of North America President), and Lydia Petrakis (Attorney for Experiences and Devices Engineering Organization at Microsoft) talk about the process of fostering ground-up innovation in legal business focused organizations. This episode starts off with a heavy focus on how Microsoft Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (CELA) Productivity Hackers Team uses Microsoft Teams because this collaboration platform is instrumental to their mission of catalyzing a sharing, learning, and teaching culture that serves their department and their clients. It pivots to reflections on how Orrick builds innovation culture at their firm.

They discuss the CELA Productivity Hackers Team (3:00), how it scales learning (3:45), how it is led and how they drive conversation and content (5:45), why they use Microsoft Teams (7:45) how Teams works (9:45), how Teams differs from email (11:00) recording meetings to generate content (13:00); Teams as a hub for work (14:00) how channels work in Teams (17:00); how Teams differs from email (18:00); private channels feature (coming soon) (19:15); driving engagement with content in Teams (21:30), managing a Team (22:15), how notifications work (25:00), sending email content to Teams (26:15), getting Teams (27:30) the Teams mobile experience (30:00), how working in the open changes culture (31:15), when not to use Teams (35:45), the Orrick innovation process and how they use Teams (36:30), how Orrick enables innovation with time and incentives (38:15) hacking as customizing your workspace (40:10), prioritizing innovation investments (42:15), working across silos (44:30), starting with experimentation and pilots (45:30), bringing people along on the journey (46:45) Orrick innovation culture tenets (49:15), and the courage to advise clients to work with other partners (54:45).

References:

How CELA Productivity Hackers uses Microsoft Teams

Business of Law Podcast-Tagulous Demo for CLOC Las Vegas Institute 2019

Jason Barnwell — Tue, 14 May 2019 18:35:47 +0000

Microsoft Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy demonstrated a proof of concept project called Tagulous at CLOC’s 2019 Las Vegas Institute. This project is designed to instrument communications like email with text tags to create a flexible and extensible approach that enables data collection and workflow automations. It allows organization to develop domain specific training sets that link unstructured data (standard communication text) and structured data (tags) to enable machine learning scenarios.

References:

Business of Law Podcast-Integreon and Microsoft Legal Operations discuss long-term partnership

Jason Barnwell — Sun, 12 May 2019 17:43:48 +0000

Reshmi Paul Choudhury (Program Manager at Integreon), Danielle Haugland (Director at Integreon), Tony Breidenbach (Vice President at Integreon), Dave Schell (Contracting Process Architect at Microsoft), Rob Greenall (Senior Program Manager at Microsoft Corporation), and Tom Orrison (Director of Legal Operations at Microsoft Corporation) talk about Integreon and Microsoft’s decade of partnership. Integreon is a critical partner for the design and operation of Microsoft’s Global Contracting Office. They discuss how their organizations work together to ensure they deliver quality, innovation, and value for their client, Microsoft. The importance of communication, candor, and psychological safety are examined in the conversation. Their interaction also highlights that great partnerships are built upon a foundation of shared values and the desire to see your partners prosper. A special thanks goes to Danielle for leading the creation of this episode and moderating it.

References:

Business of Law Podcast-Gloria Hong and Jennifer Ivan talk about incentives for outside counsel diversity

Jason Barnwell — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 12:00:41 +0000

Gloria Hong (Director, Corporate Counsel, Litigation, Law & Corporate Affairs at Starbucks Coffee Company, 2016 LCLD Fellow), Jennifer Ivan (Assistant General Counsel Enterprise Experience and Management and Microsoft 365 Security and Compliance/Diversity and Inclusion Lead for Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs at Microsoft Corporation), and Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation, 2016 LCLD Fellow) discuss creating incentives designed to help outside counsel to bring more diverse teams to corporate legal work.

References:

Business of Law Podcast-Karen Kepler and Rebecca Benavides talk about outside counsel selection

Jason Barnwell — Sun, 07 Apr 2019 12:00:46 +0000

Karen Kepler (Law Procurement Manager at Cargill) talks with Rebecca Benavides (Director of Legal Business at Microsoft Corporation) and Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about the process of designing and building an outside counsel panel and how to ensure outside counsel bring diverse teams to our work.

Episode references:

Business of Law Podcast-Elke Suber talks about business and career development

Jason Barnwell — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 16:28:55 +0000

Elke Suber (Assistant General Counsel of Microsoft Store at Microsoft Corporation, 2011 LCLD Fellow) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation, 2016 LCLD Fellow) about why she became an attorney (0:45); how she built her litigation practice after law school (8:45); how she built a new intellectual property practice (10:45); her first in-house role (11:30); leading the legal team that counsels Microsoft’s Stores business (15:30); her business’s legal challenges (19:45); how outside counsel gets to do business with her (24:45); the importance of differentiated value (32:30); how managing outside counsel builds leadership capabilities (36:30); divining your professional superpower with feedback (38:00); the role of developing relationships as in-house counsel and how to manufacture opportunity (41:00); what happens when someone moves your cheese (the game changes) (44:45); mentorship and sponsorship (46:15); and how she thinks out the “board of directors” for her professional life (50:45).

This episode also includes a special shout out to a Microsoft Strategic Partner relationship partner (55:45).

References:

Elke Suber’s commencement speech at the 2018 Pittsburgh University School of Law graduation ceremony.

Business of Law Podcast-Kate Ross talks about effective teamwork

Jason Barnwell — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 05:18:47 +0000

Kate Ross (Assistant General Counsel of Gaming at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about her many experiences as a counselor (1:00), the very special artifact that is the source of her powers (4:00), why she became a lawyer (4:30), the breadth of her work at Microsoft (6:30), the Microsoft Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs Mid-Year Question (“MYQ”) process (7:30), her role as a leader on our MYQ team (12:30), the power of listening (16:00), why attorneys have a hard time collaborating and being open (22:15), the specific MYQ question we researched (23:00), what makes learning hard (24:00), creating psychological safety (28:45), how we create culture (33:00), why inclusion matters (34:00), working in virtual teams (35:30), the delight of authentic team experiences (37:45), the value of showing your work (39:15), why having an idea experimentation platform like MYQ matters (40:45), the value of disagreement (42:30), building a social contract that promotes participation (45:00), getting people to try new technologies (46:00), the intentionality that her boss brings to leading by example (47:30), and why she delights in her work (49:45). This episode expands upon the Mid Year Question alluded to in the Jon Palmer episode.

Background reading from CELA’s MYQ 19 research index:

Gartner-Identifying and Addressing Skill Gaps for Legal in 2020

Yale Journal of Law & Technology-Lola v. Skadden and the Automation of the Legal Profession-Michael Simon, Alvin F. Lindsay, Loly Sosa & Paige Comparato

Altman Weil-Herding Cats: The Lawyer Personality Revealed-Dr. Larry Richard

HBR IdeaCast-Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace-Amy Edmondson

The New York Times Magazine-What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team-Charles Duhigg

Business of Law Podcast-Jon Palmer talks about teaming outside counsel

Jason Barnwell — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 17:06:53 +0000

Jon Palmer (Associate General Counsel of Litigation at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about his experiences in big law firms (1:30), his path to Microsoft (4:00), how and why he partners multiple outside counsel on complex matters (6:30), how he manages outside counsel lawyer personalities by selecting for certain traits (13:30), the importance of focusing on what is best for our client (25:45), when teaming multiple firms works best (31:45), structural challenges to innovation at law firms (42:00), and his business case for diversity (45:30).

The “MYQ” referenced in this episode is part of Microsoft’s Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs (“CELA”) department’s strategy development process. Cross-discipline virtual-teams are dispatched to research future focused questions, write five page memoranda, and deliver their results to the department’s leadership and invited business guests.

Business of Law Podcast-Isabella Fu talks about decision making and leadership

Jason Barnwell — Sun, 16 Dec 2018 13:00:15 +0000

Isabella Fu (Associate General Counsel of Intellectual Policy Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about why she chose an undergraduate physics degree (2:00), decision making (4:00), designing decisions and products for change (8:15), avoiding loss aversion bias (12:00), why she went to law school (19:00), career optimization and differentiation (21:00), joining Intel (23:00), why success is built upon a great team that is empowered to make decisions (26:00), how she partners with outside counsel (30:00), helping people focus on the work that matters most (36:00), her new role leading intellectual property strategy and her focus supporting the work of others (40:45), the self-promotion trap (45:15), what happens when you apply blind auditions, and inclusive culture, and evaluate people’s contributions based on their impact (49:00).

Business of Law Podcast-Upload video to Azure blob storage

Jason Barnwell — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:53:26 +0000

Demonstrates how to publish a video using Microsoft Azure. I start by downloading a video from Microsoft Stream. That video was created by recording a screen share meeting in Microsoft Teams. That video was automatically uploaded by Teams to Stream when the meeting finished. I uploaded the video I downloaded to Azure so people outside my organization can view it.

Business of Law Podcast-Automatically create tasks from tagged email using Microsoft Flow

Jason Barnwell — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:50:56 +0000

Demonstrates how to import an existing Microsoft Flow that creates To-Do items from tags in emails you send.

Business of Law Podcast-Using Microsoft Flow to send notice of a new blog post to Microsoft Teams

Jason Barnwell — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 00:06:25 +0000

Jay Christian (Microsoft Corporation Attorney) walks through the creation of a Microsoft Flow recipe that sends notices to a Microsoft Team when new blog post entries are published.

Business of Law Podcast-Jae Um talks about legal innovation

Jason Barnwell — Sun, 23 Sep 2018 11:00:15 +0000

Jae Um (Founder and Executive Director of Six Parsecs) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about her work as a legal business strategist, how she creates the rich and data driven content she produces so efficiently, her thoughts on the systematic issues that impact innovation of the delivery of legal services, her recent three part legal innovation focused series published on Legal Evolution, and her observations about Microsoft’s first Trusted Advisor Forum on Innovation.

Follow Jae on Twitter

Legal Innovation Woes, Part I: Got 99 Problems but Capital Ain’t One

Legal Innovation Woes, Part II: TBD Markets + MIA Customers

Legal Innovation Woes, Part III: Skill Shortage, Emotional Labor & Arrested Development

Business of Law Podcast-Rebecca Benavides talks about the business of law

Jason Barnwell — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 06:23:26 +0000

Rebecca Benavides (Director of Legal Business at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about her career as a chameleon in the legal profession, how she thinks about value in the delivery of legal services, and what law firms can do to delight Microsoft’s legal professionals.

Business of Law Podcast-Billy Rusteen talks about his path to in-house counsel

Jason Barnwell — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 05:24:11 +0000

Billy Rusteen (Cloud and AI Platform Attorney at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about his practice counseling Microsoft’s Developer Tools business and his legal career journey traversing insurance coverage, asbestos litigation, and commercial transactions, and technology product counseling. He offers helpful insights for people who aspire to a legal career and legal professionals seeking to change their practice.

Business of Law Podcast-Tom Orrison talks about the future state of legal operations process and tools partnerships

Jason Barnwell — Tue, 11 Sep 2018 14:00:47 +0000

Tom Orrison (Director of Legal Operations at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about what he expects from his tools and processes partners in the future. Specifically: accessing third party tools using APIs (application programming interfaces); and direct access to the rich data that partners produce when they do work that produces augmented data.

Business of Law Podcast-Judy Jennison and David Daggett talk about being law firm relationship partners (part 2)

Jason Barnwell — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 11:49:19 +0000

Judy Jennison (Partner at Perkins Coie) and David Daggett (Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine) talk with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about how they partner across firm boundaries to better serve their client. They also discuss how they want to evolve their firms’ business models to …

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Business of Law Podcast-Judy Jennison and David Daggett talk about being law firm relationship partners (part 1)

Jason Barnwell — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 11:46:26 +0000

Judy Jennison (Partner at Perkins Coie) and David Daggett (Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine) talk with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about what it means to be a relationship partner for institutional clients like Microsoft. This is part 1 of a 2 part podcast.

Business of Law Podcast-Makalika Naholowa’a of Microsoft talks about the cost of law school

Jason Barnwell — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 11:34:42 +0000

Makalika Naholowa’a (Head of Trademarks at Microsoft Corporation) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about the cost of law school, the role premium law firm salaries play in making that cost more accessible, the cognition that makes $190k starting associate salaries sound extreme, and what members of the legal profession and ecosystem can do to improve the value proposition of law school.

Show Notes References

United States law school costs 1997-2017

US News-See the Price, Payoff of Law School Before Enrolling

NALP Salary Distribution Curves

Business of Law Podcast-Lisa Konie of Adobe talks about Big Law going to $190k first year associate salaries

Business of Law Admin — Sat, 30 Jun 2018 04:49:55 +0000

Lisa Konie (Senior Director of Legal Operations at Adobe Systems Incorporated) talks with Jason Barnwell (Assistant General Counsel of Legal Business, Operations, and Strategy at Microsoft Corporation) about the implications for corporate legal departments of outside counsel law firms moving to $190,000 per year base salaries for first year associate attorneys.

Business of Law Podcast-Deploying a Basic Web Chat Bot to Microsoft Azure

Business of Law Admin — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 19:04:58 +0000

This demonstration of how to deploy a web chat enabled bot powered by QnAMaker.ai to Microsoft Azure was prepared for a demonstration given at Davis Wright Tremaine’s 2017 Download event (http://aka.ms/dwt). The video shows you how to deploy a simple bot in fewer than 10 minutes using Microsoft Azure. Note that the Bot Framework is constantly improving. The Azure user experience has been updated since this was recorded.

Business of Law Podcast-Creating a Bot Brain using QnAMaker.ai, a Microsoft Azure Cognitive Service

Business of Law Admin — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 18:59:38 +0000

This demonstration of how to create a basic AI (natural language processing) powered service that can provide static answers to basic questions was prepared for a demonstration given at Davis Wright Tremaine’s 2017 Download event (http://aka.ms/dwt). The video shows you how to create a simple bot brain in fewer than 8 minutes using Microsoft Azure …

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Business of Law Podcast-Creating Email Alerts for New Files Added to SharePoint Online

Business of Law Admin — Fri, 08 Jun 2018 18:32:07 +0000

This episode offers a tech tip that shows you how to set alerts on file changes in SharePoint Online that can help you stay aware of your team’s work.

Business of Law Podcast-Who Knew?-Using Outlook to Manage RSS Feeds

Business of Law Admin — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 16:18:37 +0000

This episode offers a tech tip that shows you how to use Outlook to help you manage RSS feeds.

Business of Law Podcast-Episode 0

Business of Law Admin — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 11:23:01 +0000

A brief overview of what is to come with the Business of Law Podcast.