The Melbourne Connection

In our next instalment of Tales From the Trenches - From Kolkata with love, Anthony and Partha discuss why Kolkata and what makes it the best location for our Indian operations team.

Here's our next snippet from Tony and Partha's discussion from our YouTube series Tales From the Trenches. We're often asked by clients - "How can your team in India possibly understand the ins and outs of Australia's legal system?" It's a great question, with a surprising answer - Partha unpacks it all here! Don't forget you can catch the entire conversation on our YouTube channel.

Today we have another snippet from Partha and Anthony's discussion from our YouTube series Tales From the Trenches. This one focuses on the Melbourne connection - SBA's management team made the decision to start up in Melbourne even though they were based in Perth - here's why. Don't forget you can catch the entire conversation on our YouTube channel

Our CEO Partha caught up with Tony Burke for our latest episode of Tales From the Trenches. Well, COVID and all, it had been a while since the pair had met in person and boy did they have a lot to chat about. The past, present and future of outsourcing, ethical outsourcing, a night in Buenos Aries and a whole lot more! You can catch the entire conversation on our YouTube channel but in this snippet, they discuss Key Person Dependencies and Knowledge Management in Law Firms.

The impact of COVID-19 has been felt far and wide and the legal sector was certainly not spared. In an industry rooted in paper, the current global pandemic has catalysed the inevitable push towards the digital age and has forced paradigm shifts in communication and staff management. For the moment, gone are the days of popping your head in on your colleagues to discuss cases, bounce ideas, and formally or informally strategise. This brings about both adversities and opportunities and our guest today talks through both within the context of his commercial litigation team. Nick Kallipolitis, a Principal/Director of Coleman Greig's Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team, and has been an Accredited Specialist in Commercial Litigation since November 2013. Furthermore, Nick is part of their diverse, young litigation team, sits on the board of Coleman Greig, and chairs the Technology group within his firm. To cap it all off, Nick has an arts degree with a philosophy major. We discuss how COVID-19 has transformed both Coleman Greig as well as the greater legal sector at large. Lawyers have had to adapt both internally within their firms, and externally with client communication to continue to provide timely, quality service. Technological hurdles were numerous though a tech-savvy younger generation of lawyers and the adoption of ‘super-users’ to provide fast software support aided this transition. The widespread societal acceptance of video conferencing as the new means of discussion also helped rapidly normalise this new age of communication. Looking forward, the shift to a work-from-home culture will likely live on in workplaces worldwide and Nick discusses their firm’s newfound flexibility in work arrangements that aim to support employees to live and work in a way that is more compatible to their lifestyle. It’s crucial to find the opportunities to learn and change amongst this disrupting global climate and this episode will act as your guide to seek out and implement the necessary technological and cultural shifts to survive the COVID and post-COVID age within the legal industry. LINKS: https://www.facebook.com/teamsbaslaos https://www.linkedin.com/company/stra... https://twitter.com/SBA_tweet www.sballiance.net.au https://www.strategiclposolutions.com.au/  

With advancing technologies and an ever changing world, every industry, no matter how steeped in tradition, must innovate and move toward the future.  The legal industry is no exception and in this episode we are joined by a special guest who has forged a path to serve mankind by bettering the delivery of justice. Our guest today is Quddus Pourshafie from Future Lab Legal, a premier consulting and advisory firm for the future of the legal profession.  Taking a less traditional career path, Quddus was a concert violinist prior to making his way into the legal industry.  After 20 years establishing himself as a professional musician, Quddus’ creativity and lateral thinking has enabled him to step outside the traditional framework to help innovate an industry that is well in need of innovation. Future Lab Legal takes a holistic approach by working alongside organisations in the legal industry, providing advice and support to bring about necessary transformation.They provide an in-depth analysis of businesses, establish and help monitor the implementation strategy and provide ongoing analysis and support to ensure businesses stay at the forefront of the legal profession. In this episode, Quddus discusses his work as a non practising lawyer with Future Lab Legal and how advancements in technology requires firms to adapt and evolve as they transition into the future of law.  We discuss how small firms can compete with larger firms, particularly at this time during Covid 19. LINKS: www.sballiance.net.au https://www.strategiclposolutions.com.au/   https://www.futurelab.legal/

The practise of law is a labour intensive undertaking requiring an in depth understanding of the law and a high level of proficiency. With approximately 50% of overheads going to labour costs, the profitability of a law firm largely depends on people management. In this episode, Meghan Warren from Burke and Associates speaks with her colleague and former boss, Tony Burke,  about the benefits of outsourcing to Strategic Business Alliance (SBA) and how it has grown to become an intrinsic part of their firm’s infrastructure. With close to 40 years experience in running law firms, Tony is well versed in what is required in the day to day runnings of a legal practice.  Approximately 8 years ago he was encouraged by a practice management consultant to outsource work via digital dictation to SBA’s team in Calcutta, India. Tony shares his experience working with SBA, the benefits of outsourcing and how it works on a practical level. SBA is a local company based in Melbourne with a team of qualified workers in India who undertake tasks such as backhouse research, digital dictation, IT support, marketing, accounts and more.  Tony speaks about the level of expertise and quality of work performed by the team in Calcutta and how his early adoption of outsourcing has helped his firm in numerous ways. LINKS: Website: https://www.sballiance.net.au/ Burke Lawyers: https://www.burkelawyers.com.au/  

We have all been impacted in some way by COVID19. Loss of income, social distancing and home learning has presented many challenges for our society, but what about the people who were already living in poverty?  How has this pandemic affected the men, women and children living on the streets? Our guest today is Rev. Bill Crews, founder of Exodus Foundation, who has worked for 50 years with the homeless. In that time Rev. Bill has not seen much change in the condition of the homeless except for the numbers - an increase in the number of homeless. In this episode, Rev. Bill unveils the seemingly hopeless situation of poverty in Australia and what needs to happen to flatten the curve of homelessness.  COVID19 restrictions have greatly impacted the Exodus Foundation, costing them a staggering $1m per year to change the way they provide their daily meals to the people who need them most.  Rev. Bill shares his concerns regarding mental health, sickness and crime in our society and how the people who are most in need are often the ones who are overlooked. Charitable organisations such as Exodus Foundation are doing a tremendous job but they need our help.  We can all be part of the solution. Youtube: https://youtu.be/tnJ5eKsTk0U Website: https://www.exodusfoundation.org.au Donate To The Exodus Foundation: https://www.exodusfoundation.org.au/donate/ Watch Rev. Bill on ABC Compass

Warrick McLean is the Chief Executive Officer of Coleman Greig Lawyers.  Having worked in the professional services industry for 22 years, he brings a wealth of knowledge to his firm which has undertaken extensive transformation and growth in recent years. Warrick works extensively with the Principals and staff of Coleman Greig to identify, facilitate and implement the firm's strategic direction during this time of change. In this episode, Warrick shares some insights regarding the challenges and opportunities of implementing legal tech, process transformation and being innovative in law firms. Warrick talks about his firm’s experience of using team SBA and how Coleman Greig has adopted an innovation strategy focused on the ‘low hanging fruit’ in the innovation journey. Warrick discusses innovation in legal practices and how to separate hype from real progress in implementing innovation and process transformation. Warrick discusses Coleman Greig’s incremental innovation strategy focused on incremental gains rather than a step jump. With the legal sector, Warrick discusses how to get easy wins in the legal tech journey and the importance of legal tech delivering value for clients and also ease of use. The discussion summarises that legal tech and innovation does not need to be ‘bleeding edge’ or leading edge and can be successful through a 5% to 10% incremental change as part of the innovation journey. LINKS https://www.colemangreig.com.au https://au.linkedin.com/in/warrickmclean https://www.sballiance.net.au/