Practical LawConferences

Lucy is responsible for the delivery of the Reed Smith’s knowledge, innovation and information strategy. Her role is to deliver access to the relevant information and knowledge required to deliver exceptional client service. Using technology and project management to deliver legal service efficiently is a key focus of the firm’s Practice Innovation team, which Lucy’s leads. The firm has also invested in an Innovation programme to harness the ideas and creativity of the firm’s community. Lucy and her team also identify opportunities for the firm to share its collective knowledge with clients to help them deliver their own strategic goals.

Lucy was a commercial litigator by training, and practiced at Linklaters before moving to a knowledge management role, both there and at Berwin Leighton Paisner. She joined Reed Smith in 2015 as the Global Chief Knowledge Officer

She is a regular speaker at KM conferences in the UK and the US and contributes to legal management journals.

Carol Aldridge is Head of Knowledge Management and Information Services at independent UK law firm Burges Salmon LLP.

She works with the firm’s KM/Learning & Development partners, PSLs, Knowledge & Information Services, IT and Marketing teams to ensure knowledge-focused support to meet business objectives.  She also works with Client Partners and Business Services teams to identify value-added services to enhance solutions for clients.

Carol trained and practised at Herbert Smith Freehills before joining Burges Salmon in 2000 as a Commercial PSL.  She has been Head of KM since 2004.

Burges Salmon’s KM focus is broad and includes knowledge about clients, sectors and markets as well as traditional legal content.  The firm invests in systems and processes to support efficiency, effectiveness and innovation.  All users are encouraged to think about how knowledge can be used to enhance the client experience and to keep services competitive.  The focus on knowledge sharing behaviours and culture is reflected in Burges Salmon’s close, collaborative working relationships, partner-led approach and its top-tier expertise as recognised in the leading legal and industry award schemes and legal directories.

Christine is a lawyer who leads the knowledge and learning strategy for the Financial Conduct Authority’s Enforcement & Markets Oversight Division. She manages the framework for ensuring that investigations related knowledge and skills, is captured, shared and embedded, to help build the effectiveness of enforcement work. Christine has also been involved in the strategic aspects of enforcement policy, such as thinking around credible deterrence, restorative justice and reducing re-offending.

Christine is also an action learning facilitator and has carried out a number of research projects with the Henley Forum for Knowledge and Learning, on implementing and embedding change and evaluating communities of practice. She also runs the Knowledge Information and Network Group, a forum of knowledge managers in the public, regulator and ombudsman sectors.

Christine enjoys being an Executive Fellow of Henley Business School and is involved in teaching on the Henley Business School MsC in Financial Regulation. Prior to Christine’s career in regulation, she worked in a leading contentious financial services practice in a city law firm.

Helen Barker is Counsel for Knowledge Management at Diageo plc, which has 125 lawyers based in 21 different markets worldwide.  She launched the global legal team’s new know-how system, Legalpedia in the summer of 2015 and is responsible for the continuing development of standard form agreements, know-how and, the overall  system.  In addition, she is responsible for developing the programme of internal capability training for Diageo’s lawyers.

Helen has over five years’ experience as a Professional Support Lawyer, having previously worked at BAE Systems plc and Blake Lapthorn (now Blake Morgan) solicitors as a Corporate Professional Support Lawyer.  Prior to becoming a PSL Helen was a commercial solicitor at Eversheds LLP advising both commercial and public sector clients on a range of general commercial law issues.

Kate Bell graduated from university with a 1st class honours degree in languages having studied Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Working in Spain and Central America gaining exceptional project and event management skills, led Kate to join Linklaters in 2016, where she entered the world of Learning and Development. Combining her excellent organisation and planning skills and her focused & detailed approach when arranging  key logistical elements, she ensured consistent smooth running of training courses. Taking on a new role in June 2017, Kate is now channelling her passion for knowledge and learning into the design and delivery of content for such courses and has presented on various Business Skills workshops such as Presentation skills, Collaboration and Time Management.  Kate is also responsible for the firm wide induction attended by all New Joiners to Linklaters and is a key contact for Western Europe and Senior Business Teams training.

Tetiana is an independent lawyer registered with the Bar of Geneva and the founder of LexSnap, an innovative new digital legal marketplace. She has an extensive legal practice ranging from working with top tier Swiss law firms to having founded her own boutique firm specialized in international litigation and strategic advice to family groups.

Tetiana sits on the board of several sport and cultural institutions and, until recently, taught company law at the University of Geneva.

Jane is Director of Knowledge & Information at Slaughter and May, a department that covers Knowledge Management and both central and practice stream Information Services.  Her role includes responsibilities in connection with the Professional Support lawyers and she has in previous roles at other firms also been responsible for Learning and Development.  As well as promoting the collection and dissemination of knowledge within the firm, the KM team also have a general mandate to be on the look out for technology or services that promote efficiencies or enhance the delivery of the firm’s legal services.

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Michelle Bramley is the Global Head of Knowledge for Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP. She is based in Freshfields’ London office. She was educated at Warwick University and qualified as a solicitor in England and in Hong Kong in 1991.  Her role involves leading a team of knowledge lawyers around the Freshfields network that are focused on delivering training and know how internationally as well as on a jurisdiction specific basis.  She also develops training and knowledge products for clients on a international basis.  Her main areas of focus are financial institutions disputes, international regulatory investigations and white collar matters but she also has broader commercial dispute resolution experience.  She has written on a wide range of investigations related topics and commercial litigation topics and is also a contributor to financial services investigations and enforcement (published by Bloomsbury), the UK chapter of Corporate internal investigations (published by OUP) and the chapter on Insurance Litigation in Insurance Disputes (published by LLP).

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April is an experienced knowledge and information management leader with a background in library science, law and innovation.  Before moving in to the field of knowledge management and legal technology, April worked in private practice for several years specialising in public law litigation and administrative law. April has since led knowledge functions in firms internationally and is currently working with Norton Rose Fulbright, leading the design and implementation of data management strategies across the firm, with a focus on supporting a program of transformation and the global practice’s continued growth as an information-led organisation.

Catherine is Global Head of Knowledge at Mourant Ozannes and is based in our Jersey office in the Channel Islands. Catherine brings a wide ranging experience in knowledge management, KM systems; records management, business improvement, learning and development, and library and information services, and has presented on these topics at a number of KM industry conferences. Previously at Irwin Mitchell LLP as Head of Knowledge, Catherine has been involved in building and providing knowledge related solutions for clients and legal teams. She has also led a number of award winning teams and projects. Prior to joining Irwin Mitchell LLP, Catherine worked in the City of London at Norton Rose LLP and at the Honourable Society of Inner Temple.

Tricia has worked in higher education for the past 18 years, firstly as a lecturer and then through a variety of management, business development and leadership roles at the University of Law. She joined BPP Law School in 2013 and currently has overall responsibility for their highly-regarded legal apprenticeship programmes. She is part of the senior leadership team developing new training programmes for future lawyers in response both to changes in regulation and in the requirements of the legal sector.

Alison is Head of Knowledge for Eversheds Sutherland and her role includes managing the Knowledge Team (which is responsible for legal and business research, subscription resources and hardcopy library collections, supporting Insite, our internal Knowledge Management system and current awareness strategy), co-ordinating knowledge and training services for clients and developing and delivering the firm’s global technical training programme.

Prior to moving into a central knowledge management role, Alison spent a decade as a professional support lawyer supporting the finance team and has particular expertise in banking law where she was responsible for developing and maintaining precedents, co-ordinating, writing and delivering technical training, collating know-how and keeping the team up to date with legal and technical developments. She worked closely with PSLs across CCPG and firmwide in identifying and implementing projects for the benefit of all legal advisers including document automation, process improvement and initiatives such as the online transaction bible storage system and electronic signatures.

Before joining Eversheds as a banking PSL in 2007, Alison was a solicitor in the banking team at Wragge & Co. Prior to that she spent several years in the banking team of Clifford Chance’s Singapore office where she specialised in international project finance. Alison trained and qualified at Wilde Sapte (now Dentons).

Anthony is responsible for the development of our legal research support, library and online current awareness services, and manages Matrix’s Legal Support Service. He joined Matrix in 2005 and was previously a technical writer on Halsbury’s Statutes of England and Wales. Before that, he worked as editor of the Revised Laws of the Falkland Islands and assistant to the Islands’ Law Revision Commissioner.

Emily has 20 years’ experience of growing and scaling up technology-led businesses. First as a management consultant, and then with Betfair, BT and Equifax, she built teams to drive acquisition strategy and then delivered the integration, including the development and launch of new products. This gave her first-hand experience of the significant risks and opportunities that are often missed during due diligence processes, showing a clear need for AI to assist both in-house teams and law firms. In 2016 she became CEO of Luminance, the leading artificial intelligence platform for the legal industry. Luminance is founded on the latest breakthroughs in machine learning technologies at the University of Cambridge.

Alicia Hardy is Director of Professional Support and Counsel at White & Case responsible for leading the Professional Support function worldwide in developing and implementing global, local and practice-specific knowledge management strategies and initiatives.

Alicia has over twenty years of experience in law, including as a Corporate transactional lawyer and, for the last fourteen years, in various Knowledge, Professional Support and Training roles.

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Christopher Howard is a qualified solicitor, Senior Lecturer, and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.  He joined City firm Trowers & Hamlins in 2001, qualifying as an Associate Solicitor in the Projects & Construction team.  He joined BPP University in 2006 working as a Senior Lecturer until 2014 when he joined the Centre of Construction Law & Dispute Resolution at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London.  In April 2017 he became the Law School’s first Director of Professional Legal Education, responsible for developing the School’s approach to this area of learning.

June 2016 – present

I moved to the Solicitor’s Office and Legal Services for HMRC to take up the post of Head of Knowledge Management.  I am responsible for introducing and maintaining a new structure for KM across the office in London and the co-located offices.

2007 – June 2016

Head of KM for the Litigation and Employment Teams of the Government Legal Department.  I set up a structure for KM, implemented a new document management system and introduced benchmarking creating a successful, sustainable KM system on very little money and no PSL’s.

1990 – 2016

Government Lawyer for DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs).

I was a Litigator for over 10 years, dealing with a wide range of public and private litigation relating to the policy work of Defra. I spent over two years as an Advisory lawyer advising on legal and policy matters and drafting secondary legislation.

Pre 1990 –Commercial Lawyer in private practice.

Catherine is a Knowledge Manager at Eversheds Sutherland. She has worked there since 2005. Catherine has responsibility for the Content & Systems team within the wider Knowledge Management team. Her team are responsible for helping to maintain and support the firms Intranet, the internal Knowledge Management system and the current awareness system and strategy. Catherine also works with the Head of Knowledge to deliver knowledge support for the firm’s clients.

Catherine specialises in Knowledge Management and Information Management. She has experience in delivering global projects across legal and operational teams. Catherine has worked with PSL’s and IT teams to launch the firm’s global enterprise Search engine, migrate legal know-how on to a new KM system, implemented several upgrades and rebrands of the firms SharePoint intranet and developed a transactional bibles storage solution. She has completed three current awareness reviews. Catherine is currently working on several knowledge projects, including client horizon scanning tools, reviewing the firms current awareness provision and SharePoint online.

Catherine has a BA (Hons) in Library and Information Management. She is also Prince II practitioner. Prior to her Knowledge Manager role, Catherine was a Senior Information Officer managing the Information Services team in the Manchester office, undertaking legal and business research, setting up current awareness alerts, online resource training and supporting regional collection management. Before joining Eversheds Catherine was a Senior Information Officer at Norton Rose (1998-2005) and an Information Officer at Macfarlanes (1997-98) in London.

Kathy Jacob is Head of Knowledge and Information Services for the Financial Ombudsman Service. Set up by Parliament, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the UK’s official expert in sorting out problems with financial services – answering over 1.6 million consumer enquiries and resolving over 400,000 cases a year.

Kathy is responsible for leading the central knowledge function, whose remit covers knowledge advisory services, casework support tools, research, resources management and records management. She is currently developing and implementing  the knowledge strategy and delivering  knowledge content and technology projects. Prior to joining the Ombudsman in 2015, Kathy has held KM and information roles in variety of sectors including  legal, financial services and media.

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Nancy Jones has worked as a PSL for over 15 years in a number of private practice firms and for the last five years  as sole in-house PSL at Sky UK Ltd supporting their team of over 110 in-house lawyers. Nancy started her career at Allen & Overy and practiced for six years in corporate finance and capital markets before moving to work in-house as sole counsel in a large dairy manufacturing company.  As a PSL at Sky Nancy  has a varied work load, including traditional know-how  tasks such as organising technical and skills training and creating, managing and sourcing legal resources. Nancy is a member of all the central committees within the team including Legal’s  Operations and Innovation Steering Group where she is the work stream lead on KM.  Over the last year this group has been researching, meeting with potential providers and, where appropriate, trialling new forms of technology, including work management , contract automation software and e-billing tools.  In addition, Nancy is  responsible for the team’s  SRA regulatory compliance and for the work experience program run by  Sky’s legal team.

Dan worked at Dechert LLP before moving in-house to Network Rail in 2007. In 2014 he was selected as one of Legal Business Magazine’s In-House Lawyer Rising Stars and in October 2016, Dan became General Counsel for the Routes Division at Network Rail. The Routes are the operational heart of the railway and are divided in to eight business units along geographical lines. Dan and his team work as partners with the Routes to proactively support the operations, maintenance and enhancement of the British rail infrastructure.

Earlier this year Dan led a cross-functional project team in the re-design and upgrade of the legal team’s KM system which was successfully launched in April. He has first-hand experience of the complexities involved in developing from scratch a KM system which is fit for purpose as well as the cultural challenges associated with embedding the change to working practice in a well-established legal team.

Jim Leason, VP Market Development & Strategy, Thomson Reuters

Jim is responsible for the Market Development and Strategy function of the Thomson Reuters Legal business in UK & Ireland, primarily responsible for driving the growth agenda for the business. He is also responsible for managing the Court Management Solutions business in the UK, which provides the CE-File solution for the HMCTS Business & Property Courts in London.

Jim joined Thomson Reuters in 2006 as a member of the Legal department after a career in the City at Stephenson Harwood and Kemp Little. Before joining the business in a number of operational and general management roles, he held several legal roles in the business, including as General Counsel of the Thomson Reuters Risk business.

Judy Mackenzie Stuart is BLP’s global Knowledge Strategy Director, responsible for defining and implementing all aspects of the firm’s global knowledge and information strategy including creation, capture and dissemination of knowledge and information, and leveraging new KM and information management technologies for the benefit of clients and firm.  She is also responsible for BLP’s Streamline team, focusing on legal process improvement, Lean Six Sigma projects and legal project management.

Prior to joining BLP in 2016, Judy was Chief Knowledge Officer of Shearman & Sterling LLP, and has over 25 years’ experience of working in international law firms.  She trained and practised as an EU and competition lawyer at Linklaters before moving to Clifford Chance in a business management role. At Shearman & Sterling she held senior business services roles in practice management and risk/compliance prior to focusing exclusively on knowledge and information management from 2011.

Jessica Magnusson is the Global Head of Legal Knowledge at HSBC, which has circa 900 lawyers in over 40 countries. In the last 3 years, she has set up a new Knowledge Management programme and team in the Legal Function, and delivered new know-how and document management systems, a legal technical training programme, and initiatives that facilitate knowledge-sharing and lessons learned.  Prior to HSBC, she spent 3 years at Osborne Clarke introducing a new legal technical programme (Q3D). The programme was a great example of KM Lawyers, HR and BPP University working together to ensure legal technical excellence and it won the Excellence in Training award in 2014. Before OC, Jessica worked at Baker & McKenzie for 9 years where she headed up Knowledge Management Department, oversaw the research and information services, offshored know-how processes, introduced records management and e-filing policies, and developed a PSL career framework.

Rob has 25+ years experience working in businesses that specialise in developing and delivering software solutions for large in-house legal teams, law firms and government departments. His roles have included software development, professional services, sales and product management.

In 2001 he  was a founding Director of Solcara Ltd, a UK based software business that specialised in search and knowledge management solutions for law firms and in-house legal teams. Following the acquisition of the Solcara business in 2011 Rob joined Thomson Reuters  where he now heads up product management for all legal software products in the UK & Ireland. Rob is currently working in areas that include: Document Automation and Drafting, KM, Search, Analytics, eBilling and Matter Management.

Rob is also interested in how emerging technologies such as Blockchain will impact business and he is currently participating in a Blockchain Strategy programme led by the SAID Business School in Oxford.

Alison McBurney is a Senior Learning Manager at Linklaters. She has a first class honours Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Psychology, which she puts into practice through consultation, design, delivery and evaluation of learning events on an extensive range of business skills topics. These include effective communication, collaboration, influencing, personal productivity, team leadership and change management. Alison has delivered a range of learning events from short masterclasses to offsites, away days and development centres.

Alison has a hunger for innovation and creativity, having been instrumental as the Learning & Development lead on Linklaters ‘Coding for Lawyers’ programme that gave attendees a flavour of the possibilities of LegalTech, also helping Linklaters gain ‘commended status’ at the FT Innovative Lawyer Awards – Europe, in October 2017.

Alison is consistently at the forefront of change initiatives at Linklaters, where she is able to put her skills in learning & development, occupational psychology, HR, performance management, and commercial skills to best effect. Her final BSc Psychology paper was on the subject of workplace creativity: a survey exploring personality and situational factors as future predictors of creative performance.

James Pilgrim is Knowledge Systems Manager at Linklaters LLP. Since joining the firm in 2006, James’ responsibilities have grown to cover multiple global systems including the firm’s central database of deal and credentials information, on-going development of its federated legal knowledge search solution, and management of a distributed team that supports content creation and quality across these systems. James is currently leading the firm’s programme of K&L initiatives connected to use of artificial intelligence.

Joseph is an innovator and early adopter of all things computer related.  His primary bent is around the future of technology. He also focuses and speaks on several fields including Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Robotics (drone technology).

Joseph founded wapUcom, LLP, consulting with companies in web and wireless development.  As a side project DC WiFi was created to help create a web of open wireless WiFi access points across cities and educate people about wireless security.

Currently he is with Thomson Reuters Legal managing a team of Technical Client Managers for both the Large Law and Government divisions.  Joseph serves the top law firms in the world consulting on legal trends and customizing Thomson Reuters legal technology solutions for enhanced workflows.  He graduated from Providence College with a BA in Economics and Sociology and holds a Masters in eCommerce and MBA from the University of Maryland, University College.

You can connect with Joseph at JoeTechnologist.com or JosephRaczynski.com or @joerazz

Rebecca Rogers joined HSBC in August 2015 as the Global Legal Knowledge and Training Lawyer. Her role has global reach and oversight over learning and knowledge needs for HSBC lawyers. She is also leading a project to deploy a Legislative Tracking tool to the function globally. Prior to HSBC she spent 5 years as a Professional Support Lawyer covering Financial Services and Financial Regulation at law firm Addleshaw Goddard. After being called to the Bar she started her career at Morgan Stanley in Equity Sales and Trading Compliance and went on to do varied roles over the next 10 years in London and Asia.

Adam Sanitt is Head of Disputes Knowledge for Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. He specialises in banking and finance disputes, with a particular focus on structured finance and complex cross-border litigation. He edits the Banking and finance disputes review, writes for that and other publications and co-ordinates the firm’s core legal training.

Adam developed the Court Intelligence Database, which won the Legal Week Knowledge Management Innovation Award in 2016. He is also a member of the firm’s FinTech practice, working on blockchain and artificial intelligence solutions.

Having worked with law firms for 27 years, Kate has a range of experience including the journey through various mergers, outsourcing both as a customer and a provider, working with global teams and knowledge sharing across jurisdictions.  After many years with CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP as the Head of Knowledge Management, Kate has taken up a new role with Collas Crill in Guernsey as Group Head of Knowledge Management.

During her career Kate has implemented numerous knowledge and collaboration systems, best practice processes and initiatives working with both lawyers and clients. She has considerable experience assisting the legal teams within corporate clients with knowledge and information services, including knowledge audits, helping to create a knowledge strategy, developing knowledge systems, improving intranets and developing taxonomy for the business.

Collas Crill is an offshore law firm with offices in BVI, Cayman, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Jersey, London and Singapore.  With more than 30 partners and directors and over 60 other lawyers and legal professionals, Collas Crill delivers a comprehensive range of legal services to clients locally and around the globe. The firm develops strong relationships that generate confidence and trust with all clients. Our lawyers always seek to give clients the full range of options to make the right decisions, and will give a practical view on how to proceed to achieve the best outcome.

Collas Crill Group also includes a Guernsey trust administration and corporate management firm, Collas Crill Trust, a unique intellectual property management company, Collas Crill IP Management Limited and a licensed company management business Collas Crill Corporate Serviced Ltd.

Harriet Thrusfield is part of the Learning and Development team at Linklaters. CIPD accredited, she has an MSc in Human Resource Management, the degree which paved the way for her passion for L&D.

Harriet’s key areas of interest include differing cultural working styles and how they contribute to creating dynamic and responsive working environments. She was first exposed to this area of L&D during her dissertation, which looked at working relationships between locals and expatriates in professional service firms in Singapore. Another area of interest is in helping individuals find autonomy within their role at a junior level. She has a natural flare for helping others build their self-efficacy to a state where they can bring confidence, innovation and tenacity to their career development.

Joining the firm in the summer of 2017, she helps coordinate the running of several Junior Lawyer learning curricula, which teach associates the fundamentals for developing business critical skills. This role allows Harriet to channel her passion for helping young professionals to strive for brilliance, while equipping them with the essential skills to succeed in the ever-changing competitive global landscape.

Adam is a Knowledge Development Lawyer in BLP’s Employment group. His role is to help the group work smarter, by providing expert technical knowledge and thought leadership, and by developing the group’s knowledge sharing culture.

Adam has a strong client-facing focus, promoting the expertise of the Employment group to existing and potential clients. This includes giving client training and providing value added services. He has extensive experience in contentious and non-contentious employment law issues. Particular areas of legal focus at present include GDPR and gender pay gap reporting.

Ruth Ward is one of the most respected voices in law firm KM, having worked at the cutting edge of KM for Allen & Overy and its clients for over 15 years.

Ruth initially qualified as a banking lawyer in 1992 and worked in private practice before moving into the KM area in 2000. Since then, she has led a wide range of KM projects for A&O and its clients globally, and is particularly respected for her work on online knowledge sharing and collaboration. As A&O’s Head of Knowledge and Collaboration Technologies, Ruth is responsible for leading and promoting the understanding and adoption of knowledge, drafting and other legal technologies.

Outside the firm, Ruth plays an active role in legal, KM and business networks. She regularly contributes to conferences and publications and chaired KM Legal in London in 2010, 2011 and 2014. Ruth is a founder member of the KM advisory group of the Society for Computers and Law.

Twitter: @ruthwardao

As Director of Knowledge, Learning & Development at Mills & Reeve I am responsible for finding, developing and promoting ways in which people in the firm can access knowledge, develop skills and improve ways of working.  The department brings together the firm’s professional support lawyers, learning & development, library and information services and knowledge services with a common focus on performance improvement.

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Karen Gray is Information & Research Services Manager at Gowling WLG. As part of the firm’s Digital Information and Legal Systematics team, Karen is involved in driving the firm’s knowledge management and information resources strategy as well as managing the information and library services team. Karen has worked in the legal information environment since 1988 and is a Chartered member of CILIP and a CILIP mentor.

Gowling WLG is an international law firm created by the combination of Gowlings, a leading Canadian law firm, and Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co (WLG), a leading UK-based international law firm.

With more than 1,400 legal professionals in 18 cities across the UK, Canada, Continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia, Gowling WLG provides clients with top-tier legal advice at home and abroad in a range of areas – from complex cross-border transactions and intellectual property matters to high-stakes litigation and disputes.