New Zealand Legal Business Operations Summit

Drawing on her extensive experience as a former managing partner and sought-after consultant, Emily will unpack the key differences between traditional and contemporary law practices—focusing on what truly drives competitive advantage in today’s market.

Emily will share real-world case studies of law firms and legal teams that have successfully reinvented themselves, as well as cautionary tales of those that struggled to adapt. She’ll delve into the practical implications of these changes in areas such as business development, client service, leadership, culture, and talent management.

Attendees will leave with insights on:

• Identifying the hallmarks of a modern, future-ready law practice
• Strategies for leading and managing change within your team or firm
• Common pitfalls and how to avoid them
• Practical steps to enhance your firm’s agility, resilience, and client value

Whether you’re a partner, manager, or aspiring leader, Emily’s session will equip you with the strategic perspective and tools needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving legal marketplace.

     

Emily Morrow

LAWX

In New Zealand’s rapidly changing legal marketplace, Emily Morrow gives lawyers and law firms a competitive edge.

Having been a lawyer and managing partner of a large law firm, she gets results so her clients do things right the first time.

As a people and culture consultant, Emily focuses on the capabilities her clients need to be successful; business development, strategic planning, self-presentation/ communication skills, practice management and succession planning.

Emily’s clients include top tier, mid-sized and smaller law firms, in-house counsel’s offices and barristers’ chambers across New Zealand.

She designs and facilitates retreats, coaches (one-on-one and teams), provides skills and behavioural training and conducts bespoke research projects.

Emily is a frequent contributor to LawTalk and LawNews and has been the keynote speaker at numerous professional conferences for NZLS, CLANZ, ADLS, ALPMA, AWLA, CWLA, Law Plus, Lawlink, Legalwise, AALA and others.

She is on the faculty of the NZLS Stepping Up Programme and covers the “The People Dimension” component of that training.

Paul Steele is an expert in identifying opportunities to enhance business development in law practices at both organisational and individual levels. He has a passion for helping people really understand what customer-centric thinking means and its associated benefits.

In this session you will learn from someone with that rare combination of careers in both Law and Marketing;

• The common characteristics of law practices who continually develop business with their clients and prospects
• How customer centric thinking will help retain your most important clients and add new ones, and
• The technical and soft skills needed by your fee earners to be true rain makers.

     

Paul Steele

LAWX

After a decade as a practising lawyer with Buddle Findlay, Paul’s career moved onto Sales and Marketing roles within the Legal Publishing industry. Over time he worked with both of the main providers in NZ (now Lexis Nexis and Thomson Reuters).

Paul branched out in 2007, setting up his own consultancy, and a new business (Law 2 Web) which focuses on creating and developing law practice websites.

In 2012 Paul embarked on a new journey to create a system for law practices to better manage their precedents and IP. Order of Precedents was launched in 2013.

Under Law 2 Web Paul now also operates his consultancy work, assisting law practices with operational and marketing matters.

Paul has been very involved in the deployment of the Conveyancing workflow system (conveyIT) and works as a Sales Channel Partner for this business.

Paul travels widely in New Zealand and is well known and regarded in the legal community. He has a network of like-minded people focused on improving the performance, profitability and outlook for law practices.

Workflows can be clunky and repetitive. But sometimes it feels easier to just get on with things rather than fix them. Take 40 minutes with Gene Turner, Managing Director of LawHawk, and discover a better way. In a jargon-free session, Gene will help you turn process pain points into opportunities for efficiency and growth. Drawing on hands-on experience with law firms and in-house teams, Gene will walk you through practical ways to identify bottlenecks and apply technology, automation, and a touch of AI where it matters most.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• How to map and analyse your current legal processes to spot quick wins
• Real-life examples of automated and AI-enhanced solutions that save time, reduce risk, and boost quality for both law firms and their clients
• Strategies for using technology to deliver better client experiences and open up new revenue streams
• Tips for getting your team on board and making change stick

Walk away with a toolkit of ideas you can apply immediately—no tech jargon, just practical steps to help your practice work smarter, not harder.

Gene Turner

LAWX

Gene is Managing Director of LawHawk.

LawHawk help their customers improve and automate their legal processes to reduce risk, save time and money, and improve quality.

LawHawk work with their law firm customers to:

• Improve the firm’s own processes; and
• Jointly improve processes for the firm’s clients.

LawHawk also work directly with in-house legal and procurement teams.

Marketing might not come naturally to most lawyers—but you don’t have to go it alone. Steven Gardner is a technical expert who’s spent over 20 years helping law practices across New Zealand and Australia turn their online presence into a real asset.

In this practical, jargon-free session, Steven will demystify the essentials of digital marketing for lawyers, covering website design, search engine optimisation, and social media in plain English.

You’ll learn:

• How to make your website work harder for your practice
• Simple SEO strategies to help you get found by the right clients
• Ways to use social media effectively—without it taking over your day
• Practical steps you can implement immediately, no matter your starting point

Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or just starting out, Steven’s insights will help you build a marketing approach that feels authentic and achievable—so you can focus on what you do best: being a great lawyer.

Steven Gardner

LAWX

Steven is one of those mythical beings – a technical expert who converts complex technical matters into plain English and avoids bamboozling clients with Techspeak.

He is a talented Internet Guru, using Web Development, coding and design skills.

Steven is an excellent Project Manager and a keen Analyst, which gives him a special talent in the use of Search Engine Optimization techniques, and with Google Analytics and Adwords.

In addition to his work with Law2Web, Steven also runs seminars and workshops, including Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization for businesses.

With clients all around New Zealand and Australia, and over 20 years experience building high quality, effective websites and related services, he has pretty much seen it all.

Ready to find your perfect match?

Don’t spend 20 minutes sitting for a demo when you can get insights into three products within the same time! VXT, Realaml, and Clio will each give a five minute pitch to showcase how they seamlessly integrate into your law firm’s workflows.

Discover how these tools can work for you and why they might just be the perfect fit for your firm!

Luke Campbell

co-founder and ceo at VXT

VXT started in 2018 when two University of Canterbury students, Luke Campbell and Lucy Turner, set out to make communication easier for professionals and organisations alike. Today, VXT is all about helping businesses save time and reduce hassle with our phone system and contact management tools.

Jordan McCown

co-founder and ceo at realaml

In 2018, it became evident that global biometric providers were failing to effectively detect fraudulent customer onboarding. Consequently, Realaml took the initiative to develop a revolutionary form of know your customer (KYC) technology. Their solution integrates state-of-the-art biometrics with powerful anti-fraud tools, setting a new standard in the industry. Realaml proudly stands as the sole provider of certified NZ-coded customer onboarding technology. Through our advanced and versatile platform, businesses can access a comprehensive suite of tools for verification across various channels, including hosted, embedded, and mobile verification flows.

Adriana Amato

marketing, apac at clio

Clio is transforming the legal experience for all by creating the world’s leading cloud-based technologies for law firms—to keep lawyers and their clients better connected throughout the legal process. Firms of all sizes and practice areas use Clio products—including Clio Manage, Clio Grow, and Clio Payments—to manage firm operations, streamline billing, automate legal documents, and improve client experiences. Clio is the most widely recommended cloud-based legal technology, working with over 100 law societies and bar associations around the world, and a global customer base of 150,000.

Have some lunch, catch up on emails – the world is your oyster! We will resume back shortly.

There’s a certain irony in investing time and effort to make your legal practice more efficient—only to keep charging by the hour. If your firm is delivering better, faster solutions for clients, is it time to rethink how you price your work?

Join John Chisholm, a respected leader in value pricing for professional services, as he explores practical ways to move beyond the billable hour. Drawing on his extensive experience as a lawyer, managing partner, and consultant, John will guide you through the mindset shift and practical steps needed to align your pricing with the real value you provide.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• Why value-based pricing makes sense for today’s more efficient legal practices
• How to have constructive conversations with clients about value and pricing
• Examples of firms that have successfully made the transition
• Practical tips for introducing value and subscription pricing models in your practice

Walk away with a better understanding of how to match your pricing to your improved processes—so both your firm and your clients benefit from the efficiencies you’ve worked hard to achieve.

John Chisholm

LAWX

John is a 3rd generation lawyer, previously a partner, managing partner and chief executive of 2 prestige Australian law firms.

John established his own consultancy in 2005 to share his expertise and experience with professionals who look to maximise their profitability and their love of their chosen craft by transforming to a different and better business model and mindset.

He now speaks, educates, facilitates, coaches and consults while shar- ing his life on the Victorian coast at Point Lonsdale with his beautiful wife Karen, his 4 grown up children and 8 grandchildren.

As a practising lawyer John was well placed to experience first hand both the benefits but also the drawbacks of all the professions billing their services solely by reference to time. He has lectured, presented and consulted with many legal, accounting & consulting firms (and their customers) around the world assisting them with both a mindset change and the practical implementation and application of moving to- wards a timeless pricing model.

Since 2011, John has been a Senior Fellow of The VeraSage Institute a leading international think tank of thought leaders and innovators for professional firms whose mantra is to rid the professional world of the billable hour, a Fellow of The College Of Legal Practice Management (US), previously adjunct professor of law at La Trobe University, Distin- guished Fellow Centre For Legal Innovation, presenter at the Law Insti- tute of Victoria and Law Council of Australia and long time lecturer at the Leo Cussen Institute.

Walk away with a practical understanding of how smaller firms can increase partner numbers e.g from 4-6 partners and all make more profit. The firm is more resilient and has more value with more diversified and younger partners and senior team locked in.

Sam Bassett

LAWX

Sam is a Chartered Accountant and he is a partner at Moore Markhams in Auckland. Sam’s work covers valuation of businesses, Economic Disparity calculations (Section15) for relationship property division and associated litigation support work.

He acts as an independent Trustee and has been appointed by the High Court and by joint appointment to act as independent trustee or executor to assist with dispute resolution.

Sam as attended two courses in leadership in professional service firms at Harvard Business School in 2019 and in 2022.

Sam consults to small/medium sized law firms in NZ. This can include providing valuation of legal firms and assistance with succession planning and improvement in legal firm profitability. Sam conducts a financial benchmarking survey for small to medium sized legal firms in Auckland every second year. This assists with identifying where firms he is working with sit compared to “best practice” for various key financial indicators.