What does AI look like in Legal

John O’Donoghue is the Global Director of Legal Operations at Ashurst Advance, where he leads a team dedicated to driving excellence, efficiency, and innovation in legal operations worldwide. With over 25 years of experience in the legal industry, John has held significant roles at Herbert Smith Freehills as Head of Legal Operations, and at Reed Smith LLP where he co-built the Client Value function for EMEA. He is also the founder of TheLOPSidedPodcast.com, a podcast for Legal Operations Professionals globally. John is known for his expertise in building and leading initiatives in strategic pricing, legal project management, data, technology, litigation funding, risk insurance, and generative AI. His commitment to supporting internal stakeholders and clients to achieve better business outcomes is well-recognised globally. John’s extensive experience and leadership in legal operations make him a distinguished professional in the field.

Philip is the co-founder and CEO of Garfield AI (www.garfield.law). Garfield AI specialises in helping businesses recover their small debts of up to £10k through the English and Welsh County Courts. It is the first law firm in the world to be authorised and regulated to provide legal services via an AI based solution, and the first AI solution that can conduct litigation.

Philip is a solicitor and a solicitor advocate. On qualification, he joined Baker & McKenzie (www.bakermckenzie.com) and spent eight years primarily in B&M’s London (and also Hong Kong) offices, specialising in complex litigation and arbitration. In 2009 he co-founded London law firm Cooke, Young & Keidan LLP (www.cyklaw.com), a “boutique” law firm that specialises in complex commercial dispute resolution. He retired from practice in 2022 and in 2023 with physicist Daniel Long he co-founded Garfield 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.

Dave Bloor, VWV’s Director of Digital, Data, and Technology, brings 24 years of expertise in digital transformation and operational excellence, having driven results across various industries. His impressive career includes impactful roles at Ford, Screwfix, Clarks and Foot Anstey LLP. Dave’s appointment aligns with VWV’s vision for growth and innovation, aiming to enhance operational capabilities and strategic direction. He is particularly inspired by VWV’s commitment to leveraging technology to revolutionise the delivery of legal services. With a proven track record, Dave is set to be a pivotal asset in advancing the firm’s transformation and industry leadership goals.

Ed joined Salesforce in August 2022 from Gartner, the research and advisory company. He was an analyst there for over 27 years. His research focus was on CRM and Customer Experience Management. He wrote over 660 research papers and delivered over 200 different presentations. He answered inquiry questions on the phone or video calls from over 500 clients per year and met another 200 face to face. He spent his time helping IT, customer experience, customer service, sales, analytics and marketing leaders trying to define a vision, create a strategy, select technology and solve problems with implementations.