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The reasons why legal ops failed to change a BigLaw firm

One man's experience working as a legal operation professional within a traditional firm
The reasons why legal ops failed to change a BigLaw firm
Summary
Notes
Transcript
CPD

John Grant has a lot of experience bringing change to law firms – or trying to. As you might expect, John has seen both success and failure in those attempts, and he brings all of those stories to his discussion with Peter Aprile and Natalie Worsfold.

He's seen the marketing brochures trumpeting project management tech that only five people are actually using. He's seen the lack of strong executive leadership. He's also seen individual lawyers push a new idea through a whole office, purely on the strength of conviction. In short, he has been exactly where many of our listeners are, and he has wisdom to spare. 

John Grant

Guest

John Grant, Agile Attorney Network

John is known as the Agile Attorney and helps lawyers and legal teams deliver customer value using efficiency tools such Lean process improvement and agile project management.

Before he became a lawyer, John had a long career in operations and product management, which is probably why concepts like agile and Lean come naturally to him. John has brought these concepts to the legal industry working as in-house counsel, founding a law firm, working as a strategy manager in a large law firm, and working as a consultant to help lawyers build profitable and efficient practices.

Peter Aprile

Host

Peter Aprile, Counter Tax Lawyers

Peter Aprile is a senior lawyer specializing in tax dispute resolution and litigation. His vision as Counter’s founder and his everyday role at the firm are one and the same: to be an agent of change, uncovering opportunities and developing strategies that achieve more than anyone expected. A creative thinker, Peter studies problems from all different angles to find what others have missed. He’s also convinced that he likes winning more than most people.

Different people describe Peter in different ways. At the CRA and the federal Department of Justice, the word relentless comes up quite a lot. Admittedly, so does the word a**hole – but it’s often said with a certain grudging respect, if not affection. Peter’s clients call him a saint. Well, some of them, anyway. His colleagues describe him as empowering and harddriving, but fair. Peter’s friends call him loyal. His wife describes him as a lot to deal with, but worth it. Peter encourages his young daughter and son to call him “The Big Homie,” though with limited success. His mother describes him with the single word mischievous – before going on to complain that he should call more.

Read Peter’s complete bio →

Natalie Worsfold

Host

Natalie Worsfold, Counter Tax Lawyers

Natalie is a tax lawyer who represents individual taxpayers and owner-managed businesses in disputes with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). She also successfully challenges CRA decisions denying taxpayer relief and helps facilitate applications under the Voluntary Disclosures Program.

But what you really need to know about Natalie is that she’s a tax litigator with heart. When she takes a case, it’s not out of technical interest – it’s because she cares. And if she believes the government has got something wrong, she won’t stop until it’s been put right. She’s fierce.

Natalie is the co-architect behind many of Counter’s process workflows, software and data analytics systems, as well as our comprehensive knowledgebase (loving named Hank). And when it comes to preparing cases, she’s Counter’s secret weapon – happiest when elbow-deep in evidence, meticulously building creative solutions to seemingly impossible problems. Because the fact is Natalie sees things that other people don’t.

Natalie’s family and friends describe her as loyal, selfless, understanding and fun. They also mention stubborn. To her Counter colleagues she’s a combination of stellar brainpower and contagious enthusiasm who elevates the game of everyone around her.

Read Natalie’s complete bio →

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