Patrick Hurley has been with Thomson Reuters for over 25 years, beginning as a customer service manager and working his way to the top of the corporate hierarchy, where he is currently the Vice President of Global Specialty Support.
Before joining Thomson Reuters, Patrick worked for many technology firms, such as Elite Information Systems, where he served as the product manager for Elite’s then leading-edge products Workflow and WebView.
In this episode, Patrick Hurley talks:
- Effects of COVID and digitisation
- Future Strategy at Thomson Reuters
- What Do Lawyers Want?
- 29 Years of Tech Evolution
Show notes
- Intro (00:00)
Patrick Hurley is the Vice President of Global Specialty Support at Thomson Reuters and joins us to discuss a range of topics including digitisation within the legal industry, future strategy, what it is that lawyers want and cloud technology.
- Effects of Covid and Digitisation (2:46)
Patrick Hurley dives deep into digitisation, the ability to work from anywhere in the world and the high-level security of cloud technology. Patrick and David reflect on how lawyers have become more familiar and comfortable with technology as a result of Covid.
“People realised [digitisation is] actually quite efficient and safe from a security and data privacy perspective. The technology was there to support us.”
- Future Strategy at Thomson Reuters (6:45)
Patrick Hurley talks about the importance of an open platform in which users can easily connect with a partner ecosystem without the need for heavy coding. With so many software solutions available, it is important to focus on making the life of the end-user more comfortable.
“The other is the concept of open platforms and the ability to connect with a partner ecosystem, with your clients’ clients. […] Just the systems talking to each other in an open and easy to configure manner, I think that’s the way of the future.”
- What Do Lawyer Want? (9:25)
Patrick highlights a key desire of lawyers in all fields, which is to simply practice law. That is the reason many legal professionals started their career, but as they soon find out, there are a number of administrative and mundane tasks they are forced to undertake. Patrick shares how Thomson Reuters is helping to reduce these tasks to allow lawyers to focus on practicing the law.
“Anything that we can do to remove that extra stuff, the boring stuff that comes with any job, anything we can do to reduce the number of clicks, to reduce the number of systems they log in to, to make it easier and easier to get the noise of the way and just practice law.”
- 29 Years of Tech Evolution (16:25)
Patrick’s amazing career expands beyond his time at Thomson Reuters but having spent 29 years with the company, he has seen a great deal of technological evolution. He reflects on his professional journey so far and the changes he has witnessed in the legal industry during this time.
“I constantly surprise myself with how the constant change and evolution of the market and of the organisation keeps my interested and challenged. […] I think this is the most exciting time in legal technology.”
Shaped for Law is a CTS-produced podcast series that takes you on a journey into the minds of legal tech leaders and innovators. Follow the link below for more episodes with CTS In-House Legal CIO, David Fazakerley, as he explores the state – and the future – of legal technology.
