shift(Hack) is our in-person hackathon in Central London, where you can show off and apply the knowledge you learnt with shift() to law firms and win amazing prizes 🏆
Keynote + Closing Speakers
Mike McGlinchey, Pinsent Masons
Mike leads the Consulting and Technology team at Pinsent Masons Vario working directly with clients helping them to understand how and when legal technology can be applied to solve challenges faced by legal and business teams. He has led successful implementations of innovative technology solutions for several major clients.
With an IT background Mike specialises in modelling and implementing process and technology improvements in support of our clients’ legal operations transformation projects.
Natalie Foster, Managing Director @ Foster Clay Law
Natalie leads a forward-thinking team of highly experienced solicitors across the UK. Natalie founded Foster Clay Law in the middle of the pandemic and saw a gap in the market for online and digitised approach to legal services. The firm has gone from strength to strength with an innovative outlook towards practice and delivery. With over 20 years in both the financial, consumer and legal market combined, Natalie not only supports operations and delivery of commercial legal advice with her own client base but drives the firm Foster Clay Law to grow in service using the most cutting-edge tech. Her passion is to modernise and digitise legal services without the sacrifice of personal relationships. Her self-generating work has inspired her to share this model with other lawyers who want to achieve success for their firm and for themselves with the infrastructure of a unique and modern organisation. Furthermore, Natalie is driving change in the property sector, working with key agencies to ensure the UK benefits form a smoother conveyancing process and embraces the need for the legal industry to recognise transferring property in the metaverse using smart legal contracts. With her extensive knowledge in lending and security, she leads the team who will be pioneering the changes needed to roll these services out to the public removing unnecessary third parties from an outdated conveyancing process. This extends to all things property including IP and other intangible assets such a settlements and crypto assets.
Stephen Allen, VP @ Elevate
Stephen has worked in legal services for 25+ years. At his current role at Elevate, he leads work ensuring that its offerings solve business-of-law problems that law departments and law firms face now and will confront in the future. His work includes directing the integration of consulting, technology, and service offerings at an enterprise level, bringing the best of Elevate to opportunities that tomorrow’s market will present. He joined Elevate in 2020 from Hogan Lovells, where he was responsible for innovation, data science, legal tech (AI, Machine Learning, Automation), digitalization, legal operations and disruption. Achievements as a leader in legal service transformation include architecting and implementing the multi-award winning Managed Legal ServiceSM BLP contract for Thames Water, which was the first-ever multi-year, fixed-price law firm deal for legal services. In 2019, Stephen was named by the Financial Times as the inaugural recipient of its Legal Entrepreneur of the Year in its 2019 Innovative Lawyers Awards.
Stephen has worked in innovation-based roles at top firms such as Hogan Lovells, DLA Piper, PwC and BLP, as well as other legal roles at Olswang and Clifford Chance.
Judges
James Tapscott, Addleshaw Goddard
James is a Senior Manager in Addleshaw Goddard’s Innovation and Legal Technology team. He leads on the Document Lifecycle pillar which includes the implementation and management of various technologies that focus on the generation of documents and the gathering of data within them. Document automation is a primary programme in the pillar and his new dedicated team has refreshed the firm’s approach since joining in 2020.
Ciaran Rutherford, Ashurst
Ciaran is a Junior Associate in Ashurst’s Corporate Project Team (having previously completed seats in Global Loans, Construction, Corporate Projects and Corporate Transactions).
He is also supports the Ashurst Legal Transformation Programme as a practice group presentative, supporting the trial and implementation of the firm’s legal services transformation programme, led by Ashurst Advance.
Laura Brunnen, The Legal Strategist
Laura Brunnen was state-school educated and a 1st generation university student. After reading history at Cambridge her award-winning career in the City spanned over 20 years. from all-round M&A lawyer at Slaughter and May to private equity specialist at K&E.
She then spent a decade balancing life as a private equity partner in three international law firms with raising her family, whilst managing to (mainly) maintain her sense of humour.
Laura left the City in 2021 to found her own business, The Legal Strategist, specialising in lawyer mentoring and corporate law consulting.
Elliot Ward, Clifford Chance
Elliot is an IGNITE Trainee in Clifford Chance’s London office.
He is interested in: process optimisation, machine learning (particularly generative adversarial networks) and the wider process automation in general.
Samuel Smolkin, Office & Dragons
Samuel is the founder and CEO of Office & Dragons and a Transaction Development evangelist. He is passionate about applying frameworks and technology to help lawyers level up their work product and service delivery. Before O&D, Sam was a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis in London and New York and an avid open-source software developer working on projects in blockchain and Linux.