The New Litigation Playbook: Winning in the Age of AI

Christina studied Jurisprudence at Oxford and qualified as a solicitor in 1991.

Christina Blacklaws is a former President of the Law Society of England and Wales, the representative body of over 200,000 solicitors.

She is an innovator in the legal field, having developed and managed one of the first ‘virtual’ law firms and set up the UK’s very first Alternative Business Structure with the Cooperative Group. She was also one of the first Directors of Innovation at a top UK firm.

She now runs her own consultancy business providing strategic advice particularly in the areas of transformational change, technological developments and diversity and inclusion.

Christina is a non-executive director for 3 large law firms and for a lawtech business specialising in resource management and provides bespoke advice to many more.

Christina is the Head of Faculty of the Legal Technology and Innovation Institute.

She holds a range of public appointments including chairing two UK Government bodies in lawtech- The LawTech UK Panel and Innovate UK’s Next Generation Services Advisory Group. She is a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Legal Support Advisory Group.

Christina is appointed to the Queens Counsel Selection Panel.

Passionate about diversity and inclusion, Christina is the former representative for the Women Lawyers Division on the Law Society of England and Wales Council and a current active member of Thomson Reuters Women in Leadership in Law Advisory Board. She also sits on the editorial board of Women Lawyers.
As President, she spearheaded the largest ever global research on women in law involving thousands of lawyers over 20 countries and resulting in three reports and a UK government backed Pledge.

Christina is the UK representative on the International Bar Association Council and the UK President of the World Jurist Association.

Christina speaks internationally on a wide range of business, legal and ethical topics and is a multi-award winning (for innovation and diversity and inclusion) published author, lecturer and frequent media commentator.

Joanna Sidhu is Director of Legal Architecture, Clio. She has over 13 years’ experience working at the intersection of law and technology. She began her career as a dispute resolution lawyer at Ashurst, where she practiced for seven years including an in-house secondment to Goldman Sachs. She later moved into legal technology, holding senior roles where she led go-to-market strategy and partnerships. 

Sidhant is an Innovation Manager at Norton Rose Fulbright, where he leads innovation for the corporate practice across EMEA & APAC, with a focus on developing and deploying AI-driven legal workflows. His work helps teams improve efficiency, enhance decision-making, and deliver high-quality outcomes for clients.

He has previously worked at August, a legal AI startup and as a member of the AI & Innovation team at White & Case LLP. His work spans product strategy, client engagement, and translating real legal pain points into practical, scalable technology. He also served at the ICC Court of Arbitration as a Tribunal Secretary working on construction and mining disputes and has litigated in India for three years.

Neil Donovan advises on the full range of financial crime risks faced by corporates including bribery and corruption, money laundering, tax evasion, fraud, financial sanctions, and market abuse.

Neil has acted on a number of high-profile domestic and cross-border criminal and regulatory investigations and enforcement actions. He also regularly advises Boards and senior executives on compliance issues outside of the enforcement context – including in relation to internal investigations, corporate compliance programmes, financial crime risks in M&A transactions, and ESG risks in supply chains.

Neil’s practice covers all sectors including financial services, energy and infrastructure, technology, telecommunications, private capital, transportation, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and consumer goods. He has practiced as an investigations lawyer in London, Hong Kong, and New York, and has experience of dealing with prosecutors, regulators, and government authorities all over the world.

Neil’s experience includes secondments to global financial institutions and to the Serious Fraud Office where he acted as the Principal Investigative Lawyer on a major, cross-border investigation into alleged bribery and corruption. Neil therefore has the unique experience of investigating suspected corporate criminality from both the prosecutorial and defense sides of the table.