Faculty photos & biographies

Co-chair

Abby Ewen, IT director, Simmons & Simmons
Abby Ewen has been IT Director at Simmons & Simmons for the past three years. Prior to that she held two senior management roles in the firm’s IT Department. Abby has always worked for law firms since the mid 1980s, and has worked in legal IT for the past 13 years in a variety of roles including training, service delivery and project management.

Simon Thompson, global chief operating officer, Linklaters
Simon has been at Linklaters for 14 years, becoming Director of ISS in 2001. Simon developed Linklaters’ information systems technology, organisation and governance strategy, leading to the true globalisation of IT services across the firm. Between 2001 and 2003 Simon was responsible for a global/firm-wide implementation of SAP (‘Programme Armstrong’) encompassing finance, practice management, client relationship management and human resources. This was the first full implementation of SAP within the legal industry. In April 2007, he was appointed as Global Chief Operating Officer, responsible for leading all of Linklaters’ Business Services globally. Simon’s role as COO is to provide leadership to Business Services globally, to coordinate the activities of Business Services and to provide the integrated support to the practice that will ensure that Linklaters’ firm-wide strategy is successfully implemented. Since becoming Global COO, Simon has initiated an ongoing program of change aimed at achieving globalisation of services, increased innovation, greater cost effectiveness and improved quality in Business Services.

Speakers

Sandy Begbie, director HR & corporate responsibility, AEGON
2007: appointed HR Director for AEGON UK in August 2007.
2000: joined Scottish Power, where, as HR Director, he successfully led the company through a significant period of change, including a major change programme within the HR function. He also held responsibility for leadership, management and talent development, business change and organisation development.
Previous roles included Head of Organisational Business Change, also at Scottish Power, and Head of Training at Royal Bank of Scotland.
Sandy is an elected member of the Wharton Business School Executive Education Advisory Board in the US and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland. He is also a non-executive director with the Scottish Government.

Richard Bennett, group general manager, legal and compliance, HSBC
Career to date: 1976-79 - assistant solicitor with Stephenson Harwood; 1979-88 - assistant group legal adviser with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking corporation; 1988-92 - deputy group legal adviser with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking corporation; 1993-97 - head of legal and compliance for Asia-Pacific with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking corporation; 1998 to date — head of legal and compliance with HSBC Holdings.

Peter Birley, director of IT, Browne Jacobson
Peter Birley is Director of Information Technology and Head of Business Operations for top 100 law firm, Browne Jacobson LLP. He was responsible for the introduction of a three-year rolling IT strategy aligned with the business and a Business Process Improvement methodology to assist in the drive for efficiency.

Peter is an experienced IT Management professional and has held senior IT positions in the legal, high technology, London insurance market and manufacturing sectors.

One of Peter’s specialities is Programme and Project Management and he holds the highly acclaimed PMP (Project Manager Professional) accreditation as well as being a certified practitioner in the Prince2 project methodology, the MSP (managing successful programmes) methodology and a Six Sigma black belt.

Peter has written a number of articles on IT Management and is a regular speaker at IT events. In 2008 Peter’s blog (www.cioblog.co.uk) on IT Management came second in the Computer Weekly 2008 Blog Awards for the CIO/IT Director category.
Peter is also a Fellow of the Institution of Analyst and Programmers and a Fellow and Chartered IT Professional with the British Computer Society.


Chris Bull, former COO, Osborne Clarke
Responsible for the direction and performance of Integreon delivery centres and operational teams based in the US and UK and for the future growth of operations across Europe and the Americas, Chris joined leading Knowledge and Legal Process Outsourcing business Integreon in February 2009. Opening in the UK in March but already well-established in the US and offshore in India and the Philippines, Integreon offer a range of business service function and legal process outsourcing services to law firms, in-house legal teams and investment banks.

Prior to joining Integreon Chris was the COO at European law firm Osborne Clarke, spending 12 years operating at Board level as the firm grew its UK and international presence. A Chartered Accountant and former Management Consultant Chris has also worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and NatWest Bank.

Ted Burke, chief executive, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
Ted is Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's chief executive and was previously managing partner for the firm's US offices.
A partner in our global energy and infrastructure group, he specialises in various areas within finance and corporate with a particular emphasis on the energy sector. His experience covers projects in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

David Cambria, director of operations, Law Department, Aon Corporation
David Cambria is currently Director of Legal Operations at Aon Corporation and has over 13 years of broad experience in the legal, business, and technology arena. Prior to joining Aon, he was a Manager in Huron Consulting Group’s LBC practice, focused on managing all aspects of the Office of General Counsel. His experience includes integrating technological initiatives with legal consulting services for corporate law departments, law firms, and insurance companies. Specifically, his focus has been on business process improvement, technology assessment and planning, organizational structure analysis, electronic invoicing, time and billing, and matter management selection and implementation. Mr. Cambria has presented at various industry seminars and executive briefings as well as authored several articles for publication.


David Childs, managing partner, Clifford Chance
Specialises in corporate finance, particularly M&A
Managing Partner since 1 May 2006
Partner since 1981
Articled Clifford Chance; Qualified 1976
Sheffield University; University College, London (LLB, LLM)

Simon Davies, managing partner, Linklaters
Simon Davies is Head of Ogier Guernsey’s Litigation Team. He specialises in commercial litigation, contentious trusts, fraud and asset trading, insolvency, administration, receivership, shareholder disputes, breaches of fiduciary duty, professional negligence, mediation and arbitration. Simon was admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales in 1993 and is an Advocate of the Royal Court of Guernsey in 2004. Prior to joining Ogier, Simon worked at another Channel Islands law firm and had gained 10 years experience at Ashurst in London, where he was involved in all manner of commercial disputes with a specialist interest in commercial and insurance-related disputes. During his time at Ashurst he was seconded for 14 months to Hashidate Law Office, Tokyo, Japan. Simon is a member of the Royal Court Civil Procedure Rules Review Committee in Guernsey and was one of the draughtsmen of the Royal Court Civil Rules 2007, which came into force on 4th February 2008. The 2008 Edition of “The Legal 500” quoted Simon as being “Head and shoulders above the other Guernsey lawyers – first-rate technical ability together with very sound judgement”.


David Fitch, director of knowledge management, Simmons & Simmons
David takes responsibility for the firms professional support, information services and client knowhow functions including the award-winning online legal resource, elexica.

Jane Galvin, head of professional services, Barclays Commercial Bank
Jane Galvin has led teams of Bankers for over 20 years within a Retail and Corporate Environment. With a wealth of banking experience Jane has led teams of up to 200 employees through challenging times.

Currently Head of Professional Services for Barclays Jane works with 60% of the major Law and Accountancy Firms providing capital for expansive operations across the Globe. Her team of 18 London Based Directors specifically advise and work with London firms to identify strategic opportunities for change. Jane and her team use Forward Thinking Strategies to set the benchmark within the banking industry.

Prior to this role Jane led the Retail & Wholesale Corporate Banking Team and has been able to bring a wealth of knowledge of the sector into the Professional Services Industry, particularly identifying how the role of the Internet can change the dimension of the current market within which we operate.

Whilst leading the Media team Jane had the opportunity for hosting many commercial events at the Film and TV festivals in Cannes and will always look back at this role as one of the best!

When not working Jane enjoys time with her partner and two sons in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.

Maninder Gill, legal & HR director, Harvey Nichols
Maninder is responsible for managing the legal and human resources departments of the companies in the Harvey Nichols group of companies and advises on its overseas expansion programme.
He was previously Group Secretary and Legal Director at Northern and Shell Plc during which time it purchased Express Newspapers and was also closely involved in the case OK! Magazine, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas brought against Hello! Magazine.
Maninder has been named in the Lawyer Magazine’s Top 100 lawyer list and has been nominated for In-house Lawyer of the Year. Cited in various legal directories including Legal 500 and a Chambers Guide which described him as a top in-house lawyer with a reputation for fighting “tooth and nail”. He is a solicitor and was also called to the Bar in 1992. He has an LL.M in Intellectual Property, speaks regularly at conferences and is on the Times newspaper's panel of experts.

Jon Gould, IT director, Burges Salmon

Paul Heywood, IT director, Field Fisher Waterhouse
Paul began his career at Ford Motor Company implementing pan-European applications and cross-functional databases. He escaped automotive manufacturing by studying for an MBA at Henley Management College, graduating with the ‘NB Selection’ prize for his work on IS Strategy. After consulting with Ernst & Young, Paul joined L’Oréal as IT Manager for two divisions and, as a member of the Management Committee, worked closely with the business to replace their core business applications. Paul moved to WHSmith News as Enterprise Programme Manager supporting their (ultimately unsuccessful!) National Distribution strategy. He joined Allen & Overy in 2001 as Head of Global IT Solutions with responsibility for A&Os Global IT Programmes, including their Virtual File (Omnia) and their move to Bishops Square. In 2007 Paul joined Field Fisher Waterhouse as IT director.

Peter Hickman, chief financial officer, Linklaters
Peter is the Global CFO of Linklaters whom he joined in February 2009. At Linklaters he is responsible for the global finance function and sits on the firm’s Executive Committee. Prior to joining Linklaters Peter had senior finance roles at HBOS and Ernst & Young. At HBOS where he was head of Group Finance his role covered core finance areas including accounting, tax and financial systems. Prior to that Peter worked at Ernst & Young for 19 years – the last eight as an audit and consulting partner for investment banks and trading houses.

David Jabbari, COO, Barlow Lide & Gilbert
David is a qualified solicitor with degrees in law from Warwick and Oxford Universities. He joined BLG in 2009 as a partner and the firm's first Chief Operating Officer. Prior to that he was an Associate Director at Allen & Overy and in 2004 became the firm's Global Head of Knowledge Management, having originally joined the firm in 2002 as the Global Head of Knowledge Management for the firm's International Capital Markets practice. David's earlier professional roles include being a member of the Board of Management of the College of Law and the Director of the College's commercial training businesses. David was also a Director at Bird & Bird and jointly owned a company established by the partners of Bird & Bird to commercialise electronic learning in the legal sector. David has written widely on these issues and formerly was a consultant to a number of law firms.

Meirion Jones, executive director, clients & markets, Reed Smith
At Reed Smith Meirion is responsible ensuring that the firm’s relationships with its key clients are successfully maintained and developed. This is achieved through a range of key account management disciplines including strategic client planning, face-to-face feedback, research into the key issues and challenges facing clients and their market sectors and added value services.

Prior to Reed Smith’s merger with London-based Richards Butler, Meirion was the latter’s Director of Marketing. A client service specialist, he sat on that firm’s management board.

Before joining Richards Butler he spent four years at Lovells, where he was worldwide director of business development. He moved into professional services in 1990, first with successive PR and marketing roles at Coopers & Lybrand and, more recently, in a senior business development role with Allen & Overy.

Chris Kenny, chief executive, Legal Services Board

Simon Kosminsky, IT director, SJ Berwin
Simon Kosminsky has been an IT Director within the legal sector for the last 18 years. At SJ Berwin LLP Simon is a member of the Management Committee and has specific responsibility for IT and Telecommunications across all offices. He previously worked for 7 years in a range of IT positions within the public sector and is the author of a book - “Computers: Who Needs Them” (1988) - and numerous articles in technical and business journals. He has two children aged 20 and 17.
Simon was IT Director of the Year at the 2006 Legal IT Forum and he and his team won the award for Technology Implementation of the Year 2007 (for their e-filing project) at the Legal Technology Awards. He has also been a medallist for the British Computer Society Individual Excellence Award and the Deloitte IT Director of the Year.


Paul Lippe, CEO, Legal OnRamp
Paul Lippe is the CEO of the Legal OnRamp, a Silicon Valley based initiative founded in cooperation with Cisco Systems to improve legal quality and efficiency through collaboration, automation and process re-engineering. Other founders of Legal OnRamp include Mark Chandler from Cisco, Ralph Baxter from Orrick, Jeff Carr from FMC, and David Johnson, formerly CEO of CounselConnect.

From 1992-1999, Paul Lippe was an executive at Synopsys, an electronic design automation company. During that time Synopsys grew from $63MM to $800MM in revenue. Paul was at various times Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and ran Business Development and Corporate Marketing.

John Lucy, HR director, Simmons & Simmons
John Lucy is the Global HR Director of Simmons & Simmons where he oversees the provision of generalist HR support - reward, resourcing and development, as well as diversity - to 1800 staff in over 20 locations. John is an HR generalist with over 25 years experience in industry, the past 15 of which have been in Professional Service Firms. His areas of expertise are Development and Change Management, both of which feature highly in the Firmwide Business Plan and HR strategy for Simmons & Simmons over the next three years. John began his career with British Aerospace before moving to Schlumberger and then Sterling Health. The past 15 years have seen his focus switch from manufacturing/FMCG to Professional Service Firms having been HR Director with Ernst & Young and Herbert Smith before Simmons & Simmons. John is also an accredited coach and qualified mediator.

Laurence Milsted, finance director, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer

Jennie Monon, head of HR, Operations & Banking, ING Group
Jennie Monon is currently the Head of HR, Operations & IT Banking following her recent role as Global Head of Talent Management for ING Group. Previous to these roles, Jennie was HR Director for the green field organisation of ING Direct in the UK, building this organisation from scratch to being #5 in the FT’s Best Workplaces List of 2007. Jennie is a career veteran of Hewlett Packard holding senior Business Consulting roles before moving into Human Resources in the early 90s. Jennie has held positions in Compensation & Benefits; Learning & Development and Business Partnerships at country, European and Global Levels in both small software houses and major corporations. Jennie will provide an insight into the talent process for 130,000 staff, brokering and moving talent across the globe and the implementation of new succession planning techniques at ING.

Daniel Pollick, chief information officer, DLA Piper
Daniel Pollick has been Global CIO of DLA Piper since the three way integration of DLA, Piper Rudnick and Gray Cary in 2005. Prior to that he was IT Director at DLA. A Philosophy, Politics and Economics graduate of Oxford university, his early career was spent in consultancy and the energy industry.

Andrew Powell, director of IT, Nabarro
Andrew is responsible for setting and implementing the firm's IT strategy and works closely with the firm's partners and senior management. A chartered member of the BCS with experience in the banking and dotcom sectors, he has spent the last decade leading legal technology teams.

Jeff Roberts, director of IT, Norton Rose

Kate Stanfield, head of knowledge management, CMS Cameron McKenna
Kate Stanfield is the Head of Knowledge Management at CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, a leading European law firm advising businesses, financial institutions, public sector bodies and governments. CMS Cameron McKenna is a member of CMS, the organisation of independent European law and tax firms of choice for organisations based in, or looking to move into, Europe. CMS delivers client-focused services through a joint strategy executed locally across 28 countries with 54 offices in Western and Central Europe and beyond.

Knowledge Management has been argued to provide competitive advantage, financial return and improved quality of product. New technologies enable this to be performed to a higher level than ever before, but what the business actually needs, how people might use those systems, how good the content is and how it is all organised and maintained can be the deciding factor in whether a system is successful and brings benefit to the business or not. With 20 years experience of working in a knowledge role within Law firms, and 7 years before that in public and business libraries Kate has experienced the development and process of KM in all of it’s glory and it’s restrictions. She enjoys the chance to explore innovative solutions that respond to the need of the business and our external clients, and was highly commended in the 2008 FT Innovative Lawyers Awards.

Kate has implemented several knowledge systems, collaborative systems, and other solutions, and believes firmly in tailored provision. She has helped clients with knowledge and information services, from knowledge sharing audits, helping to create a knowledge strategy, through to developing knowledge systems, improving intranets and developing taxonomy for the business.

Donald de Witte, regional IT manager, Cisco