Innovation takes centre stage at MinterEllison

With an emphasis on execution, MinterEllison is confident innovation can play a key role in further enhancing its culture and service delivery.

Innovation … with the possible exception of ‘digital disruption’, it is the most commonly heard buzzword in modern professional services firms.

Everyone is discussing it and management is under pressure to embrace and implement innovative strategies in a meaningful way. What are firms doing, though? To get a sense of what is on the radar, ALMJ examines the innovation agenda at one of the nation’s most-respected law firms, MinterEllison, and considers two case-study initiatives that are delivering on the firm’s promises.

Andrew Cunningham, the Innovation & Networks Leader at MinterEllison, is the person charged with ensuring innovation is an all-encompassing philosophy that goes beyond the next technology fad. “We try to get the message across consistently that innovation doesn’t always equal an app. Information technology is an important driver and enabler of innovation, but innovation is more than IT,” he says.

While Cunningham agrees that no single firm can “corner the market on good ideas”, he believes MinterEllison is well placed to prosper through innovation. “Where we think we will achieve differentiation to our competitors is the way we execute on our innovation agenda. Competitive advantage will come down to how well you execute.”

To provide a framework through which innovation can flourish, MinterEllison endorses five key themes.

1. Service

This entails looking through the client’s lens to create innovative services the firm is best placed to deliver, which go beyond the traditional legal services to provide a one-stop solution for clients. “It means extending ourselves beyond what may be seen as traditional or core legal services,” Cunningham says.

The firm’s service pledge complements a broader strategy within the firm. “We have an ambitious growth agenda,” Cunningham explains. “We don’t subscribe to the shrink-to-greatness philosophy. In order to grow with quality offerings to the market, it will inevitably involve some extension into new services.”

2. Delivery

True innovation can help a firm deliver solutions in a way that suits clients’ needs. Cunningham stresses that this is not just about technology; rather, it involves thinking differently and laterally about the best way to deliver services to clients.

3. Execution

At MinterEllison, there is focus is on looking for ways to better execute and deliver services to clients, with innovation being a platform for execution. Cunningham says: “Our aim is to provide our services the way our clients want them and in the most cost-efficient and effective manner.”

4. Pricing

The firm is committed to a pricing methodology that is seen by clients as delivering value to them.

5. Capability and culture

Building innovation capability and a culture of innovation underpins the actions of all people in the firm, from partners through to paralegals.

Two programs at MinterEllison help to illustrate the firm’s embrace of innovation.

Case study 1 – Flex

Earlier this year, MinterEllison officially launched Flex, a new business arm that gives clients access to specialist contract lawyers to flexibly cover or boost their in-house capacity and capability. The firm piloted the program for about six months as part of its innovation program and was heartened by its quick success. This followed discussions with clients which identified the gaps in the other offerings in the market, enabling MinterEllison to design an offering that better met its clients’ needs.

Cunningham says Flex lawyers are carefully selected using the same rigorous recruitment process that applies to MinterEllison’s other lawyers. They also benefit from access to the specialists, know-how, training and support of the wider firm. The pool of talent comprises lawyers from a range of backgrounds with varying levels of experience – from former general counsel to junior lawyers.

According to Cunningham, Flex responds to the needs of clients who need quality lawyers but who are not adequately served by lawyer secondments. While other firms are providing flexible lawyer solutions, he believes MinterEllison has taken it to a new level. “Our value proposition to clients is very clear … It’s all about the pool of contract lawyers that we have available and the quality of those lawyers and the support they get from a top-tier law firm.”

Importantly, the Flex lawyers are not treated as a lesser entity within the firm. “The Flex business is very much part of MinterEllison – it’s not something that we have off to the side,” Cunningham says. “We see it as a standard bearer for the firm’s brand and reputation.”

To that end, the Flex team can access subject matter experts from the firm; they participate in thought-leadership initiatives and training programs; and they have access to the considerable resources of the firm. “They are an extension of the firm,” Cunningham says.

With partners being conscious of the strength of the MinterEllison brand, Cunningham says they have enthusiastically backed the contract lawyer program from the start and played a key role in ensuring its quality. For example, partners are involved in the interviews for all Flex candidates. “So they have the ultimate peace of mind because they get the final say (on lawyers),” Cunningham says. He adds that clients have welcomed Flex, while prospective lawyers seeking flexible work conditions are also supportive of the model. “There’s a growing desire on the part of lawyers to work on this basis. It’s early days in the market for these sorts of services, but there is likelihood of strong growth.”

Case study 2 – Junior Lawyers Committee

Amid some concerns about graduate lawyer capabilities, Minter Ellison has set up Junior Lawyers Committees in a bid to tackle the knowledge and skills gap that younger practitioners face after completing law school.

Technical skills are simply not enough in the modern legal world, and MinterEllison believes adding ‘soft’ skills is the key to rounding out their talents. As part of a people innovation program, the firm is rolling out the committees across the nation to focus on areas such as networking and business development training.

Since taking over as Office Managing Partner in Sydney about 18 months ago, Nicole Green has come to appreciate the wonderful energy and ideas of her junior lawyers. However, she says mentorship and additional training through lectures and workshops is essential “because you come out of law school with a legal education, but you don’t come out with a lot of the practical stuff”. “Of course, you need the technical stuff and that’s a given, but it’s the people stuff, the soft skills and the skills around presence and communication (that are crucial),” she says.

According to Green, modern lawyers have to become pseudo marketers for their firms while engaging with clients in a way that assists their business performance. “It’s absolutely essential and it’s important that we get people thinking about these things right at the start of their careers because, like any skillset, you need to play with it and develop it and try it out – it’s not something where you become a senior lawyer and it drops down from heaven on to you.”

Part of the junior lawyers’ task at MinterEllison is to host functions that enhance their networks and increase their engagement with the community – it is all part of the firm’s culture of innovating, collaborating and inspiring. A recent event in Sydney brought together three not-for-profit groups to address the firm’s lawyers, forging connections with pro-bono teams and leading to funds being donated to the charitable groups. “It was all about the interesting not-for-profit things going on out in the community, but it also showed Minters in a way that wasn’t just about us being here for ourselves,” Green says.

She is confident the Junior Lawyers Committees will help foster leadership skills. “It’s about giving junior lawyers the imprimatur and the space to actually let some of their talents shine earlier. And it’s about inspiring people to reach their potential and not be constrained.”

Multi-faceted approach

Cunningham says programs such as Flex and the Junior Lawyers Committees are just two components of a much broader innovation agenda. The firm has established an Innovation Council which has overseen the development of an ambitious program to build an innovation capability and culture within the firm which will drive innovation into the future. It has also developed a program of innovation projects in the areas of service, delivery, execution and pricing.

The firm is investing in technology that enhances innovation, while a program called Empower is designed to build a high-performance culture and encourage diversity. “None of these things are rocket science,” Cunningham says. “It really comes down to execution.”