Humanization: How to Rescue Your Digital Investment
Dear <<First Name>>,
We read more and more studies and hear from LLI members that Digitalization projects are beginning to get a bad reputation.
A root cause analysis of this phenomenon could go something like this:
1) Many Digitalization projects fail. - Why?
2) Because the Digitalization projects do not deliver the desired business results. - Why?
3) Because the implemented Digital solutions are not properly deployed. - Why?
4) Because the design of the Digital solutions is flawed. - Why?
5) Because Digital solutions need to be designed around Human skills.
Really? Why should digitalization projects be designed around Human skills? Isn't it just the opposite? Are Digitalization projects not intended to automate work and to replace Human labor?
And therein lies the crux: Yes, Digital solutions can reduce human effort, save time and increase efficiency. But only if they are designed in such a way that employees can and actually want to use them!
For Digitalization projects to succeed, employees need to adopt a digital mindset. They need to understand and internalize the core value of Digitalization: Scalability. Once they do, employees will start actively driving Digitalization projects themselves, instead of being driven (away) by them.
- As organizations, we first of all need to scale the deeply Human skill to be innovative, i.e. enable employees to identify Digitalization potential in their work.
- We then need to scale the Human skill to design the right Digital solutions.
- And finally, we need to scale the Human skill to change in order to ensure employees actually use the new work tools.
At the bottom of these scalability activities lies what we call the HUMANIZATION of the work place. Humanization includes many factors of corporate culture which the LLI has already put on its agenda: Lawyer Well-Being, Diversity, Design Thinking, Transparency and Trust, Collaboration, Agility, and other LLI topics and projects.
Read below how the LLI is tackling some of these Human issues to bring Digitalization projects in the legal industry back on track. A full list of all projects can be found in MS Teams.
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In this issue
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New Members
Carolin Schug (Lawyer), Stefan Mangold, Nadine Lilienthal (Lawyer | Systemic Coach | Co-Founder Legaleap), Harm Cammel (Voxius), Martin Bachmann (Bachmann & Partner Rechtsanwälte mbB), Tobias Broda (PTC, Corporate Membership), Anna De Stefano, Lucija Kobal Nakic (fingolex)
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Selected Membership Motivations
Some answers to the question: "Why do you want to join the LLI?"
We had a look at all LLI membership applications and want to share some of the reasons why members want to be part of the community:
- "Find like minded people, interesting ideas / food for thought, support for projects etc..."
- "Drive innovation / progress in the legal industry."
- "I want to contribute to sustainable, impactful & human-centered digital change in the legal industry."
- "Being irresistibly approached concerning a membership by Thomas Wegerich ;)"
- "And I think collaboration is the best way to change culture and make an impact in business and society, also acting on education"
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LLI Internal Updates
Take a step back and reflect – LLI Board Retreat 2020
 As there are so many interesting projects going on in- and outside the Liquid Legal Institute, we took some time to reflect. End of September 2020, we, the LLI Board (Kai, Dierk, and Bernhard, supported by Patrick) met in Stuttgart for two days to intensively discuss various strategical topics. We asked ourselves whether we are still on track to deliver what our members expect from us. While there is always room for improvement, we made good progress on finishing many of the ongoing projects. Here are some examples:
- LLI Strategy Evaluation: As part of our strategy, we set ourselves ambitious goals in terms of membership development and output. We aim to continuously grow and be attractive for new members by creating innovative ideas and delivering relevant topics. We re-evaluated our strategy and derived measures to pursue our goals more efficiently.
- Common Legal Platform: In 2021, we want to use our 2020 momentum around the Common Legal Platform (CLP). We will intensify our communication and start designing and implementing a solution. Recent developments have not only shown the need, but also the importance of a neutral CLP initiative.
- Education: In general, we are very satisfied with the progress of our working groups, the number of new projects and output of those projects. However, the Board decided to focus more on the Education working group in 2021. We have specific activities lined up, and contributors and good ideas are more than welcome!
- Internationalization: To strengthen our world-wide network, we co-created an LLI Ambassador Program. We expect to gain more visibility and empower selected members to actively spread the word about the LLI – empowered with a clear mandate.
Read more below.
In addition, we looked sharply on the more administrative topics, e.g. internal housekeeping, accounting, etc. All in all, we are satisfied with our current setup and look forward to exciting months ahead. As always, please feel free to approach us anytime for feedback or ideas about the LLI!
LLI Ambassador Program
Not surprisingly, the next great idea of how to carry our vision into the world came from a member. Tatiana proactively volunteered to represent the Liquid Legal Institute in Northern Europe and to make sure that we will be noticed locally. No sooner said than done, we have jointly developed the LLI Ambassador Program. Following our goal to become more international, we want to establish the role of an LLI Ambassador. The LLI Ambassador spreads the word of the LLI and serves as a contact person for LLI related questions and requests within a given region.
We are looking to receive feedback and novel ideas making the LLI Ambassador attractive. We are also open for YOUR suggestions for suitable candidates.
Head of Operations – Farewell Patrick
The last couple of months, Patrick Schultz, our Head of Operations, was an amazing support for the LLI. Most of you have met or heard from him during the membership registration or on-boarding process - but he did much more. The LLI appreciates his hard work and is extremely grateful for his support in the last couple of months!
From beginning for 2021, Patrick will move on to a new and full-time position outside the LLI.
On behalf of the whole LLI, we wish him all the best in his new job!
Head of Operations – We are Hiring!
We are looking to fill the Position of the LLI Head of Operations. The LLI Head of Operations supports the LLI board in important tasks, including maintaining and improving our platforms and developing the business of the Liquid Legal Institute e. V.
If you know someone who could be a good fit, please directly contact board@liquid-legal-institute.org
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Common Legal Platform
www.common-legal-platform.org
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An example content from the new CLP landing page describing
The CLP for companies
Implementing the Common Legal Platform within an enterprise setup or a company allows to leverage many synergies arising in all areas of interaction, consumption, or offering of legal (of all facets) services. This is not only restricted to the legal department. Therefore, conceptualizing and implementing the four layers of the Common Legal Platform is not only beneficial for use cases and scenarios of in-house legal department but for the whole company.
Explore on Github
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Many great projects are on-going at the LLI, and our latest book “Towards a Common Legal Platform” was published recently by Springer. In parallel, some LLI members were working on the CLP ecosystem. On this occasion, a new webpage, closely linked to the LLI, went live:
The platform provides insights into technical details of the Common Legal Platform. Our well-known CLP Principles are linked, and also more details about layers of implementation can be found:
- Utilization
- Application
- Data
- Technology / Infrastructure
Feel free to visit the webpage, discuss the content, let us know what you think and spread the word.
The CLP will happen – happy to have you on board!
Contact: board@liquid-legal-institute.org, Bernhard Waltl and Georg Bonczek via MS Teams
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Legal Text Analytics
Open GitHub Repository
Who of us has not yet had the idea to start a LegalTech project using AI or Natural Language Processing to analyze contracts or other legal documents?
Making a fortune with some nice algorithms (which can be sold to lawyers, law-firms, and in-house legal departments) sounds like a no-brainer. However, many of these projects struggle with identifying the State-of-the-art in Text Analytics for the legal domain.
Therefore, the LLI kicked-off a project in which an overview of selected resources, methods, and tools dedicated to Legal Text Analytics are being made available to everyone.
Yes, to everyone! Without paywall, passwords, memberships, etc.
The Kick-Off Meeting was attended by more than 15 persons, including students, professors from universities, LLI-members and private persons. Since then, the collection continuously grows. It can be accessed at
Feel free to add new content by yourself or contact us in case you miss something.
Contact: Georg Bonczek or Bernhard Waltl via MS Teams
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How to Select a CLM Vendor?
An exciting Whitepaper is on its way!
A small LLI-Team (coordinated by Klaus Gresbrand) is currently working on a whitepaper that will describe functional, technical and other dimensions to consider when selecting a vendor (and software) for a CLM platform. The paper explains each dimension and provides “food for thought” in the form of questions which are guiding the reader’s own evaluation.
To add practical examples, the team is setting up interviews with people who have implemented a CLM platform and who will share their experiences and lessons learned.
The whitepaper is the team’s first publication and follows a “minimum viable product” approach – so watch out for what’s next!
Contact: Klaus Gresbrand via MS Teams
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Lawyer Well-being
We’re launching a study!
In early 2020, we identified the need to put a spotlight on health risks for lawyers. From our network, we heard loud and clear that many colleagues suffer from various negative effects of the job on their health. But – at least in Europe – there is little talk about that!
So, we decided to tackle this important topic in 3 phases:
- Phase 1 has been all about creating awareness and obtaining insights from our network. We invited Fritjof Nelting, the CEO of a private clinic, to add a chapter on “A Health Compass for Attorneys” to our second book. Additionally, we have published a Position Paper which is available on our website here (scroll down on the page).
- In phase 2, we have created a questionnaire and conducted about 20 interviews across the legal ecosystem to validate our belief that we might be looking at a larger issue – covered by an even bigger taboo. And indeed, the results (also available on our website) have been concerning, creating additional urgency to continue our work.
- Now, we’re ready for phase 3: With our project partner BUJ e. V., the largest German inhouse counsel representation, and supported by EuPD GmbH, a longstanding and renowned consultancy in the field of mental health in the workplace, we have finalized the work on a broad survey that we will launch before the end of the year.
Please participate and and help us fight “The Silent Epidemic”!
Contact: Dierk Schindler or Kai Jacob via MS Teams.
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Digitalization of Legal Departments: Let's tackle it!
Online Event in German language—Get Your Ticket
Companies and legal departments are moving digital. This event enables best practice exchange with experts and provides you with the necessary insight to start your own transformation journey.
This session is the third in our series. It includes talks about:
- Document automation
Dr. Peter Schichl, Head of Legal Services Technology & Procurement @ Deutsche Telekom
- Tool Time: Slack, Trello, Icertis & Co. and their use in legal departments – digital gimmick or efficiency booster?
Jan Bochow, Legal Counsel @ Spryker Systems
- Establishing and digitalizing legal processes in medium sized enterprises
Jens-Peter Adams, Head of Legal @ Karl Mayer Holding
- Quicker digitalization by way of (temporary) project partnerships
Henrik Wehrs, Legal Tech Engagement Manager Europe @ Allen & Overy
When? 19 November 2020, 16:00 - 18:00
Where? Virtually – get your ticket here (as a perk for you as a subscriber to the LLI Newsletter, the link incorporates a free ticket voucher!)
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Legal Accelerators Conference and Expo 2020
It's time to accelerate!
The LLI is pleased to announce our partnership with the Legal Accelerators Conference and Expo 2020. Organized from Romania, this innovative online event brings together 30+ speakers and 500+ professionals from all over the world, covering a range of diverse topics such as Legal Design Thinking, Cybersecurity and Data Protection, Regulation and Ethics, Legal Marketing, and more.
The LLI will be present—encouraging you to participate as well in this energy-packed event!
When? November 26 and 27, 2020
Where? Virtual
What? Networking, over 30 speakers and a virtual expo (we're there ;-)
More information and tickets on the Legal Accelerators website!
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