Vodafone Global Enterprise legal and external affairs director Kerry Phillip talks to The Lawyer ahead of this year’s Business Leadership Summit in association with Propero Partners, which focuses on the law firm of 2025.
Will AI be as commonplace as photocopying by 2025?
Who photocopies now? Working in a paperless environment is so much better!
What will be the impact of tech on team roles and how will it help to shape your team of 2025?
Over the last 3 years the shape of my team has already changed to include an offshore team for low complexity or high volume work, managers of change and programmes, data specialists and contract lifecycle management platform experts. This trend will only continue as technology and AI become more and more central to the workings of a legal team.
How do you envisage private practice and in-house working to deliver value in 2025?
I envisage a collaborative partnership between corporate legal teams and law firms, where law firms are one element in the eco-system called upon by corporate legal teams – probably for the most complex, knotty problems. The best law firms will make a huge effort to understand their clients’ needs and will add value by combining deep legal and market expertise, an intimate knowledge of best practice and broad industry insight.
What technology do you anticipate will revolutionise the industry by 2025?
Virtual assistants are already commonplace. I hope that by 2025 we will have virtual assistants that can advise on law and regulation in any country and apply to a given set of facts to recommend the best course of action.
Tell us two truths and one lie about yourself (in any order).
- I had been a lawyer for 6 years before I sent an email
- I don’t have a desk at work
- I couldn’t live without social media
If you had not decided to become a lawyer, what career would you have chosen?
Interpreter.
With agile working becoming the norm, which spot in the world would you most like to work from?
It already is the norm – my laptop and my mobile are my office.
Kerry will be speaking at this year’s Business Leadership Summit on a panel discussion around how to foster an atmosphere of innovation. For more information on the summit, a copy of the agenda, or to enquire about tickets to attend, please contact Kenan Balli on +44(0) 20 7970 4017 or kenan.balli@centaurmedia.com
