especially because there is not a onesize-fits-all answer. In the most renowned academic article about chief innovation officers (CINOs) in lawfirms, indeed, Michele de Stefano points out what everyone in the field knows: CINOs do different things, have different backgrounds and teams, manage different budgets and reach different goals, because they represent how innovation is driven in a specific law firm. Sometimes they work on legal tech products, sometimes on their implementation, and sometimes they are more into trends and market analysis. I would also stress that innovation is much more than having a head dedicated to the role – like having a chief sustainability officer does not mean that your law firm is sustainable, having a CINO does not mean that your firm is innovative. It takes much more than that. You often speak about “innovability” and not innovation. Could you tell us why? I believe that innovation and sustainability are strictly related, and they represent a perfect match. Something like bread and butter, beer andpretzels, or – for Italians like me – pasta and ragù. Without innovation, a law firm cannot be sustainable; without sustainability, there is no law firm at all. I also frequently stress that if we look at the etymology of the word “innovation”, we can notice that it comes from the Latin in and novare. This means that the root of innovation is looking at things from a new perspective, and (more importantly) that tech is not included. So I believe that innovation should be considered in a broad way, including sustainability, which is – quoting LCA’s managing partner – “the key to guaranteeing the intergenerational survival of the law firm, its identity, and its welfare system, so that it goes beyond the lifetime of its founders and maintains the same professional mission”. What are the experiences of LCA in terms of innovability? We are very committed in highlighting that innovability means innovation of thought. For example, we are among the first in Italy to decide to release a social report, which includes our strategy regarding ESGs, but also takes into account several other aspects (innovation, governance, pro bono, WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | JUL 2022 MY LEGAL LIFE - MARCO IMPERIALE 24
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Mjk3Mzkz