VQ Forum 2016

Welcome to the 7th annual VQ Forum on 18 October 2016

VQ Forum brings together thought leaders and champions of change in the legal profession to discuss strategy and key developments in the legal market. This year's main theme is reinvention and disruptive innovation.

Internationally renowned speakers will explore the future of the legal market, the impact of technological advances and how to focus on innovation and business development to prepare for the potential disruption of the legal market.

Chief Legal Officers will share their views on in-house innovation versus law firm services and the need for both companies and law firms to adapt to the new digital legal future. Representatives from leading international law firms will discuss business development and share case studies on successful reinvention of the business, with inter alia new online services, to better meet client needs.

Learn how digital technology affects established industries. What challenges do established firms encounter when a mature, well consolidated industry is subjected to disruptive innovation? Based on his own research, Dr. Christian Sandström will describe disruptive patterns and associated problems and discuss the potential for a digital disruption in the legal sector.

Learn also about the new blockchain technology and how it will drive the development further. Gerard Neiditsch has been working for more than two decades in applying innovative technology and leading large-scale work practice changes as CIO at three major law firms and is currently a Research Associate at St. Gallen University in Switzerland researching the impact of new technologies on the professional services sector. He will address different perspectives on blockchain and digitalisation and why this technology will matter to legal service providers and their clients. Learn also about smart contracts and how the blockchain technology can support and change internal processes such as anti-money-laundering processes. Henrik Hjelte will then provide a practical perspective when sharing his experience from the ongoing project where The Swedish Land Registry will be using smart contracts and blockchain for the process of selling a house.

Max Hübner, General Counsel PGGM N.V, will share his experience how transformational change in providing legal services can be achieved. In the 2013 FT Innovative Lawyers Report he and his legal team at PGGM N.V. were ranked as most innovative in operational change in-house for overhauling the approach to external spend and the significant cost savings achieved through encouraging high performance from the team through smart management, cutting costs and making the legal department one of the most respected in the company.

Ylva Lindquist, Vice President & General Counsel, EMEIA, Xylem Inc, will speak about the use of technology to improve and streamline the in-house legal department. She will share her experience from Xylem's legal strategy work and how the in-house department has changed its way of working in practice by implementing systematized processes, prioritizing legal strategies in the context of business outcomes and using digital tools to support systematization and increase efficiency as well as cost effectiveness.

Håkan Broman, General Counsel and Executive Vice President, NCC Group, will share his view on in-house innovation versus law firm services and the importance of proactivity. He will take the client perspective on legal services and discuss issues such as lack of scalability and the need for both companies and law firms to adapt to the new digital legal future.

Rachel Manser, Global Head of Knowledge & Learning at Linklaters, will provide a case study in innovation and how to unleash the imagination of the lawyers to challenge the present and shape the future. She will share the story behind some of the firm's specific initiatives and reflections on the challenges of change in a global organization.

Annette Magnusson, Secretary General SCC, will speak about innovation in practice and share some of the ongoing initiatives by SCC, specifically addressing means to safeguard the delivery of efficient dispute resolution services on a complex global market.

Furthermore, the implications of the new technology and the potential of a disruption of the legal market will be discussed by inter alia Christian Sandström, Håkan Broman, Jonas Jeppsson, Chief Legal Officer at Widespace AB, Peter Danowsky, Partner, Danowsky & Partners and Paula Röttorp, Managing Partner, Hannes Snellman.

Zarina Virsholm, Partner and Co-founder of Sharp Recruitment, will share her insights on the need of consolidating and streamlining the recruitment process in law firms by using a systemized, digital method that facilitates control over talent drain from law firms and personnel costs at large.

Please find further speaker and program information under “Speakers” and “Program” to the right.

You can also find out more about last year's event here: VQ Forum 2015 Report »