K&L Gates to Launch Firm-, Client-Focused Speaker Series on Innovation

Seattle - Global law firm K&L Gates LLP is launching a new innovation-focused speaker series for clients and members of the firm with a June 14 inaugural discussion from Duncan Wardle, former head of innovation and creativity for Disney. Entitled “TALKING INNOVATION—Imagine. Develop. Experiment. Act.,” the series seeks to inspire participants in developing ideas and embracing innovation by hearing from creative thinkers sharing their insights from both inside and outside the legal lens.
 
The speaker series is presented by K&L Gates’ “IDEA Group,” a joint committee of lawyers and allied professionals across numerous departments, levels, and offices throughout the firm’s global platform dedicated to identifying and furthering the innovation taking place throughout the firm to enhance the value offered to clients. In addition to helping to foster the firm’s culture of innovation and ensuring that ideas that improve efficiency and client service are elevated to senior leadership for consideration and implementation, the group also includes among its objectives educating others across the firm and K&L Gates’ clients about the firm’s existing and future innovative endeavors.

“K&L Gates embraces opportunities to gain unique and fresh perspective from outside of the legal paradigm to fortify our ability to provide clients with creative, innovative, and impactful solutions,” said Seattle partner Julie Anne Halter, who chairs the firm’s IDEA Group. “The IDEA Group is thrilled to host Duncan Wardle, one of the most innovative thinkers from one of the most innovative companies in the modern era, to support and inspire our lawyers, allied professionals, and clients as we continue our collaborative efforts to drive opportunities to positively transform legal services and solutions.”

The IDEA Group follows the firm’s strong belief that meaningful innovation occurs where people, process, and product intersect. K&L Gates has invested heavily in the people aspect of innovation, with teams certified in such areas as change management, design thinking, project management, and process improvement. This combination of advanced skill sets permits the firm’s teams to engage at a higher level and across disciplines and professions in order to bring the full range of talent and perspectives to the table when solving clients’ most pressing business issues.

Last fall, K&L Gates was the recipient of the “Law Firm of the Year” award at The Changing Lawyer Awards – an annual program honoring firms and others in the legal industry for their willingness to embrace and drive change – in recognition of the numerous innovative client and firm solutions K&L Gates implemented in response to challenges created, in part, by the Covid-19 pandemic and other societal and industry conditions. Earlier in the year, the firm was also selected as a finalist in Microsoft’s most recent legal business design challenge focused on legal services partnerships and delivery.