Sam Ip, Sophie Amyot
Feb 7, 2022
Osler is pleased to announce iAgree as the winning prototype from the 2021 Osler Workshop: Design Sprint. iAgree is a web-based self-help solution that would empower founders of AI companies to negotiate their own contracts. iAgree features a masterclass in AI negotiations and a companion interactive checklist incorporating additional resources. The solution was developed by Team EarlyBird, which included Osler associates Sam Ip and Sophie Amyot as well as summer web development intern Shaya Selincourt.
Working with Ryerson’s Legal Innovation Zone (LIZ), Osler Workshop held the remote Design Sprint across all six of the firm’s offices in the fall of 2021. The Design Sprint provided a fun, collaborative opportunity for Osler legal professionals to build a solution to improve efficiency, productivity and work happiness levels in their day-to-day practice.
Teams participating in the Workshop began by identifying pain points in their regular practice, including task tracking, process management and discovery limitations. Using a design-thinking process, they then developed and prototyped their solutions which ranged from high-tech search engines to simple checklist-style documents that could improve daily practice. The Design Sprint culminated in a showcase of 11 prototypes where firm members voted for the solutions they considered most impactful and promising.
The Design Sprint demonstrates Osler’s commitment to transform the ways in which our legal professionals work to continually improve client value and service experience.
A screenshot of the winning prototype, iAgree, in action.
“The support provided by Osler’s Design Sprint to critically evaluate pain points in our legal practice and to build a working, usable, technology solution was invaluable,” says Sam of the experience.
“While critically evaluating an opportunity is often the first step, actually building out the solution allowed us to test the feasibility of our idea, to learn about the kinds of solutions that we can produce within the firm, and to show — and not just tell — their utility to clients.”
Our legal professionals brought tremendous energy and creativity to the Design Sprint. As an important part of the firm’s focus on innovation, Osler Workshop will continue to assess the potential to deliver value to our clients through the development of iAgree and other prototypes into fully formed, technology-enabled solutions.
“It was terrific to see so many of our colleagues from across the firm drawn into the energy of a Design Sprint and working together to build real solutions for our clients,” says Gillian Scott, partner, Innovative Products. “Empowering our legal professionals to stop and focus not just on their work but on the way they work and the ways in which they deliver work product gave the Osler Workshop plenty of food for thought and execution!”
“The engagement and contributions of our legal professionals are proven strengths of Osler’s innovation program,” adds Simon Wormwell, Osler’s Chief Knowledge & Innovation Officer. “The Design Sprint is the latest example of our practice teams bringing their experience and expertise to bear on continued improvement in service delivery to our clients.”