Incubators
The CLI Innovation Incubator Program 2022/23 will open for applications in January 2023.
If you would like to express your interest in joining the Program, please complete the EOI here.
Overview
The CLI Innovation Incubator Program provides an opportunity for applicants to conceive, develop and launch an innovation project in their law firm, legal department, Alternative Legal Service Provider (ALSP), or community legal centre with the online support of Specialist Coaches in 8 group coaching circle sessions with participant Project Leaders over 9 months from August 2021 to April 2022.
Participation in the Incubator is free.
In 2021, applications are being invited for projects from Asia, Australia and New Zealand, in one of four areas: client centred design, redefining value, building a digital strategy, or legal workforce 2025.
Participation in the Innovation Incubator Program is by application and it is a competitive process. We will choose 4 projects in each area for a total of 16 projects in the Innovation Incubator Program 2021/22. Preference will be given to law firms/legal departments/community legal centres/ALSPs who have individuals as members of CLI’s Legalpreneurs Lab. Membership of the Lab is free and there is still time to apply here.
ENGAGED PARTICIPATION
The Innovation Incubator Program is for organisations and not individuals.
The project that participants work on in the Incubator is chosen BY and for YOUR law firm/legal department/community legal centre/ALSP. It’s something you want to change or solve for your clients, your staff or your firm/organisation. It’s important.
Places are limited so, we want to make sure if you are in the Incubator, you’re all in - here’s what that means:
- Your Project Leader is expected to attend and actively contribute to EACH coaching session each month
- Unexpected emergencies to one side, any Project Leader who misses more than one coaching circle session, will be asked to withdraw their project from the Innovation Incubator Program
- Your Project Leader is expected to attend EACH one of the six-week intensive Incubator Booster Series sessions (more on that below)
- Your Project Leader and project team will need to have the time and resources to progress the project
Please DO NOT apply to the Innovation Incubator Program if you are unable to fulfill these commitments.
SIX-WEEK INTENSIVE INCUBATOR BOOSTER SERIES
This intensive is comprised of a series of webinars hosted by global leaders in legal innovation – you’ll get to learn from those who have been there and done it and will share their experience with you.
The objectives of the 6-week intensive are to assist you in:
- Thinking differently
- Designing your project with the user in mind
- Helping to identify, effectively and efficiently allocate the right resources for your project
- Building buy inside and outside your organisation
- Thinking about the project outputs and ROI for your organisation.
We will run the first three sessions of the intensive in August 2021 and schedule your first coaching circle towards the end of that month. We’ll follow on with the second three sessions in September and your second coaching circle in the last week of that month too. You'll find the full schedule here.
As the end of the intensive, you should have redeveloped, refined or reaffirmed the framework for your project, and you’ll know where to go next to start moving ahead with it.
In the Application Form, you will be asked to confirm your availability for this series.
COACHING CIRCLES
The Innovation Incubator Specialist Coaches check in with the incubator participant Project Leaders via video conference in what we refer to as a coaching circle. Your amazing Coaches for each area are:
| Area | Specialist Coaches |
| 1. Client Centred Design focusing on how user centred design can be applied to understand the client journey, minimising or removing client pain points, and enhancing client experience to the level that your clients become the best advocates for your legal services and products |
Bronwyn Eynon-Lewis Melissa Lyon |
| 2. Redefining value focusing on how pricing can transform your firm and your relationship with your clients; new key predictive indicators, metrics and compensation models for timeless law firms in the 2020’s |
John Chisholm Michael Morrissey |
| 3. Building a Digital Strategy focusing on developing the right tech stack for your clients, people and practice; knowing how, when and where to use data to support decision making in your practice; how your digital strategy connects to and integrates with your business strategy and performance goals; and leading and managing the change management process that links all of this together. |
Jemima Harris Gene Turner |
| 4. Legal Workforce 2025 focusing on the future of legal work; the integration of digital and human labour; working differently and doing different work; the changing nature and incidence of internal communications; the use of technology in internal communication and collaboration; the needs and capabilities of a multidisciplinary workforce; and the consequent impact on talent recruitment, relearning/learning, retention and retrenchment. |
Jan Christie |
In these coaching circle sessions, the Specialist Coaches chat with the Project Leaders as a group, to see how the projects are developing, ask Project Leaders to share successes and failures, and together suggest ways to entrench what has worked and keep participants focussed.
The Coaches are there to listen, help Project Leaders get their project unstuck, keep the project moving along, pause and focus on lessons learned, and help Project Leaders through any roadblocks.
The coaching circle sessions are conducted according to a Coaching Code of Conduct (Code). The Code is intended as ground rules for the coaching circle meetings and requires your Project Leader’s agreement to some fundamental behaviours. The Code helps to ensure that everyone is clear about what is expected of them from the outset.
In the Application Form, you will be asked to confirm you have read and agree to the Code. You’ll find the link to a PDF of the Code below.
CLI’s ROLE
CLI will provide admin support to keep you connected to your group, your coach and the Incubator. We won’t provide secretarial support, or make appointments for you, or undertake research or type up your project plan – all that admin and management related to your project will need to be undertaken by you or your firm/organisation - it’s part of the resourcing you will need to consider before you apply to the Innovation Incubator.
APPLICATION PROCESS
Applications can only be made using the Application Form which you will find here. This MUST be submitted online (including all documentation noted for uploading) by 5pm AEST on 5 July.
No extensions will be granted.
Before applying to the Incubator Program, you will need to:
- Watch the Innovation Incubator Program 2021 Information Session on 31 May 2021 at 1pm-2pm AEST here.
- Read the Innovation Incubator FAQ – you’ll be asked to confirm you have read it and accept its terms and conditions in the Application Form. You’ll find a PDF here.
- Read the Innovation Incubator Coaching Code of Conduct - you’ll be asked to confirm you have read it and accept its terms and conditions in the Application Form. You’ll find a PDF here.
APPLICATION ADJUDICATION
Your application will be reviewed and discussed by a panel comprising:
- The Executive Director of the Centre for Legal Innovation;
- The Specialist Coaches in your area; and
- A local practitioner or experienced professional working in the legal or professional services space.
The decision of the panel is final.
Successful applicants will be invited, via email addressed to their nominated Project Leader, to join the Innovation Incubator Program no later than 5pm AEST on 16 July (Friday).
Please make sure our email address does not get caught up in a SPAM filter: LPLab@collaw.edu.au.
The nominated Project Leader of the successful applicant must confirm their firm’s/organisation’s place in the Innovation Incubator Program by 5pm AEST on 20 July (Tuesday). Please address all email communications to: LPLab@collaw.edu.au.
Please also note, if we don’t hear from you in time, we’ll assume you don’t want to take up your place in the Innovation Incubator Program and we will offer it to the first project on the waitlist.
QUESTIONS
If you have any questions about the Innovation Incubator Program 2021/22, please contact Terri Mottershead, Executive Director, CLI: LPLab@collaw.edu.au or by phone 0438 355 427.