Solving Pressing Legal Industry Problems With Innovation
Each LWOW team is assigned a pressing problem in the legal industry related to a business of law challenge or social justice issue. In LWOW Sprint, each Topic challenge is selected by the Team’s sponsor and they are wide ranging including issues related to operations, process, suppressing demand, marketing, data, compliance, ethics, communication, quality of legal advice, legal service delivery, corporate social responsibility, ESG, and access to justice. Teams are tasked with exploring the topic challenge, fine-tuning the problem for a discrete audience, and, finally, developing a solution to the problem identified. Topic challenges, by year, are detailed below.
2024 Topic Challenges: LWOW Sprint
Baker McKenzie/UBS: Wading through Treacle: How can we craft a streamlined and client-focused review process for technology projects for our internal clients?
Dentons 1/Disney: Filling the Leadership Gap: How can we incentivize and empower in-house leaders to further develop their leadership style so that they foster a common culture of community, growth, and engagement that aligns with the Disney spirit and Disney LGA’s cultural pillars?
Dentons 2/DXC: Digitizing Dispute Detection: How might we better identify and classify commercial disputes at their inception so that our small team can add value more efficiently and effectively to prevent financial risks and improve customer loyalty at the same time?
Dentons 3/Disney: Creating Community Across the Globe: How can we help international colleagues in an in-house legal department feel included and connected to Disney’s LGA department in order to positively contribute to Disney LGA’s culture transformation?
DLA Piper/NatWest: How to Train Your Dragon: How do law firms and in-house lawyers learn to use AI tools effectively to deliver client centricity?
EY 1/Hg (equity firm): Cruise Control: How can legal functions empower their business partners to become more self-sufficient (in areas where legal risk is minimal for the company)?
EY 2/Hg (equity firm): Legal Eagles: How can Hg and its portfolio companies help each other scale their legal functions most efficiently to meet the needs of rapidly growing businesses?
HSBC: Have it Your Way at HSBC: How can we provide our SME customers easy-to-understand answers to questions about the terms of their HSBC products when, and how, they want them?
iManage: Moving Fast and Breaking Things: How can professional services organisations, such as law firms, accounting firms and technology companies, both leverage and be a shining example of best practice in their use of AI tools to help and advise clients?
Lloyds Banking Group: Arising Horizon: How can we efficiently horizon scan to provide more targeted, actionable and risk-appropriate regulatory information for the inhouse legal team and business at large?
Perkins Coie/Microsoft: Back to the Future: How will law firms train their associates in a world where tasks that junior attorneys used to carry out (e.g., first drafts), which were a key part of their training and learning path as a lawyer (learning by doing), will now be done by AI tools?
Pinsent Masons/Haleon: Sights on Rights: How can we ensure all the players in our supply chain around the globe protect/safeguard human rights at all stages of the supply chain, from sourcing raw materials to manufacturing and distribution?
TLT/NatWest: Open (to) AI: How can we help lawyers embrace experimentation with GenAI?
White & Case/Amazon: Compliance Alliance: How can White & Case best assist in-house legal teams to manage compliance with local, legal requirements everywhere?
White & Case/Meta: Small Team Big Dreams: How can a small legal ops team with limited resources efficiently and effectively support a large and diverse group of internal clients?
2023 Topic Challenges: LWOW Sprint
CMS: Intelligent Intel: How might our large, multi-office Real Estate Practice Group improve knowledge sharing about client deals to enhance lawyers’ performance and client satisfaction?
Dentons 1/NatWest: If the Ritz Provided Legal Services: How can the in-house technology legal team at NatWest provide a best-in-class customer experience to their internal stakeholders?
Dentons 2/Whirlpool: Sort and Sieve for Success: How can we combine legal, technical, and business data to effectively and efficiently sort, sieve and manage the high volume of consumer claims to strengthen trust between Whirlpool and its consumers?
DLA Piper 1/Lloyds Banking Group: Legal Pain to Business Gain: How can finance professionals engage with the ESG landscape to drive positive social change and opportunities for business gain at the same time?
DLA Piper 2/NatWest: To AFA and Beyond: How might we create alternative fee structures that transform the relationship between law firm and client beyond just the transactional?
HSBC: Hey, How Can I Help?: How can the legal department provide action oriented social responsibility opportunities to lawyers so that they can enhance the S in ESG at HSBC?
iManage 1: Icing Isolation: How can organisations upskill and engage its Gen Z employees in a post-pandemic, hybrid workplace?
iManage 2: Knowledge Work For Good: How can knowledge sharing transform not only organizations, but societies, communities, and the world?
KPMG: Rise & Shine: How can teams create a more inclusive and supportive culture so that people from diverse backgrounds can thrive?
Pinsent Masons (HSBC): Strategic AI: How can a legal team leverage OpenAI/ChatGPT to do more with less so it can focus on being a strategic partner to the business?
Simmons & Simmons 1/Haleon: Valuing the Invaluable: How can a legal function articulate and quantify their value to the business to be set for the future, and to inspire further investment in the function that will enable time, resource and opportunity to innovate?
Simmons & Simmons 2/UBS: Aye Aye AI: How might UBS lawyers implement AI based technologies to improve interactions with their internal business customers in a way that overcomes barriers related to tech, quality, and risk management?
Simmons & Simmons 3/Barclays: Excellent Excellence: How can the legal function provide consistent excellent service in how it identifies, communicates, and manages legal and regulatory obligations and risks for the business?
White & Case/Novartis: Automation & Big Data for Big Change: How can a multinational company utilize technology to ensure its legal functions are efficient, effective and accessible?
2022 Topic Challenges: LWOW Sprint
Dentons: Bridging the Gaps: How can we use external and internal data to map business legal needs, risks and opportunities to enhance efficiency, drive value and provide outstanding customer experience for the global organization?
iManage 1: From Dowdy to Chic on a Dime: How can we transform the work of legal departments so that it is more exciting, enticing, and rewarding without providing financial incentives?
iManage 2: Heading Off Hoarding: How do we prevent knowledge hoarding so that data and information can be collected, analyzed, and shared to enhance services and create value?
The LEGO Group: Win Win: How can we obtain consent to use consumer data for cross contextual marketing (tracking behavior and activity throughout the LEGO Group ecosystem) in a way that improves consumer experience, is compliant with regulations, yet engaging and mindful of the different ways in which our consumers learn information, so that everybody wins?
McGuireWoods: Accessing Sustainable Finance: How can Standard Chartered digitise its customers’ supply chain information to achieve transparency about their sustainability credentials and verify sustainable finance criteria?
Morae Global: Paving the Path Forward: How can GSK help refugee women and children more easily access health care relief (food, shelter, and consumer products) after they cross international borders?
Novartis: Open Sesame: How can we use an open legal approach to simplify the clinical trial creation, negotiation and approval process across multiple vendors, suppliers, and distributors to bring medical solutions to patients faster while still protecting stakeholders’ various interests?
Pinsent Masons: To Sustainability and Beyond: How can a legal team of a major consumer goods business accelerate the sustainability of their external service providers or suppliers?
Simmons & Simmons 1/UBS: Coordinator, Collaborator, Culture Creator: How might legal departments best adapt to and support agile, cross-border, and complex work in a fast-paced, digitalized world?
Simmons & Simmons 2/Goldman Sachs: More for Measure: When innovating to manage increasing workloads against a backdrop of risk appetite, increased cost, and globalization, how might we capture and articulate legal’s value add in the process?
Simmons & Simmons 3/Booking.com: From “Meh” to “Yeah!”: How can we engage and encourage our teams, our colleagues and ourselves to take advantage of opportunities for development, pursue positive connections, and embrace joy in a high-pressure, mid/post-pandemic hectic working world?
White & Case 1: Client Centric Collaboration: How can we enhance lawyers' technological skills so that they are better partners and collaborators with their clients?
White & Case 2: Twice as Nice: How can law firms improve knowledge sharing among trainee lawyers so that past successes, learnings, and insights further (or enhance) future trainees’ performance and training?
2021 Topic Challenges: LWOW Sprint-X
Best Care/Sabal: Somewhere Over the Rainbow: How might litigation funding help severely injured people get the home health care they need without having to give up the farm?
Eversheds Sutherland: Steering Clear of the Iceberg in Global Marine/Energy Deal-making: How can the global business community jointly overcome the costly, tumultuous, and often deal-breaking "battle of the forms" when negotiating cybersecurity and privacy contract provisions in cross-border contracting?
HSBC 1: "Follow Your Conscience": How can in-house legal teams ensure the ethical use of AI and Big Data?
HSBC 2: Knock Knock, Who's There?: How can in-house legal departments more efficiently manage the front door to legal so that the right work is triaged in the right way?
iManage 1: Law by Design: How might digital channels and design thinking be leveraged to improve access to existing legal advice for the people who need it the most?
iManage 2: Sharing is Caring: How might we establish a culture of knowledge sharing among legal professionals that mirror different generations' expectations of collaboration and technology?
LATAM: Personal Protection: How can the legal profession protect against domestic violence and abuse during the pandemic?
MOVELAW: Mental Floss: How can we destigmatize mental health issues in the legal profession?
Paul Hastings: Multidisciplinary Approach that Matters: How can law firms capture and share information about law firm matters with their internal multidisciplinary professional service providers so that they can add value that matters?
Pinsent Masons 1: Managing the Hide & Seek of a Virtual World: How can lawyers find opportunities to be better managers online?
Pinsent Masons 2: Breakfast of Champions: How might clients and law firms collaborate around their organization's common purpose so that people are energized and businesses thrive?
Spotify 1: Legal Eye in the Sky: How can Legal foresee new opportunities to drive revenue for Spotify?
Spotify 2: A Roadmap to Roads Less Travelled: How can Legal leverage learnings to operationalize, measure, and enhance efficient expansion into new geographical markets?
UnitedLex: Practicing What We Preach: How can Legal ensure that the right digital transformation tools are selected, adopted, assessed, and integrated in a way that drives value?
White & Case 1: Measuring for Success: How can law firms collaborate with clients to identify and maximize the value of their relationships with external legal and professional service advisors?
White & Case 2: Future Proofing: How might law firm leaders better leverage and maximize the diversity of our professionals to revolutionize our business?
2020 Topic Challenges: LWOW Xed
In 2020 LWOW Xed, all topics were sponsored by Jim Ferraro of the Ferraro Law Firm and focused on social justice issues.
Accessing Accessibility in the Innovation in Law: How can we make the law marketplace (including communities of change agents) more inclusive and more accessible to people with disabilities?
Duties to Donors: How can law-related non-profits track and share their use of donated funds to show donors’ tangible impact without stifling the non-profits’ ability to fund operations?
Innocent but Forever Guilty on Google: How can we help people who were charged with a crime and subsequently cleared or acquitted combat Google search results that continue to depict them as criminals?
Lessons Learned or Lessons Lost for Law School Graduates: How do we design effective, durable, and shared methods for recent law school graduates to learn from each other’s experiences, apply those lessons today and tomorrow, and not recreate the wheel?
Lonely Isle: How can we expand legal literacy for isolated communities within populated nations, such as the LGBTQ+ community?
Making Carbon Neutrality a Reality: How can a law firm develop processes to reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact?
Putting the Pro into ProBono: How can entities better prepare attorneys for ProBono assignments?
Seniors and Scams: How can machine learning or other technology be used to protect the elderly in the age of the machine?
Unpriming the E-Sports Pipeline: How can we ensure that e-sports are more inclusive and enable more diverse players?
2019 Topic Challenges: LWOW Original
Team A: Waste Not, Want Change: How can advances in technology further a reduction in food waste? (Sponsored by Accenture)
Team B: Organizing Chaos: How can distributed ledger technology facilitate advances in identification management in the foster care system? (Sponsored by Accenture)
Team C: Back to the Future: How can law firms best use past case outcome data for future initiatives? (Sponsored by Cozen O’Connor)
Team D: Justify Me: How can in-house really know that legal tech enhances their value while keeping business and the bank account in mind? (Sponsored by Eversheds Sutherland + Link Assets Services)
Team E: Rise of the Machines: How can the increasing use of drones be effectively regulated and how might technology be used to enforce regulation? (Sponsored by Elevate Services)
Team F: Tough Gig: How can technology be used to give gig workers a deeper understanding of their legal rights and responsibilities? (Sponsored by Legal Mosaic)
Team G: Redesigning the Playing Field: How might we create a hiring process for law firm candidates that takes into account a more meaningful slate of indicators of capability and fit, and does not rely inequitably on a candidate's academic pedigree and/or professional or social network? (Sponsored by White & Case)
Team H: Chains of Change: How can distributed ledger technology impact the way in which banks deal with their clients and how can it be used to improve the legal interactions between them? (Sponsored by HSBC)
Team I: Are You Feeling Me: How can law firms, in house departments and technology providers collaborate for better business outcomes? (Sponsored by iManage)
Team J: Far is a Figure of Speech: How can we provide broader, more efficient access to legal services in rural communities? (Sponsored by LegalZoom)
Team K: Fasten Your Seatbelt: How can airlines protect consumer data from cyberattacks and other data security breaches? (Sponsored by LATAM)
Team L: Anti-tech Tool: How might in-house legal teams shift current processes to bypass the need to purchase a contract management system? (Sponsored by Leah Cooper Consulting)
Team M: Tech for Good: How might advancements in tech and AI be used to empower immigrant families in the United States? (Sponsored by Microsoft)
Team N: Navigating Uncharted Waters: What role can payment providers (like Visa) play in collaborating with new entrants (like fintech startups) to navigate regulations and drive industry transformation? (Sponsored by Pinsent Masons)
Team O: Making Your Voice Count: What role might Spotify play in broadening access to podcast creation and dissemination? (Sponsored by Spotify)
Team P: AI Transparency and Accountability: How can AI-based decisions for commercial purposes (e.g., recruiting or targeted advertising) be more transparent and less biased? (Sponsored by Pinsent Masons)
2019 Topic Challenges: LWOW X
Save our Students, Protect our Schools: How can we best prevent gun violence in secondary schools?
Going Green: How can distributed ledger technology be used to protect the environment?
Helping Those Who Don’t Know They Need It: How can ProBonoNet reach audiences who are in need of our services and don’t recognize their needs fall under the umbrella of what ProBonoNet does?
Fake News and the Search for Truth: In the age of information accessibility, how can we prevent the spread of false facts so that justice is served?
Tough Gig: How can technology be used to give gig workers a deeper understanding of their legal rights and responsibilities?
Benevolence and Benefits: How can SMEs help their employees access the legal services they need in a way that avoids on- and off-the-clock waste and disruption?
Helping Heroes: How can technology increase veterans’ legal literacy?
Getting to Know You: How can we prevent cognitive bias from negatively impacting the law school admissions process?
2018 Topic Challenges: LWOW Original
A. Complying in the Sky: How might we use technology to manage regulatory compliance across the many territories in which we fly? (Sponsored by LATAM)
B. Whose Robot is it Anyway? What role can lawyers play in helping the public understand the entitlements of robots and their owners? (Sponsored by Legal Mosaic)
C. Cultivating Resilience: how might blockchain and decentralised networks be utilised to help close the insurance protection gap in emerging economies? (Sponsored by Clyde & Co)
D. Expect the best, plan for the worst, and prepare to be surprised: How can we improve lawyers' project management skills from planning to execution to outcomes? (Sponsored by Pinsent Masons)
E. Size Shouldn’t Matter: How can an in-house legal team be relevant to law firms and vendors regardless of spend? (Sponsored by Leah Cooper Consulting)
F. Calm After the Storm: How can we best facilitate legal aid after a natural disaster?
G. Make Good with What You’ve Got: How can existing resources be leveraged to provide quality legal information and services to refugees returning home after conflict? (Sponsored by LegalZoom)
H. Knowledge Management or Mismanagement: How can knowledge management be utilized to help legal functions? (Sponsored by HSBC)
I. Smooth Operator: How can we use technology to enhance our cultural competency and gain a competitive edge when operating across international markets? (Sponsored by Interlaw)
J. Friend or Foe: How can lawyers close the access, information, and relationship gap for Australia’s aboriginal juvenile offenders? (Sponsored by Janders Dean)
K. Decoding Diversity: How can blockchain be used to incentivize and enhance transparency of diversity within law firms in a way that comports with global privacy laws? (Sponsored by Holland & Knight)
L. No Dodo: Given the increasing use of technology and a tighter focus on costs, how should we develop the skills, judgment, and creativity of the next generation of lawyers? (Sponsored by Linklaters)
M. Redemption Song: How can technology help former prisoners forge a path from freedom to independence? (Sponsored by Microsoft)
N. Contractual Gold: How can AI be used to mine and leverage contract data to facilitate proactive compliance, legal risk monitoring, and to observe market trends in real time? (Sponsored by Pinsent Masons)
O. Steward of the Arts: What role can Spotify play in assisting unknown and emerging artists with the knowledge, tools, and legal services necessary for global success? (Sponsored by Spotify)
2018 Topic Challenges: LWOW X
Justice for One, Justice for All: How can we support self-represented litigants when they go it alone?
Guarding the Greatest Generation: How can technology protect aging populations from cybercrime?
Redemption Song: How can technology help former prisoners forge a path from freedom to independence?
Calm After the Storm: How can we best facilitate legal aid after a natural disaster?
2017 Topic Challenges: LWOW Original
The Role of In-house Counsel is Evolving Fast: How Can Lawyers in Law Firms use Technology to Keep Up? (Sponsored by Eversheds)
Mentor? Sponsor? Advisor? What role should law school faculty play in student development?
Blind Vision: How can law firms use technology to reduce bias in the lateral recruitment process? (Sponsored by DiversityLab)
Changing Climates, Shifting Needs: How can Alt. Legal leaders take a bigger role in access to justice? (Sponsored by Avvo)
Friend Rather Than Foe: How Can the Law Enable a Better Life for Migrants Held in Detention? (Sponsored by Janders Dean)
Weakest Link or Front Line Fighter: How can law firms lead cybersecurity services for clients?
Strategize This: How can external counsel help in-house counsel manage legal as a business?
Growing Pains: How does a legal department stay functional, flexible, and sustainable from startup to Fortune 500? (Sponsored by Spotify)
Cogito Ergo Sum: How Can Cognitive Technologies Transform the Way Financial Institutions Deal With the Impact of Regulatory Change on their Lending Documentation? (Sponsored by Pinsent Masons)
Client Confidentiality in the Digital Era: How can law firms strengthen their cybersecurity measures?
Legal Department 2020: How can in-house legal departments use AI to realize greater efficiencies? (Sponsored by Microsoft)
Lawyering beyond borders: How can global legal practices streamline multi jurisdictional working by leveraging virtual tech? (Sponsored by Interlaw)
Legal Efficacy, Consumer Demand, and Market Approach: How Can Contract Visualizations Turn From Concept Into Reality? (Sponsored by LegalZoom)
Defying Death by Disclaimer: How Can In-house Lawyers efficiently manage the Legal Risks of Consumer Marketing in a Digital, Customer Centric World? (Sponsored by BUPA)
Culture of Mergers, Merger of Cultures: How to Get the Right Mix when Law Firms Combine
Carrots and Sticks: What should be done when signatory countries and courts fail to uphold international obligations? (Sponsored by LATAM)
2017 Topic Challenges: LWOW X
Homeless Not Helpless: How Can we Create Legal Shelter for Those Without a Home?
Underage and Underrepresented: How Can We Protect Youth From Cyberbullying?
You’ve Arrived, Now What? How Can Lawyers Ease the Settlement Process for New Asylum Seekers?
Is it Really a Deal? Assessing the Ethics of Plea Bargaining
Friend Rather Than Foe: How can the law enable a better life for migrants held in detention? (Sponsored by Janders Dean)
2016 Topic Challenges: LWOW Original
Teach an Old Dog New Tricks: How can Technology Help Aging Populations Know Their Rights?
Microsoft’s HoloLens, Google Glasses, and Infinity AR: How Should Augmented Reality Change the Legal Marketplace?
How Can Law Keep the Sporting Industry Fair? You Be the Referee
Even Tradition Can Be Enhanced With Technology: How Can IT Improve Important Trial Processes?
Fight or Flight: Where Can/Should Lawyers Go after Biglaw?
Growing Pains: How Can Law Firm Leaders Manage and Leverage Today’s Multi-Generational Firm for the Future?
More Minorities at the Top: What Will It Take To Increase and Sustain Diversity in High-Level Legal Leadership Positions in Law? (Sponsored by Diversity Lab)
If Airlines Can Do It, Why Can’t Law Firms? How Can Law Firms Profitably Disaggregate Services Without Being Despised?
Catch 22?: Assessing the Ethics programs of M&A Targets, Partners and Suppliers Without Reference to a Specific Country’s Laws or Regulations (Sponsored by Lockheed Martin)
In a Big Data World, How Should Service Providers Strike a Balance Between Making Money and Responsibly Managing Users’ Data? (Sponsored by Microsoft)
Does Practice Make Perfect? How Do We Find an Objective Measure of Legal Quality? (Sponsored by LegalZoom)
In the Modern New Legal Education Landscape, How Can We Measure Success?
Cooking Up a Secret Sauce: The Law School Application and Admissions Process, Reimagined
How Can Lawyers Use Technology to Help Millions Around the World Live Longer, Healthier, Happier Lives? (Sponsored by Bupa)
Forget Me Not? Helping Today’s Youth Gain Protection From a Right to be Forgotten Tomorrow
What's the Recipe: How Can General Counsel Offices Measure Success Internally and Across the Organization? (Sponsored by UnitedLex)
Connecting Lawyers to Social Entrepreneurship: The Ultimate Two-For? Lawyers Give and Get
The Right to Rat: Protecting Whistleblowers from a Bad Rap
Click here to see team members by topic.
2016 Topic Challenges: LWOW X
Even Tradition Can Be Enhanced With Technology: How Can IT Improve Important Protected Trial Processes?
The Challenge of Apathy: How Can the International Mission to Prosecute Crimes Against Humanity Appeal to Today’s Youth?
She, He, We, and Who: Rethinking Access to Justice in a Non-Binary World
A New Kind Of Risk Management for Lawyers: Substance Abuse Prevention and Education for the Modern Legal Profession
Forces of Change: How can Technology Aid Information Management in the European Refugee Crisis?
Rethinking Nonprofits: New Models for Legal Aid for Vulnerable Client Populations
Lawyers as Leaders: How Can Lawyers be Empowered to Create Social Change?
Connecting Lawyers to Social Entrepreneurship: The Ultimate Two-For? Lawyers Give and Get
From Lass to Lawyer: How Can We Empower the Girls of Today To Be Tomorrow’s Female Law Leaders?
Getting Schooled: In Troubled Areas, How Can Law Help Enforce Women’s Right to Education?
The Right to Rat: Protecting Whistleblowers from a Bad Rap