Legally on the Move: Mercedes World - Stefano Pratesi - E03

0:00Welcome to a special brand new mini-series of the Legally Speaking podcast. Legally on the move, Mercedes world powered by Clio. The engine driving the future of legal tech and innovation. I'm your host Rob Hanna and in this three-part mini-series we're coming to you live from Mercedes-Benz world but drive to thrive. The future for mid-sized law firms. Mid-sized firms are the powerhouse of the legal industry. But with rising client demands, fast-moving tech and fierce competition, how can they stay ahead? We've lined up an incredible cast of legal leaders, innovators and special guests, including rally champion Penny Mallory, all tackling one big question.

0:39How the midsize firms drive real innovation and sustainable growth across this series. We'll dive into breaking tech barriers, building change ready cultures and creating future proof strategies, all with a little adrenaline on the side. So buckle up, folks. It's time to drive to thrive right here, right now in Mercedes-Benz World.

1:01Stefano Pratesi:I am joined by name, title and organisation please. Hello, my name is Stefano Protesi and I'm the MDM founder of SP1 IT Solutions. Absolutely, I'm just a true legal community champion of others and we're big fans here at the League's Theme Podcast. It's nice we've actually been able to do this. But first things first, tell us a little bit more about your business. Yes, sure. So we've been working with Clio for a long time since they came to the EMEA market. And we specialize in document migration and legal solutions for law firms. We work with them and I've worked in the legal space for a few years.

1:42Stefano Pratesi:You could tell from my face. And it's been really interesting to see the changes. Perfect. And yourself, background wise, give us a bit of a overview. you yeah so myself i've been in the legal market for a while as you know i was an it director for a law firm for a while and then had this brilliant idea set up on my own uh five six years ago and that's how sp1 only solution started yeah and it's been a huge success story and we've had a chance to uh go around the world together for some of these clear events from austin nashville and we've got boston coming up um but today we're focusing around driving innovation of course because we're at Mercedes-Benz World.

2:18So what does driving innovation mean to you in the context of mid-sized law firms?

2:24Stefano Pratesi:Yeah, so this is a particularly amazing venue, as you can see. We're a Mercedes World, the mecca of technology and innovation for cars. And I think for a lot of the legal space, the automation and the way that law firms now can optimize what they do and how they do things and the type of customer service they're sort of deliver i think that's probably what is most important for a lot of them yeah and you know it's competitive because everyone's looking into technology so how can law firm leaders and lawyers who see legal technology as something they need to embrace but embrace it so they stay competitive that's a good question i think uh at the moment there's a big eye about ai and how technology can make law firms more efficient more productive i think the uh the main thing at the moment is there are a lot of startups scale up a lot of companies that they push products i think the important thing is like people like clio that they have a really good foundation and good sort of backing in terms of financial so they can develop their products and services in a way that allows them to just build on what they have and continually growth instead of just doing something and then pausing it because they might run out of money or they might run out of ideas yeah no what well said um we're always looking forwards and you know an innovative drive to thrive event so what again can you give us maybe one or two pieces of advice for law firm leaders particularly that mid-size looking to future-proof their practice what would you say to that yeah so i think the main drive at the moment is about speed of which you know documents can be reviewed so especially within the legal contract reviews so we see products that are coming out here and they just have the type of analytics that it will take a lawyer a long time to do and this is all like computer driven and also i think in terms of a part of the automation so anything that is a repetitive task if you can automate and you can get a machine to do it i think that will save the lawyer the time to invest in customer care and also think about what they need to do for their clients.

5:00And for your clients then, what are like the most common questions or problems they have that you're specifically solving, again, for folks listening in that might be having similar pain points?

5:12Stefano Pratesi:Well, top of the list is going to be cybersecurity. It's a big topic. So, you know, innovation and legal is good, but I think cybersecurity is key. And, you know, again, And companies, big companies, they invest heavily in securing the system. They've got an advantage. The other thing is about making sure that they have a pulse on what the client wants and the feedback. Because it's all good having a good service. But if you don't get feedback from the clients, it's always difficult to measure. Yeah. And what's your view generally on the legal technology market? As someone who's obviously very rich in this space, You know, there's new things cropping up all the time.

5:52Again, if you're a law firm owner or you're a lawyer and you're thinking about this, you can probably get a little bit overwhelmed. So just talk us through your thoughts and maybe some steps people should think about if they're going to engage with legal technology providers. I like the overwhelms.

6:06Stefano Pratesi:Well chosen words. I think, yes, it is a minefield. And as you know, we all know there's mergers and acquisitions. There's people buying different companies every day. Some are quite transparent, some less transparent. There is a lot of movement around the legal market because of the market is getting tougher. AI has made, you know, different products a bit more efficient. So I think do your due diligence. Don't stop at the sale pitch. Just make sure you invest the time and resources to look at the product. Look at the roadmap, not only what they can do today, but what they can do in the future.

6:45Stefano Pratesi:but also make sure that those people or those companies can deliver what they sort of preach for because a lot of people they say oh he's in the roadmap but then it never happened so make sure that you trust the company is around has been around for a while and then you can just have that type of confidence that they're going to deliver in the future yeah no well said okay now talking about the event you know what have you most enjoyed about being here at mercedes-benz world you know clio seemed to keep putting on a great event after great event yeah clio has always been amazing for like the choice of venues uh i think the uh the talks i thought they were really quite enlightening in a way that they were sort of come from the heart right the clients truly offensive i know the partners the authenticity of it is really good it's nice to hear that not everything goes smooth but there are things could be improved and you know if you trust a partner that's how partnership work right yeah what things work um i think the the lady about mindfulness and how strong-minded you need to be to be successful that was interesting the rally driver for me you know it's a good spot because i love cars and i can resonate in what she was saying about you know being the only female rally driver ever to make it to the competitive and the new product clear has got nice products we're not going to do a spoiler because you know there are some in the pipeline but also for people to see what has been developed how it's been developed and how much the product has come along i think is really really good for people to to add yeah and really well said and i thought penny was a wonderful speaker and we've had trevor sterling come on to the show before who um runs the be the ladder you know if you can't see the ladder be the ladder and she was very much the ladder um for her world in terms of the rally racing side of things so sticking with cars then you love cars are you looking forward to going on track day is this uh something you've done before what are you most excited about on that front i'm not gonna say anything because you know when you say is you rubbish yesterday we were an event on a simulator and i was in the fastest i was always some uh but yes really looking forward to it is a brilliant venue i've been here before i'm a ferrari fan so you know the red behind me here is my favorite color but uh yeah no for sure it's going to be a really interesting venue and i bet yeah no definitely we're big fans of red as you can say here at the league of seeing podcast this has been awesome so good to finally make this happen if folks want to know more about you or indeed your business where can they go to find out more shout out any websites from your social media handles yeah so you can have a look at our website sp1idsolutions.com that's where you find all the information what we do and why we're good at what we're doing and uh otherwise you can reach me stefano prattesi there are not many italian on linkedin uh and uh yeah reach out ping me a message but rob thank you very much for having us on your amazing podcast and people keep following because uh it's interesting yeah no thank you so much from all of us here recording live at mercedes world over and out that's a wrap for legally on the move mercedes world powered by Cleo.

9:56Over the past three minisodes, we've explored how mid-sized firms can stay ahead in a world of rising client demands, fast-moving tech, and shifting competition. From breaking down legal tech barriers to building change-ready cultures to embracing strategies for sustainable growth, our guests have shown that innovation isn't optional, it's essential. And of course, we couldn't leave you without a nod to the AMG track and the legendary G-Wagon Off-Road Challenge, proving that law like driving is all about skill, adaptability and daring to take the wheel. A huge thank you to our guests, to Mercedes-Benz World, for the adrenaline drop and to our partners at Clio, the engine driving the future of legal tech and innovation.

10:40If you enjoyed this special series, don't forget to subscribe to the Legally Speaking podcast wherever you listen and join us on our journey to inspire legal minds and transform legal futures. Until next time, keep driving change, keep pushing forward. And remember, the future of law is already here. Over and out.