Melissa Lyon

Innovator, Design Thinker

Executive Director & Experience Designer at Hive Legal

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Melissa Lyon is Executive Director and Experience Designer of Hive Legal, a boutique law firm based in Melbourne, Australia. She is committed to improving the experience for those who receive legal services and all of those who work in our industry. 

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We talk about how innovation starts with prioritising the experience for clients and for your people. This is the essence of human-centred design and is Mel's guiding principle and what makes Hive Legal successful.

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Bio

Show notes

Links

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Bio:

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Mel Lyon is Executive Director and Experience Designer of Hive Legal, a boutique law firm based in Melbourne, Australia. She is a former lawyer and now a recognised legal innovator, having won an award for Innovator of the Year in 2020. 

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She is committed to improving the experience for those who receive legal services and all of those who work in our industry. She consults on Design Thinking, Innovation, Legal operations, NewLaw business models and Value pricing.
 

She was formerly a partner of a law firm and held senior business development roles at a top tier legal firm.

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Show notes:

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• [2:00] Mel explains how innovation was built into every component of Hive from its inception.
• [3:42] Hive not only has removed time sheets to focus on outputs but allows completely flexible remote working practices.
• [5:40] The nub of Hive's innovation is its human-centred design - for clients and its people.  The legal profession tends to jump to high-tech solutions and efficiencies instead of focussing on the people experience.
• [9:19] Mel gives an example of how Hive with its flat structure brings in the right components of expertise (tech and design-thinking) to improve client experience in a contract approval process. 
• [13:25] Mel talks about Hive's purpose to improve the experience for its team and clients and her own purpose to give people a fulfilling career early on.
• [14:59] Authenticity gives rise to creativity which breeds an innovative culture. 
• [17:20] We talk about healthy cross-pollination and innovation within firms which traditional law firms have barriers around.
• [20:24] Mel explains how at Hive everyone has input into strategy which leads to true inclusiveness. Everyone's voice is heard which motivates everyone to contribute time and energy to the betterment of the firm.
• [24:57] Big Law will always have a place for large scale legal matters but New Law is already contributing to the legal ecosystem.
• [27:09] As a New Law firm, Hive offers a unique training model for graduates in highly specialised areas with the same type of work as Big Law but in a different model. Young lawyers now can also think about allied legal areas and building their career in a completely bespoke way.
• [31:26] Hive intends to expand its consulting model which involves bringing its successful innovative ideas to the broader legal ecosystem including other law firms, clients and regulators.

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Links:

 

Hive Legal: hivelegal.com.au

My podcast episode with Matthew Burgess

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The Quote Investigator's investigation of who actually said: They May Forget What You Said, But They Will Never Forget How You Made Them Feel 

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