In episode no. 90, my guest is Bridgette Toy-Cronin, Director, Civil Justice Centre,
Co-Director, Otago Centre for Law and Society and Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Otago. We cover:

• The access to justice issues in Aotearoa New Zealand;
• Key aims of the ‘Wayfinding for civil justice’ project;
• How the project commenced at the start of the pandemic with a hui;
• The other jurisdictions the working group looked to for guidance on this project;
• How the project is doing two related but different things at the same time;
• Factors peculiar to Aotearoa New Zealand that are facilitating the entire process;
• The diversity of the working group, and which organisations have made submissions to the consultation process;
• Early findings about what will assist going forward;
• Funding sources for this stakeholder-led strategy, and for the recommendations;
• Gaps that have been identified through this work;
• Different approaches to legal innovation in Aotearoa New Zealand;
• The intersection of customary Māori law and the mainstream justice system;
• How Māori principles are influencing procedure including process in the District Court, mediation and dispute resolution;
• How ‘innovation’ and ‘technology’ are often conflated; and
• Bridgette’s definition of legal innovation.

Proudly sponsored by Neota!

Links:

• Wayfinding for Civil Justice
• Neota Logic Solution Gallery
• Neota Logic
• Churchill Trust Project

Andrea Perry-Petersen – LinkedIn - Twitter @winkiepp – andreaperrypetersen.com.au

Twitter - @ReimaginingJ

Facebook – Reimagining Justice group

In episode no. 89 my guest is Fiona Kirkman, CEO and co-founder of FamilyProperty. We cover:

• The functionality of expert system FamilyProperty that Fiona and her co-founder (husband!) Tim developed;
• The journey of FamilyProperty from an idea to MVP, to market, to acquisition;
• The integration of FamilyProperty with global practice management software, Smokeball bringing the ‘business of law’ together with effective delivery of legal advice;
• How technology is always changing and the need for ongoing maintenance (especially when court forms change!);
• The importance of beta testing and accurate data mapping;
• Benefits of this use of technology for lawyers and clients;
• What it is about the people that adopt these new methodologies and the organisations in which they work, including their size and what that means for change management;
• The impact of the pandemic on the legal industry;
• Where you fit on ‘the innovative scale’;
• The importance of understanding users’ pain points and how technology can assist with that, as well as empower the professionals to do more of the ‘human work’;
• Plans for scaling and expansion of FamilyProperty in the USA;
• Unexpected uses of the financial aspects of FamilyProperty and a model that Legal Aid is piloting;
• Constraints that Fiona and Tim have come up against recently;
• The importance of confidentiality and cybersecurity;
• Fiona’s 3 passions and how they relate to her numerous roles;
• What lawyers will need to be effective mediators in the future; 
• What is the ‘resolution revolution’?; 
• The importance of collaborative practice and multidisciplinary input; 
• When Fiona became comfortable with being labelled an ‘innovator’; 
• What she is most proud of along the journey of both joys and challenges;
• How technology is an enabler of access to justice; and
• Fiona’s definition of legal innovation.

Proudly sponsored by Neota Logic!

Links:

• Family Property
• Smokeball
• Neota Logic Solution Gallery
• Neota Logic
• Churchill Trust Project
• Survey
• Future Ready Regional and Rural Legal Conference

Andrea Perry-Petersen – LinkedIn - Twitter @winkiepp – andreaperrypetersen.com.au

Twitter - @ReimaginingJ

Facebook – Reimagining Justice group

In episode no. 88, my guest is Nicolas Patrick, Partner, Head of Responsible Business, DLA Piper. We cover:

• Nic’s views on the potential of technology;
• The reason for DLA Piper holding a forum on technology and access to justice in 2019;
• The problem with digitising existing processes;
• Why an international law firm without family law expertise, supports a Sydney based non-profit family law firm;
• The way Wallumatta Legal operates and how it runs an efficient practice;
• How pro bono provides insight into areas of unmet legal need;
  The different contributions that Macquarie University and DLA Piper bring to Wallumatta Legal;
• What technology is used for at Wallumatta Legal and the software it relies upon;
• Why Nic isn’t concerned about the digital divide in the context of
• Wallumatta Legal given all its services are delivered online;
• How Wallumatta Legal will improve access to justice across the sector;
• Why they recruit a ‘different kind of lawyer’ at Wallumatta Legal;
• The biggest challenge in the first six months of the firm’s operations;
• Plans for scaling and expansion of this model into other jurisdictions and areas of law;
• Why Nic thinks that there aren’t more low bono or alternative models servicing the needs of people at the lower end of the legal market;
• The potential for regulatory reform to facilitate technology use and other models to improve justice outcomes for marginalised people;
• The opportunity for firms to collaborate and establish a network of low bono and not-for-profit law firms; and
• Nic’s definition of legal innovation.

Proudly sponsored by Neota Logic!

Links:

• Wallumatta Legal
• Neota Logic Solution Gallery
• Neota Logic
• Churchill Trust Project
• Survey
• Future Ready Regional and Rural Legal Conference

Andrea Perry-Petersen – LinkedIn - Twitter @winkiepp – andreaperrypetersen.com.au

Twitter - @ReimaginingJ

Facebook – Reimagining Justice group