Technobabble: Abby Ewen
Simmons & Simmons' Abby Ewen on luddite lawyers, Hollywood lies and her love for Linkin Park
May 27, 2009 at 10:34 PM
2 minute read
Simmons & Simmons' Abby Ewen on luddite lawyers, Hollywood lies and her love for Linkin Park
How did you end up working at a law firm? I did A-level law and Institute of Legal Executives exams at college. I have only ever worked for law firms.
What is the most important piece of technology/software every law firm should have? URL filtering software to stop naughty people looking at naughty things.
What is your favourite personal gadget? My iPod. I couldn't live without music.
Should lawyers be let loose with IT? Only 'recovering' lawyers who no longer practise law.
What is the biggest misunderstanding lawyers have about IT? That its speed/scope/ability is like that shown in Hollywood movies.
What was your worst day on the job? There have been lots of days from hell over the years but the most important thing is to keep it all in perspective.
To what extent can the work and running of the modern law firm be commoditised by IT programmes? To a huge extent. It is not the technology that is the challenge here, however, it is the change in lawyers' working practices. It will happen.
What keeps you awake at night? Nothing. I sleep very well.
What is your least favourite bit of jargon? 'Let me reach out to you so we can reconnect'. Aaaaaaaaargh. Only said by Americans.
Can/should functions such as IT be outsourced at law firms? Yes and no – there is no easy answer to this. We should look at sensible rightsourcing for all functions to get value for money and high levels of service delivery.
What is going to be the biggest challenge for law firm IT departments over the next 12 months? Keeping staff motivated.
What's on your iPod at the moment? Linkin Park, Nickelback and Pink.
Abby Ewen is IT director at Simmons & Simmons and will be chairing Legal Week's annual Strategic Technology Forum next month. For more information on this year's programme, which has the theme 'Strategic thinking in a challenging market – preparing for the upturn', please visit http://www.strategictechnologyforum.com/ or contact [email protected].
Visit Legal Week's Dealmaker archive to read more profiles.
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