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Agenda

Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Concurrent Stream 1
Concurrent Stream 2
ALTACON
8:00 AM - 7:30 PM Registration & Exhibition Opens
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM Prompt Engineering 101 - Across Various Platforms - ALTACON Learning Lab
Same prompt, different platforms: Co-Pilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini. Do you get the same results? When should you use which? A hands-on comparison delegates can replicate at their desk.
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Workshop 1: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Workshop 3: The accountability gap: Practical tools to reduce leader burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
Pre-Summit Workshops & Exhibition Open
8:30am - 10:00am
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM From Prompt to Process - ALTACON Learning Lab
Details Coming Soon
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Smoking Ceremony
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Wednesday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Workshop 1 Continues: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2 Continues: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Pre-Summit Workshops Continue & Exhibition Open
10:45am - 12:00pm
Workshop 3 Continues: The Accountability Gap: Practical Tools to Reduce Leader Burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4 Continues: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Wednesday - Lunch & Exhibition
Meet your local ALPMA committee over lunch at the ALTACON stage.
12:59 PM - 2:40 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session (streamed to ALTACON Stage)
1:00pm - 2:40pm
1:00 PM - 1:10 PM Welcome to Country
1:10 PM - 1:30 PM Welcome to the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit
Join ALPMA President, Stephen van Dorp and Master of Ceremonies, Tess van Duyn as they officially open the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit. In this opening session, Stephen and Tess will welcome delegates, outline the vision for the Summit and set the scene for three days of learning, innovation and collaboration. They'll introduce the key themes shaping this year's program and explore why now is a pivotal moment for legal professionals and firms navigating rapid technological change, evolving client expectations and new opportunities for growth.
1:30 PM - 1:40 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Clio
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM Quantum Leap: Lawyers and Law Firms in the Post-AI World
In the forthcoming decade, relentless global forces, led by the breathtaking advance of artificial intelligence, will render the landscape of the legal sector almost unrecognizable. The culture and infrastructure of law firms will be transformed -- mechanized production systems, lean and diversified workforces, modern pricing and compensation models, new definitions of productivity and value, and more. Lawyers will surrender to AI all the old activities that constituted Legal Production -- but they will forge a more valuable role as the irreplaceable source of Legal Judgment, and they will rediscover the immense rewards of delivering their Legal Duty to society. In this sweeping keynote presentation, renowned legal forecaster Jordan Furlong will narrate the legal sector's impending metamorphosis and offer both a vision of a renewed legal profession built on lawyers' unique human qualities, as well as a blueprint for building the new legal enterprises that will thrive in a post-AI world.
2:40 PM - 2:50 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: NetDocuments
2:50 PM - 3:20 PM
Wednesday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
Wednesday - ALPMA Summit and ALTACON Plenary
3:20 PM - 4:30 PM 		Platinum Partner Presentation: Dye & Durham Welcome to ALTACON 2026
The Psychology Behind High-Performing Law Firms
What enables lawyers, and the firms they work within, to sustain high performance across long and demanding careers? Drawing on psychological research, sector data and practical experience working alongside the judiciary and leading commercial law firms, this keynote explores how individual capability, leadership and organisational systems shape sustainable high performance. Attendees will leave with practical, evidence-based insights to help build environments where lawyers can perform at their best and sustain successful careers. 		Cognitive Offloading vs Cognitive Surrender
AI can lift routine cognitive load, but left unchecked it erodes the legal judgment that defines the profession. Delegates leave with a personal framework for evaluating every session that follows — distinguishing healthy delegation from abdication of judgment.
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session Continues
3:30pm-4:30pm
4:30 PM - 4:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change Afternoon Concurrents
Wednesday Concurrent Session 1
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM 		Adopting AI – Lessons from the Trenches
Most panels on AI and the future of law promise answers. This one does not. Facilitated by Joel Barolsky, this panel brings together senior law firm leaders from across Australia and New Zealand for an in-the-trenches conversation about what they are actually doing, and what they do not yet know. What does a graduate program look like when AI does much of the junior work? How do you price hybrid AI and human services when clients have seen the speed? What does strategy mean when the planning horizon keeps shortening? What does the partnership model look like through a transition no one has been through before? The Summit theme asks what wisdom from the past should accelerate us into the future. This session asks the harder companion question: what are firms doing right now, what are they still working out, and what have they quietly stopped believing in? This will be a session that values honest questions over tidy answers. 		Everything, All at Once: Leading Teams Through Relentless Change
Drawing on real experience leading concurrent programs across technology, compliance, cybersecurity and operations, this session covers the practical, honest and helpful advice that does not make it into the usual change management conversations. It covers how to say no to good ideas to protect capacity, how to get approval for resources when the firm has just spent a fortune, how to create space for small fixable mistakes without normalising poor performance, when to step in and when to trust your team, and how to manage the gap between effort and outcomes without burning everyone out. The session also explores how leaders make their own weather for their teams, the ways behaviour, communication and decisions shape the emotional climate people work in, and the difference between being values-focused versus outcomes-focused as a leader. It is for anyone leading teams through sustained, overlapping change right now, especially those leading IT.
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Wednesday Concurrent Sessions
4:35pm - 5:30pm 		ALTACON Exhibitor Pitch
Details Coming Soon
Wednesday Concurrent Sessions
4:35pm - 5:30pm
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Function
Concurrent Stream 1
Concurrent Stream 2
8:00 AM - 7:30 PM Registration & Exhibition Opens
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Workshop 1: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Workshop 3: The accountability gap: Practical tools to reduce leader burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
Pre-Summit Workshops & Exhibition Open
8:30am - 10:00am
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Smoking Ceremony
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Wednesday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Workshop 1 Continues: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2 Continues: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Pre-Summit Workshops Continue & Exhibition Open
10:45am - 12:00pm
Workshop 3 Continues: The Accountability Gap: Practical Tools to Reduce Leader Burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4 Continues: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Wednesday - Lunch & Exhibition
Meet your local ALPMA committee over lunch at the ALTACON stage.
12:59 PM - 2:40 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session (streamed to ALTACON Stage)
1:00pm - 2:40pm
1:00 PM - 1:10 PM Welcome to Country
1:10 PM - 1:30 PM Welcome to the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit
Join ALPMA President, Stephen van Dorp and Master of Ceremonies, Tess van Duyn as they officially open the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit. In this opening session, Stephen and Tess will welcome delegates, outline the vision for the Summit and set the scene for three days of learning, innovation and collaboration. They'll introduce the key themes shaping this year's program and explore why now is a pivotal moment for legal professionals and firms navigating rapid technological change, evolving client expectations and new opportunities for growth.
1:30 PM - 1:40 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Clio
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM Quantum Leap: Lawyers and Law Firms in the Post-AI World
In the forthcoming decade, relentless global forces, led by the breathtaking advance of artificial intelligence, will render the landscape of the legal sector almost unrecognizable. The culture and infrastructure of law firms will be transformed -- mechanized production systems, lean and diversified workforces, modern pricing and compensation models, new definitions of productivity and value, and more. Lawyers will surrender to AI all the old activities that constituted Legal Production -- but they will forge a more valuable role as the irreplaceable source of Legal Judgment, and they will rediscover the immense rewards of delivering their Legal Duty to society. In this sweeping keynote presentation, renowned legal forecaster Jordan Furlong will narrate the legal sector's impending metamorphosis and offer both a vision of a renewed legal profession built on lawyers' unique human qualities, as well as a blueprint for building the new legal enterprises that will thrive in a post-AI world.
2:40 PM - 2:50 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: NetDocuments
2:50 PM - 3:20 PM
Wednesday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
Wednesday - ALPMA Summit and ALTACON Plenary
3:20 PM - 4:30 PM 		Platinum Partner Presentation: Dye & Durham
The Psychology Behind High-Performing Law Firms
What enables lawyers, and the firms they work within, to sustain high performance across long and demanding careers? Drawing on psychological research, sector data and practical experience working alongside the judiciary and leading commercial law firms, this keynote explores how individual capability, leadership and organisational systems shape sustainable high performance. Attendees will leave with practical, evidence-based insights to help build environments where lawyers can perform at their best and sustain successful careers.
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session Continues
3:30pm-4:30pm
4:30 PM - 4:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change Afternoon Concurrents
Wednesday Concurrent Session 1
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM 		Adopting AI – Lessons from the Trenches
Most panels on AI and the future of law promise answers. This one does not. Facilitated by Joel Barolsky, this panel brings together senior law firm leaders from across Australia and New Zealand for an in-the-trenches conversation about what they are actually doing, and what they do not yet know. What does a graduate program look like when AI does much of the junior work? How do you price hybrid AI and human services when clients have seen the speed? What does strategy mean when the planning horizon keeps shortening? What does the partnership model look like through a transition no one has been through before? The Summit theme asks what wisdom from the past should accelerate us into the future. This session asks the harder companion question: what are firms doing right now, what are they still working out, and what have they quietly stopped believing in? This will be a session that values honest questions over tidy answers. 		Everything, All at Once: Leading Teams Through Relentless Change
Drawing on real experience leading concurrent programs across technology, compliance, cybersecurity and operations, this session covers the practical, honest and helpful advice that does not make it into the usual change management conversations. It covers how to say no to good ideas to protect capacity, how to get approval for resources when the firm has just spent a fortune, how to create space for small fixable mistakes without normalising poor performance, when to step in and when to trust your team, and how to manage the gap between effort and outcomes without burning everyone out. The session also explores how leaders make their own weather for their teams, the ways behaviour, communication and decisions shape the emotional climate people work in, and the difference between being values-focused versus outcomes-focused as a leader. It is for anyone leading teams through sustained, overlapping change right now, especially those leading IT.
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Wednesday Concurrent Sessions
4:35pm - 5:30pm
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Function

ALTACON
8:00 AM - 7:30 PM Registration & Exhibition Opens
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM Prompt Engineering 101 - Across Various Platforms - ALTACON Learning Lab
Same prompt, different platforms: Co-Pilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini. Do you get the same results? When should you use which? A hands-on comparison delegates can replicate at their desk.
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Workshop 1: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Workshop 3: The accountability gap: Practical tools to reduce leader burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM From Prompt to Process - ALTACON Learning Lab
Details Coming Soon
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Smoking Ceremony
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Wednesday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Workshop 1 Continues: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2 Continues: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Pre-Summit Workshops Continue & Exhibition Open
10:45am - 12:00pm
Workshop 3 Continues: The Accountability Gap: Practical Tools to Reduce Leader Burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4 Continues: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Wednesday - Lunch & Exhibition
Meet your local ALPMA committee over lunch at the ALTACON stage.
12:59 PM - 2:40 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session (streamed to ALTACON Stage)
1:00pm - 2:40pm
1:00 PM - 1:10 PM Welcome to Country
1:10 PM - 1:30 PM Welcome to the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit
Join ALPMA President, Stephen van Dorp and Master of Ceremonies, Tess van Duyn as they officially open the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit. In this opening session, Stephen and Tess will welcome delegates, outline the vision for the Summit and set the scene for three days of learning, innovation and collaboration. They'll introduce the key themes shaping this year's program and explore why now is a pivotal moment for legal professionals and firms navigating rapid technological change, evolving client expectations and new opportunities for growth.
1:30 PM - 1:40 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Clio
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM Quantum Leap: Lawyers and Law Firms in the Post-AI World
In the forthcoming decade, relentless global forces, led by the breathtaking advance of artificial intelligence, will render the landscape of the legal sector almost unrecognizable. The culture and infrastructure of law firms will be transformed -- mechanized production systems, lean and diversified workforces, modern pricing and compensation models, new definitions of productivity and value, and more. Lawyers will surrender to AI all the old activities that constituted Legal Production -- but they will forge a more valuable role as the irreplaceable source of Legal Judgment, and they will rediscover the immense rewards of delivering their Legal Duty to society. In this sweeping keynote presentation, renowned legal forecaster Jordan Furlong will narrate the legal sector's impending metamorphosis and offer both a vision of a renewed legal profession built on lawyers' unique human qualities, as well as a blueprint for building the new legal enterprises that will thrive in a post-AI world.
2:40 PM - 2:50 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: NetDocuments
2:50 PM - 3:20 PM
Wednesday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
Wednesday - ALPMA Summit and ALTACON Plenary
3:20 PM - 4:30 PM 		Welcome to ALTACON 2026
Cognitive Offloading vs Cognitive Surrender
AI can lift routine cognitive load, but left unchecked it erodes the legal judgment that defines the profession. Delegates leave with a personal framework for evaluating every session that follows — distinguishing healthy delegation from abdication of judgment.
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session Continues
3:30pm-4:30pm
4:30 PM - 4:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change Afternoon Concurrents
Wednesday Concurrent Session 1
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM ALTACON Exhibitor Pitch
Details Coming Soon
Wednesday Concurrent Sessions
4:35pm - 5:30pm
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Function

Concurrent Stream 1
8:00 AM - 7:30 PM Registration & Exhibition Opens
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Workshop 1: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Workshop 3: The accountability gap: Practical tools to reduce leader burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
Pre-Summit Workshops & Exhibition Open
8:30am - 10:00am
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Smoking Ceremony
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Wednesday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Workshop 1 Continues: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2 Continues: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Pre-Summit Workshops Continue & Exhibition Open
10:45am - 12:00pm
Workshop 3 Continues: The Accountability Gap: Practical Tools to Reduce Leader Burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4 Continues: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Wednesday - Lunch & Exhibition
Meet your local ALPMA committee over lunch at the ALTACON stage.
12:59 PM - 2:40 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session (streamed to ALTACON Stage)
1:00pm - 2:40pm
1:00 PM - 1:10 PM Welcome to Country
1:10 PM - 1:30 PM Welcome to the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit
Join ALPMA President, Stephen van Dorp and Master of Ceremonies, Tess van Duyn as they officially open the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit. In this opening session, Stephen and Tess will welcome delegates, outline the vision for the Summit and set the scene for three days of learning, innovation and collaboration. They'll introduce the key themes shaping this year's program and explore why now is a pivotal moment for legal professionals and firms navigating rapid technological change, evolving client expectations and new opportunities for growth.
1:30 PM - 1:40 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Clio
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM Quantum Leap: Lawyers and Law Firms in the Post-AI World
In the forthcoming decade, relentless global forces, led by the breathtaking advance of artificial intelligence, will render the landscape of the legal sector almost unrecognizable. The culture and infrastructure of law firms will be transformed -- mechanized production systems, lean and diversified workforces, modern pricing and compensation models, new definitions of productivity and value, and more. Lawyers will surrender to AI all the old activities that constituted Legal Production -- but they will forge a more valuable role as the irreplaceable source of Legal Judgment, and they will rediscover the immense rewards of delivering their Legal Duty to society. In this sweeping keynote presentation, renowned legal forecaster Jordan Furlong will narrate the legal sector's impending metamorphosis and offer both a vision of a renewed legal profession built on lawyers' unique human qualities, as well as a blueprint for building the new legal enterprises that will thrive in a post-AI world.
2:40 PM - 2:50 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: NetDocuments
2:50 PM - 3:20 PM
Wednesday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
Wednesday - ALPMA Summit and ALTACON Plenary
3:20 PM - 4:30 PM 		Platinum Partner Presentation: Dye & Durham
The Psychology Behind High-Performing Law Firms
What enables lawyers, and the firms they work within, to sustain high performance across long and demanding careers? Drawing on psychological research, sector data and practical experience working alongside the judiciary and leading commercial law firms, this keynote explores how individual capability, leadership and organisational systems shape sustainable high performance. Attendees will leave with practical, evidence-based insights to help build environments where lawyers can perform at their best and sustain successful careers.
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session Continues
3:30pm-4:30pm
4:30 PM - 4:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change Afternoon Concurrents
Wednesday Concurrent Session 1
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM 		Adopting AI – Lessons from the Trenches
Most panels on AI and the future of law promise answers. This one does not. Facilitated by Joel Barolsky, this panel brings together senior law firm leaders from across Australia and New Zealand for an in-the-trenches conversation about what they are actually doing, and what they do not yet know. What does a graduate program look like when AI does much of the junior work? How do you price hybrid AI and human services when clients have seen the speed? What does strategy mean when the planning horizon keeps shortening? What does the partnership model look like through a transition no one has been through before? The Summit theme asks what wisdom from the past should accelerate us into the future. This session asks the harder companion question: what are firms doing right now, what are they still working out, and what have they quietly stopped believing in? This will be a session that values honest questions over tidy answers.
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Wednesday Concurrent Sessions
4:35pm - 5:30pm
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Function

Concurrent Stream 2
8:00 AM - 7:30 PM Registration & Exhibition Opens
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Workshop 1: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Workshop 3: The accountability gap: Practical tools to reduce leader burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
Pre-Summit Workshops & Exhibition Open
8:30am - 10:00am
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Smoking Ceremony
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Wednesday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Workshop 1 Continues: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2 Continues: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Pre-Summit Workshops Continue & Exhibition Open
10:45am - 12:00pm
Workshop 3 Continues: The Accountability Gap: Practical Tools to Reduce Leader Burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4 Continues: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Wednesday - Lunch & Exhibition
Meet your local ALPMA committee over lunch at the ALTACON stage.
12:59 PM - 2:40 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session (streamed to ALTACON Stage)
1:00pm - 2:40pm
1:00 PM - 1:10 PM Welcome to Country
1:10 PM - 1:30 PM Welcome to the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit
Join ALPMA President, Stephen van Dorp and Master of Ceremonies, Tess van Duyn as they officially open the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit. In this opening session, Stephen and Tess will welcome delegates, outline the vision for the Summit and set the scene for three days of learning, innovation and collaboration. They'll introduce the key themes shaping this year's program and explore why now is a pivotal moment for legal professionals and firms navigating rapid technological change, evolving client expectations and new opportunities for growth.
1:30 PM - 1:40 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Clio
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM Quantum Leap: Lawyers and Law Firms in the Post-AI World
In the forthcoming decade, relentless global forces, led by the breathtaking advance of artificial intelligence, will render the landscape of the legal sector almost unrecognizable. The culture and infrastructure of law firms will be transformed -- mechanized production systems, lean and diversified workforces, modern pricing and compensation models, new definitions of productivity and value, and more. Lawyers will surrender to AI all the old activities that constituted Legal Production -- but they will forge a more valuable role as the irreplaceable source of Legal Judgment, and they will rediscover the immense rewards of delivering their Legal Duty to society. In this sweeping keynote presentation, renowned legal forecaster Jordan Furlong will narrate the legal sector's impending metamorphosis and offer both a vision of a renewed legal profession built on lawyers' unique human qualities, as well as a blueprint for building the new legal enterprises that will thrive in a post-AI world.
2:40 PM - 2:50 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: NetDocuments
2:50 PM - 3:20 PM
Wednesday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
Wednesday - ALPMA Summit and ALTACON Plenary
3:20 PM - 4:30 PM 		Platinum Partner Presentation: Dye & Durham
The Psychology Behind High-Performing Law Firms
What enables lawyers, and the firms they work within, to sustain high performance across long and demanding careers? Drawing on psychological research, sector data and practical experience working alongside the judiciary and leading commercial law firms, this keynote explores how individual capability, leadership and organisational systems shape sustainable high performance. Attendees will leave with practical, evidence-based insights to help build environments where lawyers can perform at their best and sustain successful careers.
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session Continues
3:30pm-4:30pm
4:30 PM - 4:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change Afternoon Concurrents
Wednesday Concurrent Session 1
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM 		Everything, All at Once: Leading Teams Through Relentless Change
Drawing on real experience leading concurrent programs across technology, compliance, cybersecurity and operations, this session covers the practical, honest and helpful advice that does not make it into the usual change management conversations. It covers how to say no to good ideas to protect capacity, how to get approval for resources when the firm has just spent a fortune, how to create space for small fixable mistakes without normalising poor performance, when to step in and when to trust your team, and how to manage the gap between effort and outcomes without burning everyone out. The session also explores how leaders make their own weather for their teams, the ways behaviour, communication and decisions shape the emotional climate people work in, and the difference between being values-focused versus outcomes-focused as a leader. It is for anyone leading teams through sustained, overlapping change right now, especially those leading IT.
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Wednesday Concurrent Sessions
4:35pm - 5:30pm
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Function

ALTACON
8:00 AM - 7:30 PM Registration & Exhibition Opens
8:30 AM - 9:15 AM Prompt Engineering 101 - Across Various Platforms - ALTACON Learning Lab
Same prompt, different platforms: Co-Pilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini. Do you get the same results? When should you use which? A hands-on comparison delegates can replicate at their desk.
8:30 AM - 10:00 AM Workshop 1: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Workshop 3: The accountability gap: Practical tools to reduce leader burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
9:15 AM - 10:00 AM From Prompt to Process - ALTACON Learning Lab
Details Coming Soon
10:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Smoking Ceremony
10:15 AM - 10:45 AM
Wednesday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
10:45 AM - 12:00 PM Workshop 1 Continues: Back to the Future: The 90 Day Leadership Reset
In an era of constant disruption, many law firm leaders are overwhelmed, not for lack of ambition, but for lack of time and focus. This session shares a practical, field-tested 90 Day Challenge implemented within a legal practice to reset focus, rebuild leadership discipline and reconnect strategy to daily behaviour. Inspired by proven performance frameworks and adapted specifically for the legal profession, the model blends timeless fundamentals such as purpose, discipline, energy management and accountability with modern strategic execution. Rather than adding complexity, this framework strips leadership back to what works. The 90 Day Challenge is built around three core pillars: clarity of goals, defining the top three goals, purpose, measurable outcomes and first actions; daily discipline, through Must Do 1% progress actions, structured time blocking and reflection routines; and energy and identity alignment, using personal energy contracts across physical, emotional, mental and values domains. Attendees leave with a replicable 90 day reset framework tailored for law firm leaders, a practical method for aligning strategic goals with daily execution, a Must Do 1% micro-progress model to reduce overwhelm, a Stop, Start, Continue diagnostic tool, a Ditch, Dare, Do behavioural change template, and a structured reflection system that builds accountability.
Workshop 2 Continues: Service Culture by Design: The Operational Path to Client Loyalty and Sustainable Growth
The legal sector is at a genuine inflection point. As AI commoditises technical legal work, clients differentiate firms less on what they know and more on how it feels to work with them. Sustainable growth is no longer driven solely by individual rainmakers, but by the consistency and quality of a firm's everyday client experience. This hands-on workshop is built for the operational and leadership roles at the centre of that experience. Drawing on Jordan Furlong's Advice, Advocacy and Accompaniment framework, the Trust Equation, and the principle of marginal gains, participants map the moments that matter most, from winning work and onboarding through to billing and matter close. A practical Protect, Elevate, Design, Automate framework helps participants decide where human judgement should be protected and where process or technology should take over. Participants leave with a clear diagnostic of where their firm creates friction or value, a set of practical plus-one improvements to implement immediately, and a credible, operationally grounded way to make the case for service-culture improvement to partners and leadership.
Pre-Summit Workshops Continue & Exhibition Open
10:45am - 12:00pm
Workshop 3 Continues: The Accountability Gap: Practical Tools to Reduce Leader Burnout
Law firm leaders are burning out, not because they lack capability or commitment, but because accountability in many firms is unclear, inconsistent or quietly avoided. When expectations are blurred and ownership is diffused, responsibility flows upward. Over time this creates frustration, disengagement and exhaustion at leadership level, and stalled growth for the firm. Drawing on her experience as a former lawyer, partner and Founder of The Legal Leadership Project, Midja Fisher reframes accountability as a core leadership practice: not a compliance tool or performance management process, but the foundation of trust, credibility and sustainable performance. The workshop introduces a clear, practical accountability framework that helps leaders clarify expectations, strengthen ownership and reset responsibility at the right level without micromanagement, blame or damaged relationships. Through structured discussion and application to real leadership challenges, attendees identify where accountability is leaking in their own teams and develop practical strategies to close those gaps. Rather than adding more processes or pressure, the workshop provides simple, high-impact tools leaders can implement immediately to reduce burnout, improve follow-through and create a culture where responsibility is shared, not carried by a few.
Workshop 4 Continues: Great Legal Minds Don't Think Alike: Neurodiversity as a Strength in Law
The legal profession has traditionally rewarded a narrow style of thinking, communication and workplace performance, yet many lawyers, law students and legal professionals are neurodivergent. Increasingly, firms recognise that inclusion is not simply a wellbeing issue; it is critical to recruitment, retention, innovation and sustainable performance. This interactive workshop explores how legal workplaces can better support neurodivergent professionals through practical strategies in job design, recruitment, leadership and environmental accommodations. Drawing on lived experience, occupational therapy principles and workplace inclusion frameworks, participants gain actionable tools to create psychologically safe, productive and neuro-inclusive legal environments. Key topics include understanding neurodivergence in legal practice, strength-based job design and role flexibility, neuro-inclusive recruitment and onboarding, sensory and environmental accommodations, communication and leadership strategies, and practical workplace adjustments that make a measurable difference. Ideal for law firms, practice managers, HR professionals, barristers, in-house legal teams, educators and leaders seeking to improve diversity, retention and workplace performance. Participants leave with practical frameworks, implementation ideas and a stronger understanding of how neurodiversity can become a strategic advantage within legal practice.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM Wednesday - Lunch & Exhibition
Meet your local ALPMA committee over lunch at the ALTACON stage.
12:59 PM - 2:40 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session (streamed to ALTACON Stage)
1:00pm - 2:40pm
1:00 PM - 1:10 PM Welcome to Country
1:10 PM - 1:30 PM Welcome to the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit
Join ALPMA President, Stephen van Dorp and Master of Ceremonies, Tess van Duyn as they officially open the 2026 ALPMA + ALTACON Business of Law Summit. In this opening session, Stephen and Tess will welcome delegates, outline the vision for the Summit and set the scene for three days of learning, innovation and collaboration. They'll introduce the key themes shaping this year's program and explore why now is a pivotal moment for legal professionals and firms navigating rapid technological change, evolving client expectations and new opportunities for growth.
1:30 PM - 1:40 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Clio
1:40 PM - 2:40 PM Quantum Leap: Lawyers and Law Firms in the Post-AI World
In the forthcoming decade, relentless global forces, led by the breathtaking advance of artificial intelligence, will render the landscape of the legal sector almost unrecognizable. The culture and infrastructure of law firms will be transformed -- mechanized production systems, lean and diversified workforces, modern pricing and compensation models, new definitions of productivity and value, and more. Lawyers will surrender to AI all the old activities that constituted Legal Production -- but they will forge a more valuable role as the irreplaceable source of Legal Judgment, and they will rediscover the immense rewards of delivering their Legal Duty to society. In this sweeping keynote presentation, renowned legal forecaster Jordan Furlong will narrate the legal sector's impending metamorphosis and offer both a vision of a renewed legal profession built on lawyers' unique human qualities, as well as a blueprint for building the new legal enterprises that will thrive in a post-AI world.
2:40 PM - 2:50 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: NetDocuments
2:50 PM - 3:20 PM
Wednesday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
Wednesday - ALPMA Summit and ALTACON Plenary
3:20 PM - 4:30 PM 		Welcome to ALTACON 2026
Cognitive Offloading vs Cognitive Surrender
AI can lift routine cognitive load, but left unchecked it erodes the legal judgment that defines the profession. Delegates leave with a personal framework for evaluating every session that follows — distinguishing healthy delegation from abdication of judgment.
3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Wednesday Afternoon Plenary Session Continues
3:30pm-4:30pm
4:30 PM - 4:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change Afternoon Concurrents
Wednesday Concurrent Session 1
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM ALTACON Exhibitor Pitch
Details Coming Soon
Wednesday Concurrent Sessions
4:35pm - 5:30pm
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Welcome Function

Thursday, September 10, 2026

Concurrent Stream 1
Concurrent Stream 2
Small Firm Stream
ALTACON
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Registration & Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:20 AM - 8:30 AM Platinum Partner Presentation: VXT
8:20 AM - 10:05 AM Thursday Morning Plenary Session
8:20am - 10:05am
8:30 AM - 9:05 AM Day Two Opening and ALPMA Awards
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Writing an AI Policy People Actually Follow
A working session that moves delegates from a blank page to a usable draft AI policy — acceptable use, confidentiality, client disclosure, verification and supervision. Delegates leave with a firm-ready draft and a rollout approach that earns genuine staff buy-in.
9:05 AM - 10:05 AM Red Brick Thinking - The Art and Science of Strategic Subtraction
When something feels off, most people are driven to add: another project, a shiny tool, a new system. In Donna McGeorge’s signature Red Brick Thinking™ presentations, participants are given a lopsided LEGO® bridge and asked to fix it. Nearly everyone adds more bricks to even it up. Few people remove the one red brick to achieve the same result. That’s Red Brick Thinking™ – The art of strategic subtraction. A mindset, a method, and a movement. It’s a lens applied to calendars, communication, leadership and everyday life. Remove the unnecessary and unlock what actually matters.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM Governing the Agent: Defensible AI Frameworks
As AI shifts from drafting to deciding and acting, firms need governance that holds up to scrutiny. Oversight, audit trails, accountability and risk controls for agentic tools — and how to evidence that oversight to clients, courts and insurers.
10:05 AM - 10:35 AM
Thursday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 1
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM 		Building the Next Generation of Lawyers: Everything Old is New Again
Five generations in the workforce, accelerating technology and pressure to develop lawyers faster with fewer traditional learning opportunities. The challenge is not commitment to people. It is time, clarity and sustainable frameworks. This session argues the way forward is a return to fundamentals. Generative AI is changing what lawyers do, not what it means to be a lawyer. As routine work is automated, firms must be more intentional about developing judgment, ethical reasoning, communication and commercial awareness, skills that cannot be outsourced to technology. Designed for firm leaders, practice managers and HR professionals in small to mid-sized firms, the session offers practical approaches to competency frameworks, mentoring and supervision models, and career pathways that work across generations. Participants leave with the confidence that building the next generation of lawyers does not require reinventing the profession, only reconnecting with what has always mattered. 		When Everyone Has AI, What Sets You Apart?
Law firms are not short on tools, strategy or ambition. Yet many change initiatives quietly lose momentum after the initial push. Leaders know adoption is a human challenge, but awareness alone has not made change stick. The result is bursts of enthusiasm, inconsistent follow-through and rising change fatigue. Drawing on lived experience in legal AI and technology programs, this session explores the small leadership and environmental design choices that determine whether new ways of working actually take hold. It introduces a practical adoption lens built on three human fundamentals: curiosity, habit formation, and supportive environments. Through short interactive exercises and real-world examples, attendees spot hidden blockers to adoption, identify the human skills that matter most for capability, and design simple habits and environments that embed learning without adding new programs or workload. 		The Glue That Holds It All Together – Thriving as a Small Firm Practice Leader
A practical, story-driven session exploring the small firm practice manager as the person who holds everything together. It covers two pillars: building team culture through psychological safety, feedback and talent development; and using financial disciplines as a people engagement tool. Drawn from real experience starting in the role at 23, through cross-industry leadership, to advising firms today, the session is honest, actionable and grounded in small firm realities. Key takeaways: apply the dance floor and balcony framework to shift between operational detail and firmwide perspective; implement psychological safety practices that encourage staff to speak up; structure principal-to-junior feedback to break the cycle of complaint without development; and use file reviews as a cultural and quality tool, not just compliance.
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 1
10:35am - 11:20am 		AML/CTF Tranche 2: The First 10 weeks
With Tranche 2 obligations live since 1 July 2026, a practitioner Q&A on what is working, where firms are struggling, and what AUSTRAC engagement looks like in practice. A candid picture of early compliance experience and practical fixes for common implementation gaps.
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM
5-Minute Room Change Block 2
Thursday Concurrent Session 2
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM 		Legal Design Thinking: Providing the Human Element in a World of AI
The evolving opportunities afforded by AI require law firms to quickly adapt and rethink how they have traditionally delivered legal services and legal operations. However, in the rush to adopt new technologies, law firms must remember that legal innovation starts with people, rather than technology. How does a law firm adopt these technologies while maintaining human connection? By using the principles of legal design thinking and human-centred design to ensure new technologies remain aligned with the needs, values and purposes of the people they are intended to serve. This session covers the principles of legal design thinking and what it means to be human-centred, provides practical examples of how legal design thinking can identify opportunities and implement AI, gives attendees an opportunity to workshop a practical scenario, and includes time for questions and discussion. 		Partner Remuneration & Performance
Details coming soon 		From Busy to Profitable: A Practical Reset for Pricing Discipline and Cash Flow
Matt Schlyder, FWO Chartered Accountants
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:25am - 12:10pm
11:25 AM - 12:25 PM Which Lane Are You In? Making Sense of the Legal AI Market
General-purpose AI assistants and purpose-built legal tools are not substitutes in one race. They are different categories, with different capabilities, limitations and price points, suited to different tasks. This session gives delegates a framework for telling them apart: what general-purpose AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini do well and poorly for legal work, where purpose-built legal tools earn their premium, and the adoption factors that decide which is right. Delegates leave with a framework for categorising any tool they encounter, and a set of questions to take back and ask before their firm spends.
12:10 PM - 12:15 PM
5-Minute Room Change Block 3
Thursday Concurrent Session 3
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM 		Redefining Legal Practice — Designed by You, Delivered by AI
AI is no longer something you bolt on, it's your new coworker. So how do you design a firm where the work is delivered by AI? It's not hypothetical: AI-first law firms are already operating. The practice of law is transforming — pricing, structure, talent, risk — and it's much less about the tools, and much more about the people, than you'd think. This session covers three themes for your management agenda: the shifts shaping the change, what will distinguish your firm in the new legal ecosystem, and the question only you can answer — when AI delivers the work, who needs to be at the controls? 		Changing Legal Landscape – Dye & Durham Hosted Panel
Details coming soon 		Built to Last: Succession in the Small Law Firm
Most small firm leaders want to build something that outlasts them, but a practical succession plan is hard to put in place and the next generation isn't stepping up the way it once did. This session looks at what has actually changed: what emerging lawyers want from leadership, why the traditional signs of promising talent may no longer tell you who is ready and how to make leading a firm something people want to do, not something they avoid. You'll leave with practical ways to build leadership capability early, make the step up attractive and give your firm a real next generation of leaders.
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 3
12:15pm - 1:00pm
12:25 PM - 1:00 PM Get Your House In Order: Data & Tech-Stack Foundations
The unglamorous prerequisite for AI value: clean, well-structured data and a coherent tech stack. Delegates leave with a data-hygiene and tech-stack evaluation framework to run at their firm.
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thursday - Lunch & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM 		Unlocking Neurodivergent Talent
Neurodiversity, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other cognitive profiles, is increasingly recognised within the legal profession, where diverse thinking styles often contribute to strong analytical ability, lateral problem-solving, creativity and deep focus. Yet many traditional legal management structures have not evolved to support these strengths. In this panel discussion, legal leaders and professionals with lived and workplace experience of neurodiversity explore how law firms can better support neurodiverse talent and strengthen the human skills that define quality legal work: judgment, ethics, critical thinking, communication and professional identity. Panel Chair Aleisha McKenzie, a law firm director and advocate for neurodiversity, guides a practical conversation on how small changes to workflow design, supervision, expectations and team norms can reduce friction, enhance clarity and improve quality of output. The session offers practical insights, real experiences and actionable strategies firm owners and leaders can implement immediately. 		Future Proofing Client Acquisition as Search, Referrals and AI Converge
Client acquisition models for law firms have been quietly but fundamentally disrupted over the past three to five years. Search volumes are declining, zero-click results are increasing, referral pathways are changing, and AI driven tools such as ChatGPT are emerging as intermediaries that influence which firms are recommended and trusted. This session examines client acquisition as a core business fundamental, not a marketing tactic, and explores how law firms can rebuild and future proof this foundation in an AI influenced environment. It reframes AI as an external market force, similar to past shifts such as online reviews and comparison platforms, that requires a strategic response at the business model level. A key focus is the role of personal authority and human trust as commercial assets. While AI increasingly shapes discovery, clients still choose people. The session provides a practical framework for rebuilding client acquisition foundations that support long-term sustainability. 		What the PM Carries: Managing Regulatory Risk, Complaints and Difficult Client Relationships
The practice manager of a small law practice is often on the front line of practical compliance. It's the principal's responsibility, but you will be the one looking after the practicalities, and the one who shares the stress of questioning whether you've missed anything. In this session, you will learn the principles and framework you need to cover everything and to help your principals fulfil their responsibilities. We will discuss: • The compliance obligations of law practices and their principals under the Uniform Law • Policy frameworks every law practice should have • Hot areas for regulatory risk and how the PM can help manage them - including supervision, client relationships, complaints and problem files, supervision of junior lawyers, management of trust money and use of AI. • Your role in providing structure, enforcement and review.'
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 4
2:00pm - 2:45pm 		The Competence Paradox: Why Getting Faster Is Making Us Worse, and What Firm Leaders Must Do About It
The first wave of legal AI delivered exactly what it promised, which was speed. The uncomfortable second-order effect is that speed without scrutiny quietly erodes the quality and judgment a firm’s reputation is built on, and that makes it a leadership problem rather than an individual one. This keynote names the paradox at the centre of 2026. Capability is no longer the constraint; supervision, verification and judgment are. It sets a practical stance for the people running firms who have to capture the productivity without quietly trading away the quality, trust and risk posture the business depends on, and it is the lens for everything that follows. Key takeaways • What AI has genuinely solved, and the quality and risk exposures that arrive with speed. • Why over-reliance is a firm-wide supervision and brand issue, not just a lawyer thing. • A leadership stance to carry into every session: capture the speed and protect the judgment.
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Thursday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
3:14 PM - 5:35 PM Thursday Afternoon Plenary Session
3:15pm - 5:35pm
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM LEAP Principal Partner Presentation
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM You Are Now a Manager of Machines: Designing How Work Flows Through Your Firm When Agents Join the Team
Agentic AI has moved the smallest unit of work from the task to the system, and for the people running a firm that changes how work is organised, who does what, and where supervision sits. This panel is a grounded, non-technical conversation about redesigning how matters and back-office work flow through a small-to-mid sized firm once AI agents join the team as coworkers. It looks at where to grant autonomy, where a person must stay in the loop, what it does to roles and capacity, and how to build workflows the firm can stand behind. Agentic AI is the centrepiece, framed for the people who have to deploy it well rather than build it. Key takeaways • A practical model for redesigning firm workflows around a mix of people and agents. • How to match an agent’s autonomy to the sensitivity and consequence of the work. • What agentic workflows do to roles, supervision and capacity, and how to plan for it.
3:35 PM - 4:35 PM Mind Your Head
How are things inside your head these days? Do you have more than enough bandwidth to think through all the things currently coming at you? Is there plenty of headspace left over to deal with the unexpected? Is your mind as tidy and organised as your desk [sometimes] is? Or are you like the rest of us, with way too much to think about and nowhere near enough capacity to think about it with? Do you sometimes find yourself avoiding new thoughts, ideas and information for fear your head might explode? It’s not just you; we’re all struggling to overcome the overwhelm. Maybe it’s time to tidy up your head, organise your thinking and take out the trash. Let Jason from Minds at Work show you how.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM Building the Business Case for Legal Tech
A practical session for those who must get technology spend approved. Build vs buy, total cost of ownership, ROI, and hybrid proof-of-concept strategies. A reusable business-case structure is the session takeaway.
The "Build versus Buy" Dilemma for Law Firms
A practical session for those who must get technology spend approved. Build vs buy, total cost of ownership, ROI, and hybrid proof-of-concept strategies. A reusable business-case structure is the session takeaway.
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Pricing Legal Services in the Age of Automation and AI
AI and automation are transforming professional services, but much of the debate about pricing has focused narrowly on cost reduction and efficiency. These benefits matter, but they are not the strategic heart of AI for professional services. This session examines the growing challenge of pricing in an era where automation creates downward pressure on fees. Used well, AI is both a cost reducer and a value amplifier. The strategic question is not how to use AI to reduce price, but how to use it to increase value or limit loss. Focus on the AND, not the OR. The session applies the MIT CISR business models framework to professional services and introduces a newly developed AI Value Advantage Framework, including its signature Value Amplifier quadrant where AI reduces cost while significantly increasing client value. Attendees leave with practical guidance on mapping services to business models, modernising pricing through subscription, hybrid and outcome-based approaches, being transparent about AI use, and strengthening governance and client communication.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM WiLD Panel
Details Coming Soon
5:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Day 2 Wrap-Up
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM Party Like It's 1985! - Cocktail Function
Dress: Everything 80s! Great Scott! — we're going back in time! The ALPMA Summit is rewinding the tape, cranking the volume to eleven, and inviting you to party like it's 1985. Dust off your flux capacitor, tease up your fringe, and prepare for a night so iconic it could only be captured on VHS and rewound immediately.
Concurrent Stream 1
Concurrent Stream 2
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Registration & Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:20 AM - 8:30 AM Platinum Partner Presentation: VXT
8:20 AM - 10:05 AM Thursday Morning Plenary Session
8:20am - 10:05am
8:30 AM - 9:05 AM Day Two Opening and ALPMA Awards
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
9:05 AM - 10:05 AM Red Brick Thinking - The Art and Science of Strategic Subtraction
When something feels off, most people are driven to add: another project, a shiny tool, a new system. In Donna McGeorge’s signature Red Brick Thinking™ presentations, participants are given a lopsided LEGO® bridge and asked to fix it. Nearly everyone adds more bricks to even it up. Few people remove the one red brick to achieve the same result. That’s Red Brick Thinking™ – The art of strategic subtraction. A mindset, a method, and a movement. It’s a lens applied to calendars, communication, leadership and everyday life. Remove the unnecessary and unlock what actually matters.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
10:05 AM - 10:35 AM
Thursday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 1
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM 		Building the Next Generation of Lawyers: Everything Old is New Again
Five generations in the workforce, accelerating technology and pressure to develop lawyers faster with fewer traditional learning opportunities. The challenge is not commitment to people. It is time, clarity and sustainable frameworks. This session argues the way forward is a return to fundamentals. Generative AI is changing what lawyers do, not what it means to be a lawyer. As routine work is automated, firms must be more intentional about developing judgment, ethical reasoning, communication and commercial awareness, skills that cannot be outsourced to technology. Designed for firm leaders, practice managers and HR professionals in small to mid-sized firms, the session offers practical approaches to competency frameworks, mentoring and supervision models, and career pathways that work across generations. Participants leave with the confidence that building the next generation of lawyers does not require reinventing the profession, only reconnecting with what has always mattered. 		When Everyone Has AI, What Sets You Apart?
Law firms are not short on tools, strategy or ambition. Yet many change initiatives quietly lose momentum after the initial push. Leaders know adoption is a human challenge, but awareness alone has not made change stick. The result is bursts of enthusiasm, inconsistent follow-through and rising change fatigue. Drawing on lived experience in legal AI and technology programs, this session explores the small leadership and environmental design choices that determine whether new ways of working actually take hold. It introduces a practical adoption lens built on three human fundamentals: curiosity, habit formation, and supportive environments. Through short interactive exercises and real-world examples, attendees spot hidden blockers to adoption, identify the human skills that matter most for capability, and design simple habits and environments that embed learning without adding new programs or workload.
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 1
10:35am - 11:20am
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM
5-Minute Room Change Block 2
Thursday Concurrent Session 2
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM 		Legal Design Thinking: Providing the Human Element in a World of AI
The evolving opportunities afforded by AI require law firms to quickly adapt and rethink how they have traditionally delivered legal services and legal operations. However, in the rush to adopt new technologies, law firms must remember that legal innovation starts with people, rather than technology. How does a law firm adopt these technologies while maintaining human connection? By using the principles of legal design thinking and human-centred design to ensure new technologies remain aligned with the needs, values and purposes of the people they are intended to serve. This session covers the principles of legal design thinking and what it means to be human-centred, provides practical examples of how legal design thinking can identify opportunities and implement AI, gives attendees an opportunity to workshop a practical scenario, and includes time for questions and discussion. 		Partner Remuneration & Performance
Details coming soon
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:25am - 12:10pm
11:25 AM - 12:25 PM
12:10 PM - 12:15 PM
5-Minute Room Change Block 3
Thursday Concurrent Session 3
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM 		Redefining Legal Practice — Designed by You, Delivered by AI
AI is no longer something you bolt on, it's your new coworker. So how do you design a firm where the work is delivered by AI? It's not hypothetical: AI-first law firms are already operating. The practice of law is transforming — pricing, structure, talent, risk — and it's much less about the tools, and much more about the people, than you'd think. This session covers three themes for your management agenda: the shifts shaping the change, what will distinguish your firm in the new legal ecosystem, and the question only you can answer — when AI delivers the work, who needs to be at the controls? 		Changing Legal Landscape – Dye & Durham Hosted Panel
Details coming soon
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 3
12:15pm - 1:00pm
12:25 PM - 1:00 PM
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thursday - Lunch & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM 		Unlocking Neurodivergent Talent
Neurodiversity, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other cognitive profiles, is increasingly recognised within the legal profession, where diverse thinking styles often contribute to strong analytical ability, lateral problem-solving, creativity and deep focus. Yet many traditional legal management structures have not evolved to support these strengths. In this panel discussion, legal leaders and professionals with lived and workplace experience of neurodiversity explore how law firms can better support neurodiverse talent and strengthen the human skills that define quality legal work: judgment, ethics, critical thinking, communication and professional identity. Panel Chair Aleisha McKenzie, a law firm director and advocate for neurodiversity, guides a practical conversation on how small changes to workflow design, supervision, expectations and team norms can reduce friction, enhance clarity and improve quality of output. The session offers practical insights, real experiences and actionable strategies firm owners and leaders can implement immediately. 		Future Proofing Client Acquisition as Search, Referrals and AI Converge
Client acquisition models for law firms have been quietly but fundamentally disrupted over the past three to five years. Search volumes are declining, zero-click results are increasing, referral pathways are changing, and AI driven tools such as ChatGPT are emerging as intermediaries that influence which firms are recommended and trusted. This session examines client acquisition as a core business fundamental, not a marketing tactic, and explores how law firms can rebuild and future proof this foundation in an AI influenced environment. It reframes AI as an external market force, similar to past shifts such as online reviews and comparison platforms, that requires a strategic response at the business model level. A key focus is the role of personal authority and human trust as commercial assets. While AI increasingly shapes discovery, clients still choose people. The session provides a practical framework for rebuilding client acquisition foundations that support long-term sustainability.
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 4
2:00pm - 2:45pm
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Thursday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
3:14 PM - 5:35 PM Thursday Afternoon Plenary Session
3:15pm - 5:35pm
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM LEAP Principal Partner Presentation
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
3:35 PM - 4:35 PM Mind Your Head
How are things inside your head these days? Do you have more than enough bandwidth to think through all the things currently coming at you? Is there plenty of headspace left over to deal with the unexpected? Is your mind as tidy and organised as your desk [sometimes] is? Or are you like the rest of us, with way too much to think about and nowhere near enough capacity to think about it with? Do you sometimes find yourself avoiding new thoughts, ideas and information for fear your head might explode? It’s not just you; we’re all struggling to overcome the overwhelm. Maybe it’s time to tidy up your head, organise your thinking and take out the trash. Let Jason from Minds at Work show you how.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Pricing Legal Services in the Age of Automation and AI
AI and automation are transforming professional services, but much of the debate about pricing has focused narrowly on cost reduction and efficiency. These benefits matter, but they are not the strategic heart of AI for professional services. This session examines the growing challenge of pricing in an era where automation creates downward pressure on fees. Used well, AI is both a cost reducer and a value amplifier. The strategic question is not how to use AI to reduce price, but how to use it to increase value or limit loss. Focus on the AND, not the OR. The session applies the MIT CISR business models framework to professional services and introduces a newly developed AI Value Advantage Framework, including its signature Value Amplifier quadrant where AI reduces cost while significantly increasing client value. Attendees leave with practical guidance on mapping services to business models, modernising pricing through subscription, hybrid and outcome-based approaches, being transparent about AI use, and strengthening governance and client communication.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM
5:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Day 2 Wrap-Up
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM Party Like It's 1985! - Cocktail Function
Dress: Everything 80s! Great Scott! — we're going back in time! The ALPMA Summit is rewinding the tape, cranking the volume to eleven, and inviting you to party like it's 1985. Dust off your flux capacitor, tease up your fringe, and prepare for a night so iconic it could only be captured on VHS and rewound immediately.

Small Firm Stream
ALTACON
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Registration & Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:20 AM - 8:30 AM Platinum Partner Presentation: VXT
8:20 AM - 10:05 AM Thursday Morning Plenary Session
8:20am - 10:05am
8:30 AM - 9:05 AM Day Two Opening and ALPMA Awards
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Writing an AI Policy People Actually Follow
A working session that moves delegates from a blank page to a usable draft AI policy — acceptable use, confidentiality, client disclosure, verification and supervision. Delegates leave with a firm-ready draft and a rollout approach that earns genuine staff buy-in.
9:05 AM - 10:05 AM Red Brick Thinking - The Art and Science of Strategic Subtraction
When something feels off, most people are driven to add: another project, a shiny tool, a new system. In Donna McGeorge’s signature Red Brick Thinking™ presentations, participants are given a lopsided LEGO® bridge and asked to fix it. Nearly everyone adds more bricks to even it up. Few people remove the one red brick to achieve the same result. That’s Red Brick Thinking™ – The art of strategic subtraction. A mindset, a method, and a movement. It’s a lens applied to calendars, communication, leadership and everyday life. Remove the unnecessary and unlock what actually matters.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM Governing the Agent: Defensible AI Frameworks
As AI shifts from drafting to deciding and acting, firms need governance that holds up to scrutiny. Oversight, audit trails, accountability and risk controls for agentic tools — and how to evidence that oversight to clients, courts and insurers.
10:05 AM - 10:35 AM
Thursday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 1
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM 		The Glue That Holds It All Together – Thriving as a Small Firm Practice Leader
A practical, story-driven session exploring the small firm practice manager as the person who holds everything together. It covers two pillars: building team culture through psychological safety, feedback and talent development; and using financial disciplines as a people engagement tool. Drawn from real experience starting in the role at 23, through cross-industry leadership, to advising firms today, the session is honest, actionable and grounded in small firm realities. Key takeaways: apply the dance floor and balcony framework to shift between operational detail and firmwide perspective; implement psychological safety practices that encourage staff to speak up; structure principal-to-junior feedback to break the cycle of complaint without development; and use file reviews as a cultural and quality tool, not just compliance.
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 1
10:35am - 11:20am 		AML/CTF Tranche 2: The First 10 weeks
With Tranche 2 obligations live since 1 July 2026, a practitioner Q&A on what is working, where firms are struggling, and what AUSTRAC engagement looks like in practice. A candid picture of early compliance experience and practical fixes for common implementation gaps.
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM
5-Minute Room Change Block 2
Thursday Concurrent Session 2
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM 		From Busy to Profitable: A Practical Reset for Pricing Discipline and Cash Flow
Matt Schlyder, FWO Chartered Accountants
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:25am - 12:10pm
11:25 AM - 12:25 PM Which Lane Are You In? Making Sense of the Legal AI Market
General-purpose AI assistants and purpose-built legal tools are not substitutes in one race. They are different categories, with different capabilities, limitations and price points, suited to different tasks. This session gives delegates a framework for telling them apart: what general-purpose AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini do well and poorly for legal work, where purpose-built legal tools earn their premium, and the adoption factors that decide which is right. Delegates leave with a framework for categorising any tool they encounter, and a set of questions to take back and ask before their firm spends.
12:10 PM - 12:15 PM
5-Minute Room Change Block 3
Thursday Concurrent Session 3
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM 		Built to Last: Succession in the Small Law Firm
Most small firm leaders want to build something that outlasts them, but a practical succession plan is hard to put in place and the next generation isn't stepping up the way it once did. This session looks at what has actually changed: what emerging lawyers want from leadership, why the traditional signs of promising talent may no longer tell you who is ready and how to make leading a firm something people want to do, not something they avoid. You'll leave with practical ways to build leadership capability early, make the step up attractive and give your firm a real next generation of leaders.
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 3
12:15pm - 1:00pm
12:25 PM - 1:00 PM Get Your House In Order: Data & Tech-Stack Foundations
The unglamorous prerequisite for AI value: clean, well-structured data and a coherent tech stack. Delegates leave with a data-hygiene and tech-stack evaluation framework to run at their firm.
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thursday - Lunch & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM 		What the PM Carries: Managing Regulatory Risk, Complaints and Difficult Client Relationships
The practice manager of a small law practice is often on the front line of practical compliance. It's the principal's responsibility, but you will be the one looking after the practicalities, and the one who shares the stress of questioning whether you've missed anything. In this session, you will learn the principles and framework you need to cover everything and to help your principals fulfil their responsibilities. We will discuss: • The compliance obligations of law practices and their principals under the Uniform Law • Policy frameworks every law practice should have • Hot areas for regulatory risk and how the PM can help manage them - including supervision, client relationships, complaints and problem files, supervision of junior lawyers, management of trust money and use of AI. • Your role in providing structure, enforcement and review.'
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 4
2:00pm - 2:45pm 		The Competence Paradox: Why Getting Faster Is Making Us Worse, and What Firm Leaders Must Do About It
The first wave of legal AI delivered exactly what it promised, which was speed. The uncomfortable second-order effect is that speed without scrutiny quietly erodes the quality and judgment a firm’s reputation is built on, and that makes it a leadership problem rather than an individual one. This keynote names the paradox at the centre of 2026. Capability is no longer the constraint; supervision, verification and judgment are. It sets a practical stance for the people running firms who have to capture the productivity without quietly trading away the quality, trust and risk posture the business depends on, and it is the lens for everything that follows. Key takeaways • What AI has genuinely solved, and the quality and risk exposures that arrive with speed. • Why over-reliance is a firm-wide supervision and brand issue, not just a lawyer thing. • A leadership stance to carry into every session: capture the speed and protect the judgment.
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Thursday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
3:14 PM - 5:35 PM Thursday Afternoon Plenary Session
3:15pm - 5:35pm
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM LEAP Principal Partner Presentation
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM You Are Now a Manager of Machines: Designing How Work Flows Through Your Firm When Agents Join the Team
Agentic AI has moved the smallest unit of work from the task to the system, and for the people running a firm that changes how work is organised, who does what, and where supervision sits. This panel is a grounded, non-technical conversation about redesigning how matters and back-office work flow through a small-to-mid sized firm once AI agents join the team as coworkers. It looks at where to grant autonomy, where a person must stay in the loop, what it does to roles and capacity, and how to build workflows the firm can stand behind. Agentic AI is the centrepiece, framed for the people who have to deploy it well rather than build it. Key takeaways • A practical model for redesigning firm workflows around a mix of people and agents. • How to match an agent’s autonomy to the sensitivity and consequence of the work. • What agentic workflows do to roles, supervision and capacity, and how to plan for it.
3:35 PM - 4:35 PM Mind Your Head
How are things inside your head these days? Do you have more than enough bandwidth to think through all the things currently coming at you? Is there plenty of headspace left over to deal with the unexpected? Is your mind as tidy and organised as your desk [sometimes] is? Or are you like the rest of us, with way too much to think about and nowhere near enough capacity to think about it with? Do you sometimes find yourself avoiding new thoughts, ideas and information for fear your head might explode? It’s not just you; we’re all struggling to overcome the overwhelm. Maybe it’s time to tidy up your head, organise your thinking and take out the trash. Let Jason from Minds at Work show you how.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM Building the Business Case for Legal Tech
A practical session for those who must get technology spend approved. Build vs buy, total cost of ownership, ROI, and hybrid proof-of-concept strategies. A reusable business-case structure is the session takeaway.
The "Build versus Buy" Dilemma for Law Firms
A practical session for those who must get technology spend approved. Build vs buy, total cost of ownership, ROI, and hybrid proof-of-concept strategies. A reusable business-case structure is the session takeaway.
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Pricing Legal Services in the Age of Automation and AI
AI and automation are transforming professional services, but much of the debate about pricing has focused narrowly on cost reduction and efficiency. These benefits matter, but they are not the strategic heart of AI for professional services. This session examines the growing challenge of pricing in an era where automation creates downward pressure on fees. Used well, AI is both a cost reducer and a value amplifier. The strategic question is not how to use AI to reduce price, but how to use it to increase value or limit loss. Focus on the AND, not the OR. The session applies the MIT CISR business models framework to professional services and introduces a newly developed AI Value Advantage Framework, including its signature Value Amplifier quadrant where AI reduces cost while significantly increasing client value. Attendees leave with practical guidance on mapping services to business models, modernising pricing through subscription, hybrid and outcome-based approaches, being transparent about AI use, and strengthening governance and client communication.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM WiLD Panel
Details Coming Soon
5:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Day 2 Wrap-Up
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM Party Like It's 1985! - Cocktail Function
Dress: Everything 80s! Great Scott! — we're going back in time! The ALPMA Summit is rewinding the tape, cranking the volume to eleven, and inviting you to party like it's 1985. Dust off your flux capacitor, tease up your fringe, and prepare for a night so iconic it could only be captured on VHS and rewound immediately.

Concurrent Stream 1
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Registration & Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:20 AM - 8:30 AM Platinum Partner Presentation: VXT
8:20 AM - 10:05 AM Thursday Morning Plenary Session
8:20am - 10:05am
8:30 AM - 9:05 AM Day Two Opening and ALPMA Awards
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
9:05 AM - 10:05 AM Red Brick Thinking - The Art and Science of Strategic Subtraction
When something feels off, most people are driven to add: another project, a shiny tool, a new system. In Donna McGeorge’s signature Red Brick Thinking™ presentations, participants are given a lopsided LEGO® bridge and asked to fix it. Nearly everyone adds more bricks to even it up. Few people remove the one red brick to achieve the same result. That’s Red Brick Thinking™ – The art of strategic subtraction. A mindset, a method, and a movement. It’s a lens applied to calendars, communication, leadership and everyday life. Remove the unnecessary and unlock what actually matters.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
10:05 AM - 10:35 AM
Thursday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 1
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM 		Building the Next Generation of Lawyers: Everything Old is New Again
Five generations in the workforce, accelerating technology and pressure to develop lawyers faster with fewer traditional learning opportunities. The challenge is not commitment to people. It is time, clarity and sustainable frameworks. This session argues the way forward is a return to fundamentals. Generative AI is changing what lawyers do, not what it means to be a lawyer. As routine work is automated, firms must be more intentional about developing judgment, ethical reasoning, communication and commercial awareness, skills that cannot be outsourced to technology. Designed for firm leaders, practice managers and HR professionals in small to mid-sized firms, the session offers practical approaches to competency frameworks, mentoring and supervision models, and career pathways that work across generations. Participants leave with the confidence that building the next generation of lawyers does not require reinventing the profession, only reconnecting with what has always mattered.
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 1
10:35am - 11:20am
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM
5-Minute Room Change Block 2
Thursday Concurrent Session 2
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM 		Legal Design Thinking: Providing the Human Element in a World of AI
The evolving opportunities afforded by AI require law firms to quickly adapt and rethink how they have traditionally delivered legal services and legal operations. However, in the rush to adopt new technologies, law firms must remember that legal innovation starts with people, rather than technology. How does a law firm adopt these technologies while maintaining human connection? By using the principles of legal design thinking and human-centred design to ensure new technologies remain aligned with the needs, values and purposes of the people they are intended to serve. This session covers the principles of legal design thinking and what it means to be human-centred, provides practical examples of how legal design thinking can identify opportunities and implement AI, gives attendees an opportunity to workshop a practical scenario, and includes time for questions and discussion.
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:25am - 12:10pm
11:25 AM - 12:25 PM
12:10 PM - 12:15 PM
5-Minute Room Change Block 3
Thursday Concurrent Session 3
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM 		Redefining Legal Practice — Designed by You, Delivered by AI
AI is no longer something you bolt on, it's your new coworker. So how do you design a firm where the work is delivered by AI? It's not hypothetical: AI-first law firms are already operating. The practice of law is transforming — pricing, structure, talent, risk — and it's much less about the tools, and much more about the people, than you'd think. This session covers three themes for your management agenda: the shifts shaping the change, what will distinguish your firm in the new legal ecosystem, and the question only you can answer — when AI delivers the work, who needs to be at the controls?
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 3
12:15pm - 1:00pm
12:25 PM - 1:00 PM
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thursday - Lunch & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM 		Unlocking Neurodivergent Talent
Neurodiversity, including ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other cognitive profiles, is increasingly recognised within the legal profession, where diverse thinking styles often contribute to strong analytical ability, lateral problem-solving, creativity and deep focus. Yet many traditional legal management structures have not evolved to support these strengths. In this panel discussion, legal leaders and professionals with lived and workplace experience of neurodiversity explore how law firms can better support neurodiverse talent and strengthen the human skills that define quality legal work: judgment, ethics, critical thinking, communication and professional identity. Panel Chair Aleisha McKenzie, a law firm director and advocate for neurodiversity, guides a practical conversation on how small changes to workflow design, supervision, expectations and team norms can reduce friction, enhance clarity and improve quality of output. The session offers practical insights, real experiences and actionable strategies firm owners and leaders can implement immediately.
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 4
2:00pm - 2:45pm
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Thursday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
3:14 PM - 5:35 PM Thursday Afternoon Plenary Session
3:15pm - 5:35pm
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM LEAP Principal Partner Presentation
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
3:35 PM - 4:35 PM Mind Your Head
How are things inside your head these days? Do you have more than enough bandwidth to think through all the things currently coming at you? Is there plenty of headspace left over to deal with the unexpected? Is your mind as tidy and organised as your desk [sometimes] is? Or are you like the rest of us, with way too much to think about and nowhere near enough capacity to think about it with? Do you sometimes find yourself avoiding new thoughts, ideas and information for fear your head might explode? It’s not just you; we’re all struggling to overcome the overwhelm. Maybe it’s time to tidy up your head, organise your thinking and take out the trash. Let Jason from Minds at Work show you how.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Pricing Legal Services in the Age of Automation and AI
AI and automation are transforming professional services, but much of the debate about pricing has focused narrowly on cost reduction and efficiency. These benefits matter, but they are not the strategic heart of AI for professional services. This session examines the growing challenge of pricing in an era where automation creates downward pressure on fees. Used well, AI is both a cost reducer and a value amplifier. The strategic question is not how to use AI to reduce price, but how to use it to increase value or limit loss. Focus on the AND, not the OR. The session applies the MIT CISR business models framework to professional services and introduces a newly developed AI Value Advantage Framework, including its signature Value Amplifier quadrant where AI reduces cost while significantly increasing client value. Attendees leave with practical guidance on mapping services to business models, modernising pricing through subscription, hybrid and outcome-based approaches, being transparent about AI use, and strengthening governance and client communication.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM
5:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Day 2 Wrap-Up
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM Party Like It's 1985! - Cocktail Function
Dress: Everything 80s! Great Scott! — we're going back in time! The ALPMA Summit is rewinding the tape, cranking the volume to eleven, and inviting you to party like it's 1985. Dust off your flux capacitor, tease up your fringe, and prepare for a night so iconic it could only be captured on VHS and rewound immediately.

Concurrent Stream 2
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Registration & Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:20 AM - 8:30 AM Platinum Partner Presentation: VXT
8:20 AM - 10:05 AM Thursday Morning Plenary Session
8:20am - 10:05am
8:30 AM - 9:05 AM Day Two Opening and ALPMA Awards
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
9:05 AM - 10:05 AM Red Brick Thinking - The Art and Science of Strategic Subtraction
When something feels off, most people are driven to add: another project, a shiny tool, a new system. In Donna McGeorge’s signature Red Brick Thinking™ presentations, participants are given a lopsided LEGO® bridge and asked to fix it. Nearly everyone adds more bricks to even it up. Few people remove the one red brick to achieve the same result. That’s Red Brick Thinking™ – The art of strategic subtraction. A mindset, a method, and a movement. It’s a lens applied to calendars, communication, leadership and everyday life. Remove the unnecessary and unlock what actually matters.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
10:05 AM - 10:35 AM
Thursday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 1
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM 		When Everyone Has AI, What Sets You Apart?
Law firms are not short on tools, strategy or ambition. Yet many change initiatives quietly lose momentum after the initial push. Leaders know adoption is a human challenge, but awareness alone has not made change stick. The result is bursts of enthusiasm, inconsistent follow-through and rising change fatigue. Drawing on lived experience in legal AI and technology programs, this session explores the small leadership and environmental design choices that determine whether new ways of working actually take hold. It introduces a practical adoption lens built on three human fundamentals: curiosity, habit formation, and supportive environments. Through short interactive exercises and real-world examples, attendees spot hidden blockers to adoption, identify the human skills that matter most for capability, and design simple habits and environments that embed learning without adding new programs or workload.
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 1
10:35am - 11:20am
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM
5-Minute Room Change Block 2
Thursday Concurrent Session 2
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM 		Partner Remuneration & Performance
Details coming soon
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:25am - 12:10pm
11:25 AM - 12:25 PM
12:10 PM - 12:15 PM
5-Minute Room Change Block 3
Thursday Concurrent Session 3
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM 		Changing Legal Landscape – Dye & Durham Hosted Panel
Details coming soon
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 3
12:15pm - 1:00pm
12:25 PM - 1:00 PM
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thursday - Lunch & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM 		Future Proofing Client Acquisition as Search, Referrals and AI Converge
Client acquisition models for law firms have been quietly but fundamentally disrupted over the past three to five years. Search volumes are declining, zero-click results are increasing, referral pathways are changing, and AI driven tools such as ChatGPT are emerging as intermediaries that influence which firms are recommended and trusted. This session examines client acquisition as a core business fundamental, not a marketing tactic, and explores how law firms can rebuild and future proof this foundation in an AI influenced environment. It reframes AI as an external market force, similar to past shifts such as online reviews and comparison platforms, that requires a strategic response at the business model level. A key focus is the role of personal authority and human trust as commercial assets. While AI increasingly shapes discovery, clients still choose people. The session provides a practical framework for rebuilding client acquisition foundations that support long-term sustainability.
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 4
2:00pm - 2:45pm
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Thursday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
3:14 PM - 5:35 PM Thursday Afternoon Plenary Session
3:15pm - 5:35pm
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM LEAP Principal Partner Presentation
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
3:35 PM - 4:35 PM Mind Your Head
How are things inside your head these days? Do you have more than enough bandwidth to think through all the things currently coming at you? Is there plenty of headspace left over to deal with the unexpected? Is your mind as tidy and organised as your desk [sometimes] is? Or are you like the rest of us, with way too much to think about and nowhere near enough capacity to think about it with? Do you sometimes find yourself avoiding new thoughts, ideas and information for fear your head might explode? It’s not just you; we’re all struggling to overcome the overwhelm. Maybe it’s time to tidy up your head, organise your thinking and take out the trash. Let Jason from Minds at Work show you how.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Pricing Legal Services in the Age of Automation and AI
AI and automation are transforming professional services, but much of the debate about pricing has focused narrowly on cost reduction and efficiency. These benefits matter, but they are not the strategic heart of AI for professional services. This session examines the growing challenge of pricing in an era where automation creates downward pressure on fees. Used well, AI is both a cost reducer and a value amplifier. The strategic question is not how to use AI to reduce price, but how to use it to increase value or limit loss. Focus on the AND, not the OR. The session applies the MIT CISR business models framework to professional services and introduces a newly developed AI Value Advantage Framework, including its signature Value Amplifier quadrant where AI reduces cost while significantly increasing client value. Attendees leave with practical guidance on mapping services to business models, modernising pricing through subscription, hybrid and outcome-based approaches, being transparent about AI use, and strengthening governance and client communication.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM
5:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Day 2 Wrap-Up
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM Party Like It's 1985! - Cocktail Function
Dress: Everything 80s! Great Scott! — we're going back in time! The ALPMA Summit is rewinding the tape, cranking the volume to eleven, and inviting you to party like it's 1985. Dust off your flux capacitor, tease up your fringe, and prepare for a night so iconic it could only be captured on VHS and rewound immediately.

Small Firm Stream
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Registration & Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:20 AM - 8:30 AM Platinum Partner Presentation: VXT
8:20 AM - 10:05 AM Thursday Morning Plenary Session
8:20am - 10:05am
8:30 AM - 9:05 AM Day Two Opening and ALPMA Awards
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
9:05 AM - 10:05 AM Red Brick Thinking - The Art and Science of Strategic Subtraction
When something feels off, most people are driven to add: another project, a shiny tool, a new system. In Donna McGeorge’s signature Red Brick Thinking™ presentations, participants are given a lopsided LEGO® bridge and asked to fix it. Nearly everyone adds more bricks to even it up. Few people remove the one red brick to achieve the same result. That’s Red Brick Thinking™ – The art of strategic subtraction. A mindset, a method, and a movement. It’s a lens applied to calendars, communication, leadership and everyday life. Remove the unnecessary and unlock what actually matters.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
10:05 AM - 10:35 AM
Thursday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 1
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM 		The Glue That Holds It All Together – Thriving as a Small Firm Practice Leader
A practical, story-driven session exploring the small firm practice manager as the person who holds everything together. It covers two pillars: building team culture through psychological safety, feedback and talent development; and using financial disciplines as a people engagement tool. Drawn from real experience starting in the role at 23, through cross-industry leadership, to advising firms today, the session is honest, actionable and grounded in small firm realities. Key takeaways: apply the dance floor and balcony framework to shift between operational detail and firmwide perspective; implement psychological safety practices that encourage staff to speak up; structure principal-to-junior feedback to break the cycle of complaint without development; and use file reviews as a cultural and quality tool, not just compliance.
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 1
10:35am - 11:20am
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM
5-Minute Room Change Block 2
Thursday Concurrent Session 2
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM 		From Busy to Profitable: A Practical Reset for Pricing Discipline and Cash Flow
Matt Schlyder, FWO Chartered Accountants
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:25am - 12:10pm
11:25 AM - 12:25 PM
12:10 PM - 12:15 PM
5-Minute Room Change Block 3
Thursday Concurrent Session 3
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM 		Built to Last: Succession in the Small Law Firm
Most small firm leaders want to build something that outlasts them, but a practical succession plan is hard to put in place and the next generation isn't stepping up the way it once did. This session looks at what has actually changed: what emerging lawyers want from leadership, why the traditional signs of promising talent may no longer tell you who is ready and how to make leading a firm something people want to do, not something they avoid. You'll leave with practical ways to build leadership capability early, make the step up attractive and give your firm a real next generation of leaders.
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 3
12:15pm - 1:00pm
12:25 PM - 1:00 PM
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thursday - Lunch & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM 		What the PM Carries: Managing Regulatory Risk, Complaints and Difficult Client Relationships
The practice manager of a small law practice is often on the front line of practical compliance. It's the principal's responsibility, but you will be the one looking after the practicalities, and the one who shares the stress of questioning whether you've missed anything. In this session, you will learn the principles and framework you need to cover everything and to help your principals fulfil their responsibilities. We will discuss: • The compliance obligations of law practices and their principals under the Uniform Law • Policy frameworks every law practice should have • Hot areas for regulatory risk and how the PM can help manage them - including supervision, client relationships, complaints and problem files, supervision of junior lawyers, management of trust money and use of AI. • Your role in providing structure, enforcement and review.'
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM Thursday Concurrent Session Block 4
2:00pm - 2:45pm
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Thursday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
3:14 PM - 5:35 PM Thursday Afternoon Plenary Session
3:15pm - 5:35pm
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM LEAP Principal Partner Presentation
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM
3:35 PM - 4:35 PM Mind Your Head
How are things inside your head these days? Do you have more than enough bandwidth to think through all the things currently coming at you? Is there plenty of headspace left over to deal with the unexpected? Is your mind as tidy and organised as your desk [sometimes] is? Or are you like the rest of us, with way too much to think about and nowhere near enough capacity to think about it with? Do you sometimes find yourself avoiding new thoughts, ideas and information for fear your head might explode? It’s not just you; we’re all struggling to overcome the overwhelm. Maybe it’s time to tidy up your head, organise your thinking and take out the trash. Let Jason from Minds at Work show you how.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Pricing Legal Services in the Age of Automation and AI
AI and automation are transforming professional services, but much of the debate about pricing has focused narrowly on cost reduction and efficiency. These benefits matter, but they are not the strategic heart of AI for professional services. This session examines the growing challenge of pricing in an era where automation creates downward pressure on fees. Used well, AI is both a cost reducer and a value amplifier. The strategic question is not how to use AI to reduce price, but how to use it to increase value or limit loss. Focus on the AND, not the OR. The session applies the MIT CISR business models framework to professional services and introduces a newly developed AI Value Advantage Framework, including its signature Value Amplifier quadrant where AI reduces cost while significantly increasing client value. Attendees leave with practical guidance on mapping services to business models, modernising pricing through subscription, hybrid and outcome-based approaches, being transparent about AI use, and strengthening governance and client communication.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM
5:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Day 2 Wrap-Up
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM Party Like It's 1985! - Cocktail Function
Dress: Everything 80s! Great Scott! — we're going back in time! The ALPMA Summit is rewinding the tape, cranking the volume to eleven, and inviting you to party like it's 1985. Dust off your flux capacitor, tease up your fringe, and prepare for a night so iconic it could only be captured on VHS and rewound immediately.

ALTACON
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM Registration & Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:20 AM - 8:30 AM
8:20 AM - 10:05 AM
8:30 AM - 9:05 AM
8:30 AM - 9:30 AM Writing an AI Policy People Actually Follow
A working session that moves delegates from a blank page to a usable draft AI policy — acceptable use, confidentiality, client disclosure, verification and supervision. Delegates leave with a firm-ready draft and a rollout approach that earns genuine staff buy-in.
9:05 AM - 10:05 AM
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM Governing the Agent: Defensible AI Frameworks
As AI shifts from drafting to deciding and acting, firms need governance that holds up to scrutiny. Oversight, audit trails, accountability and risk controls for agentic tools — and how to evidence that oversight to clients, courts and insurers.
10:05 AM - 10:35 AM
Thursday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 1
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM
10:35 AM - 11:20 AM AML/CTF Tranche 2: The First 10 weeks
With Tranche 2 obligations live since 1 July 2026, a practitioner Q&A on what is working, where firms are struggling, and what AUSTRAC engagement looks like in practice. A candid picture of early compliance experience and practical fixes for common implementation gaps.
11:20 AM - 11:25 AM
5-Minute Room Change Block 2
Thursday Concurrent Session 2
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM
11:25 AM - 12:10 PM
11:25 AM - 12:25 PM Which Lane Are You In? Making Sense of the Legal AI Market
General-purpose AI assistants and purpose-built legal tools are not substitutes in one race. They are different categories, with different capabilities, limitations and price points, suited to different tasks. This session gives delegates a framework for telling them apart: what general-purpose AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini do well and poorly for legal work, where purpose-built legal tools earn their premium, and the adoption factors that decide which is right. Delegates leave with a framework for categorising any tool they encounter, and a set of questions to take back and ask before their firm spends.
12:10 PM - 12:15 PM
5-Minute Room Change Block 3
Thursday Concurrent Session 3
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM
12:25 PM - 1:00 PM Get Your House In Order: Data & Tech-Stack Foundations
The unglamorous prerequisite for AI value: clean, well-structured data and a coherent tech stack. Delegates leave with a data-hygiene and tech-stack evaluation framework to run at their firm.
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Thursday - Lunch & Exhibition
Thursday Concurrent Session 4
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM The Competence Paradox: Why Getting Faster Is Making Us Worse, and What Firm Leaders Must Do About It
The first wave of legal AI delivered exactly what it promised, which was speed. The uncomfortable second-order effect is that speed without scrutiny quietly erodes the quality and judgment a firm’s reputation is built on, and that makes it a leadership problem rather than an individual one. This keynote names the paradox at the centre of 2026. Capability is no longer the constraint; supervision, verification and judgment are. It sets a practical stance for the people running firms who have to capture the productivity without quietly trading away the quality, trust and risk posture the business depends on, and it is the lens for everything that follows. Key takeaways • What AI has genuinely solved, and the quality and risk exposures that arrive with speed. • Why over-reliance is a firm-wide supervision and brand issue, not just a lawyer thing. • A leadership stance to carry into every session: capture the speed and protect the judgment.
2:45 PM - 3:15 PM
Thursday - Afternoon Tea & Exhibition
3:14 PM - 5:35 PM Thursday Afternoon Plenary Session
3:15pm - 5:35pm
3:15 PM - 3:35 PM LEAP Principal Partner Presentation
3:15 PM - 4:00 PM You Are Now a Manager of Machines: Designing How Work Flows Through Your Firm When Agents Join the Team
Agentic AI has moved the smallest unit of work from the task to the system, and for the people running a firm that changes how work is organised, who does what, and where supervision sits. This panel is a grounded, non-technical conversation about redesigning how matters and back-office work flow through a small-to-mid sized firm once AI agents join the team as coworkers. It looks at where to grant autonomy, where a person must stay in the loop, what it does to roles and capacity, and how to build workflows the firm can stand behind. Agentic AI is the centrepiece, framed for the people who have to deploy it well rather than build it. Key takeaways • A practical model for redesigning firm workflows around a mix of people and agents. • How to match an agent’s autonomy to the sensitivity and consequence of the work. • What agentic workflows do to roles, supervision and capacity, and how to plan for it.
3:35 PM - 4:35 PM Mind Your Head
How are things inside your head these days? Do you have more than enough bandwidth to think through all the things currently coming at you? Is there plenty of headspace left over to deal with the unexpected? Is your mind as tidy and organised as your desk [sometimes] is? Or are you like the rest of us, with way too much to think about and nowhere near enough capacity to think about it with? Do you sometimes find yourself avoiding new thoughts, ideas and information for fear your head might explode? It’s not just you; we’re all struggling to overcome the overwhelm. Maybe it’s time to tidy up your head, organise your thinking and take out the trash. Let Jason from Minds at Work show you how.
4:00 PM - 4:45 PM Building the Business Case for Legal Tech
A practical session for those who must get technology spend approved. Build vs buy, total cost of ownership, ROI, and hybrid proof-of-concept strategies. A reusable business-case structure is the session takeaway.
The "Build versus Buy" Dilemma for Law Firms
A practical session for those who must get technology spend approved. Build vs buy, total cost of ownership, ROI, and hybrid proof-of-concept strategies. A reusable business-case structure is the session takeaway.
4:35 PM - 5:30 PM Pricing Legal Services in the Age of Automation and AI
AI and automation are transforming professional services, but much of the debate about pricing has focused narrowly on cost reduction and efficiency. These benefits matter, but they are not the strategic heart of AI for professional services. This session examines the growing challenge of pricing in an era where automation creates downward pressure on fees. Used well, AI is both a cost reducer and a value amplifier. The strategic question is not how to use AI to reduce price, but how to use it to increase value or limit loss. Focus on the AND, not the OR. The session applies the MIT CISR business models framework to professional services and introduces a newly developed AI Value Advantage Framework, including its signature Value Amplifier quadrant where AI reduces cost while significantly increasing client value. Attendees leave with practical guidance on mapping services to business models, modernising pricing through subscription, hybrid and outcome-based approaches, being transparent about AI use, and strengthening governance and client communication.
4:45 PM - 5:30 PM WiLD Panel
Details Coming Soon
5:30 PM - 5:35 PM
Day 2 Wrap-Up
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM Party Like It's 1985! - Cocktail Function
Dress: Everything 80s! Great Scott! — we're going back in time! The ALPMA Summit is rewinding the tape, cranking the volume to eleven, and inviting you to party like it's 1985. Dust off your flux capacitor, tease up your fringe, and prepare for a night so iconic it could only be captured on VHS and rewound immediately.

Friday, September 11, 2026

Concurrent Stream 1
Concurrent Stream 2
Small Firm Stream
ALTACON
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM Registration and Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:29 AM - 9:50 AM Friday Morning Plenary Session
8:30am - 9:50am
8:40 AM - 9:40 AM The New You: A Rebrand or Recharge
Dr. Jana Pittman Many of us have to change our career paths, step up or overcome an adverse event. You might want to inspire your staff or audience to push harder and change their perception or your company may have taken a hit and needs to rebuild. Jana will use her stories of swapping the track for the icy slopes of bobsled, overcoming media criticism and now becoming a doctor, to show how we can rebrand' and reinvent ourselves. Designed to foster leadership and creativity.
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM Bought It, Never Used It: Why Legal Tech Adoption Stalls and How To Fix It
Most legal tech does not fail because it is bad. It fails because no one uses it. This session looks at why new systems get bypassed, half-adopted or quietly abandoned, and at what actually drives adoption. Delegates leave with a practical, evidence-based way to diagnose adoption risk and build the conditions for technology to stick.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM The AI Broker: A New Role Between Firm and Client
A forward-looking session on the intermediary role emerging between client and firm — translating client need into AI-assisted delivery. The implications for firm structure and client relationships, and whether a firm might build this capability.
9:40 AM - 9:50 AM Platinum Partner presentation: Actionstep
9:50 AM - 9:55 AM 5-Minute Room Change
9:50am - 9:55am
Friday Concurrent Session 1
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM 		The Sharpening: What PE Backed Competitors Mean for Every Firm
Consolidation is quietly accelerating and governance structures are being reformed. Around a quarter of Australia's top 50 law firms now operate as incorporated legal practices, most have a services company, and many are spinning off service lines that no longer fit the core model. Private equity is now scouting Australian legal services for significant investment. When that capital lands, the recipient firms will reset the benchmark: better resourced, structurally reformed, operationally disciplined, and built to reinvest at a pace traditional partnership models cannot match. Built for COOs, General Managers and CEOs, the session names the structural reality most operational leaders already sense, and draws on UK and US evidence where this shift played out earlier. It shows what PE-backed competitors are building, why structural barriers inside most firms make responding harder than it looks, and what operational leaders can do right now to sharpen their position. 		Beyond the Bar: Lawyer-Led Innovation
The legal services market is experiencing a fundamental structural shift in how legal services are delivered. There is a large and growing segment of the population that does not qualify for legal aid yet cannot comfortably afford full-fee private legal services. This middle market is one of the most significant access challenges facing the profession. Around one in three adults experience a significant legal problem each year across areas such as family, employment, housing, debt and consumer disputes. Fewer than 40 percent of people with legal problems use a lawyer; many delay advice, self-represent or abandon valid claims. Drawing on national data across New Zealand and Australian market dynamics, this session explains why traditional delivery models do not scale for this group, and how lawyer-led innovation can bridge the gap. The audience gains a clear understanding of the middle-market opportunity, the risks of inaction, and the characteristics of responsible lawyer-led innovation. 		Improve Net Profit by 10%: Lessons from the PM Course
After 10 years facilitating and presenting at the Legal Practice Management Course in WA for the College of Law, Cathryn shares 10 key tips that can help a practice improve net profit by 10 percent. When legal practices focus on raising charge-out rates, billable targets and slashing expenses to increase profit, they opt for short-term gains with long-term pain. Sustainable growth comes from small, meaningful change that results in a big impact. Learn from the British Cycling Team, who used the aggregation of marginal gains theory to go from zero to Olympic heroes, and apply this thinking in a legal practice to lift net profit by 10 percent without a major overhaul of clients, practice areas or staff.
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 1
9:55am - 10:40am
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM Punching Above Your Weight
Real case studies of small firms using AI to compete with much larger competitors — the practical how, not the theory. Concrete, low-cost moves delegates can copy directly, with realistic expectations on effort and payoff.
10:40 AM - 11:10 AM
Friday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 2
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM 		Indispensable or Interchangeable? The General Counsel Verdict
What makes a law firm indispensable? General Counsels will share how they assess value, trust and strategic partnership in today’s environment of cost pressure and technological acceleration. Expect practical insight into: • what truly differentiates firms in competitive mandates; • how AI is reshaping expectations around efficiency, risk and accountability; and • where firms must recalibrate to remain commercially relevant. This session delivers the buyers’ verdict on what matters now, and what will matter next. 		Multidisciplinary Teams Don't Just Change Legal Practice. They Change How Firms Compete
Legal problems are rarely just legal problems anymore. Clients increasingly expect law firms to solve business, people, technology, operational and strategic challenges alongside legal risk. This is why multidisciplinary teams are becoming a competitive advantage in modern legal practice. Firms are bringing together lawyers, strategists, technologists, operations specialists, behavioural experts and AI-enabled tools to deliver faster advice, stronger client outcomes and deeper client relationships. The opportunity is enormous, especially for small and mid-sized firms that can move quickly and design intentionally. This session introduces a practical framework for understanding what multidisciplinary teams actually are, what makes them commercially effective, and how firms can build integrated teams that create long-term competitive advantage. Key takeaways include how to tell whether a team is truly integrated, five early warning signs of integration problems, and a workforce planning lens to separate a hiring problem from an integration problem. 		Marketing & Business Development Session
Details coming soon
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:10am - 11:55am
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM The Lawyer, Rewired: Capability in an AI-Enabled Profession
As AI absorbs research, review and drafting, legal knowledge is no longer the differentiator it once was. What sets a lawyer apart is shifting toward judgment, commercial insight, client empathy and the ability to work fluently alongside these tools. This panel asks what that means for the role itself. If the routine work is automated, how does practice change, which capabilities become essential, and what does digital fluency actually look like beyond prompting a chatbot? Bringing together voices from across the pipeline, the panel examines how technology is reshaping the skills and expectations placed on lawyers, and what firms, educators and individuals should be doing about it now.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday - Lunch & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 3
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 		Roundtable Discussions 1
Details coming soon 		Roundtable Discussions 2
Details coming soon 		Small Firm Leader Roundtable Discussions
Details coming soon
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Friday Concurrent Session Block 3
1:00pm - 2:30pm 		Rebuilding the Work: A Facilitated Roundtable
A facilitated, cross-section roundtable that brings the threads of the program together. Drawing on a deliberately mixed table of perspectives, delegates work through how the ideas explored across ALTACON apply in practice, sharing what is working, where the challenges lie, and the practical steps firms can take next.
2:30 PM - 2:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change
2:34 PM - 3:40 PM Friday Afternoon Plenary Session
2:35pm-3:05pm
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Efimis - From Back-Office to Boardroom
2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Summit Wrap-Up
Concurrent Stream 1
Concurrent Stream 2
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM Registration and Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:29 AM - 9:50 AM Friday Morning Plenary Session
8:30am - 9:50am
8:40 AM - 9:40 AM The New You: A Rebrand or Recharge
Dr. Jana Pittman Many of us have to change our career paths, step up or overcome an adverse event. You might want to inspire your staff or audience to push harder and change their perception or your company may have taken a hit and needs to rebuild. Jana will use her stories of swapping the track for the icy slopes of bobsled, overcoming media criticism and now becoming a doctor, to show how we can rebrand' and reinvent ourselves. Designed to foster leadership and creativity.
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
9:40 AM - 9:50 AM Platinum Partner presentation: Actionstep
9:50 AM - 9:55 AM 5-Minute Room Change
9:50am - 9:55am
Friday Concurrent Session 1
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM 		The Sharpening: What PE Backed Competitors Mean for Every Firm
Consolidation is quietly accelerating and governance structures are being reformed. Around a quarter of Australia's top 50 law firms now operate as incorporated legal practices, most have a services company, and many are spinning off service lines that no longer fit the core model. Private equity is now scouting Australian legal services for significant investment. When that capital lands, the recipient firms will reset the benchmark: better resourced, structurally reformed, operationally disciplined, and built to reinvest at a pace traditional partnership models cannot match. Built for COOs, General Managers and CEOs, the session names the structural reality most operational leaders already sense, and draws on UK and US evidence where this shift played out earlier. It shows what PE-backed competitors are building, why structural barriers inside most firms make responding harder than it looks, and what operational leaders can do right now to sharpen their position. 		Beyond the Bar: Lawyer-Led Innovation
The legal services market is experiencing a fundamental structural shift in how legal services are delivered. There is a large and growing segment of the population that does not qualify for legal aid yet cannot comfortably afford full-fee private legal services. This middle market is one of the most significant access challenges facing the profession. Around one in three adults experience a significant legal problem each year across areas such as family, employment, housing, debt and consumer disputes. Fewer than 40 percent of people with legal problems use a lawyer; many delay advice, self-represent or abandon valid claims. Drawing on national data across New Zealand and Australian market dynamics, this session explains why traditional delivery models do not scale for this group, and how lawyer-led innovation can bridge the gap. The audience gains a clear understanding of the middle-market opportunity, the risks of inaction, and the characteristics of responsible lawyer-led innovation.
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 1
9:55am - 10:40am
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM
10:40 AM - 11:10 AM
Friday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 2
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM 		Indispensable or Interchangeable? The General Counsel Verdict
What makes a law firm indispensable? General Counsels will share how they assess value, trust and strategic partnership in today’s environment of cost pressure and technological acceleration. Expect practical insight into: • what truly differentiates firms in competitive mandates; • how AI is reshaping expectations around efficiency, risk and accountability; and • where firms must recalibrate to remain commercially relevant. This session delivers the buyers’ verdict on what matters now, and what will matter next. 		Multidisciplinary Teams Don't Just Change Legal Practice. They Change How Firms Compete
Legal problems are rarely just legal problems anymore. Clients increasingly expect law firms to solve business, people, technology, operational and strategic challenges alongside legal risk. This is why multidisciplinary teams are becoming a competitive advantage in modern legal practice. Firms are bringing together lawyers, strategists, technologists, operations specialists, behavioural experts and AI-enabled tools to deliver faster advice, stronger client outcomes and deeper client relationships. The opportunity is enormous, especially for small and mid-sized firms that can move quickly and design intentionally. This session introduces a practical framework for understanding what multidisciplinary teams actually are, what makes them commercially effective, and how firms can build integrated teams that create long-term competitive advantage. Key takeaways include how to tell whether a team is truly integrated, five early warning signs of integration problems, and a workforce planning lens to separate a hiring problem from an integration problem.
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:10am - 11:55am
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday - Lunch & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 3
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 		Roundtable Discussions 1
Details coming soon 		Roundtable Discussions 2
Details coming soon
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Friday Concurrent Session Block 3
1:00pm - 2:30pm
2:30 PM - 2:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change
2:34 PM - 3:40 PM Friday Afternoon Plenary Session
2:35pm-3:05pm
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Efimis - From Back-Office to Boardroom
2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Summit Wrap-Up

Small Firm Stream
ALTACON
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM Registration and Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:29 AM - 9:50 AM Friday Morning Plenary Session
8:30am - 9:50am
8:40 AM - 9:40 AM The New You: A Rebrand or Recharge
Dr. Jana Pittman Many of us have to change our career paths, step up or overcome an adverse event. You might want to inspire your staff or audience to push harder and change their perception or your company may have taken a hit and needs to rebuild. Jana will use her stories of swapping the track for the icy slopes of bobsled, overcoming media criticism and now becoming a doctor, to show how we can rebrand' and reinvent ourselves. Designed to foster leadership and creativity.
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM Bought It, Never Used It: Why Legal Tech Adoption Stalls and How To Fix It
Most legal tech does not fail because it is bad. It fails because no one uses it. This session looks at why new systems get bypassed, half-adopted or quietly abandoned, and at what actually drives adoption. Delegates leave with a practical, evidence-based way to diagnose adoption risk and build the conditions for technology to stick.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM The AI Broker: A New Role Between Firm and Client
A forward-looking session on the intermediary role emerging between client and firm — translating client need into AI-assisted delivery. The implications for firm structure and client relationships, and whether a firm might build this capability.
9:40 AM - 9:50 AM Platinum Partner presentation: Actionstep
9:50 AM - 9:55 AM 5-Minute Room Change
9:50am - 9:55am
Friday Concurrent Session 1
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM 		Improve Net Profit by 10%: Lessons from the PM Course
After 10 years facilitating and presenting at the Legal Practice Management Course in WA for the College of Law, Cathryn shares 10 key tips that can help a practice improve net profit by 10 percent. When legal practices focus on raising charge-out rates, billable targets and slashing expenses to increase profit, they opt for short-term gains with long-term pain. Sustainable growth comes from small, meaningful change that results in a big impact. Learn from the British Cycling Team, who used the aggregation of marginal gains theory to go from zero to Olympic heroes, and apply this thinking in a legal practice to lift net profit by 10 percent without a major overhaul of clients, practice areas or staff.
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 1
9:55am - 10:40am
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM Punching Above Your Weight
Real case studies of small firms using AI to compete with much larger competitors — the practical how, not the theory. Concrete, low-cost moves delegates can copy directly, with realistic expectations on effort and payoff.
10:40 AM - 11:10 AM
Friday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 2
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM 		Marketing & Business Development Session
Details coming soon
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:10am - 11:55am
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM The Lawyer, Rewired: Capability in an AI-Enabled Profession
As AI absorbs research, review and drafting, legal knowledge is no longer the differentiator it once was. What sets a lawyer apart is shifting toward judgment, commercial insight, client empathy and the ability to work fluently alongside these tools. This panel asks what that means for the role itself. If the routine work is automated, how does practice change, which capabilities become essential, and what does digital fluency actually look like beyond prompting a chatbot? Bringing together voices from across the pipeline, the panel examines how technology is reshaping the skills and expectations placed on lawyers, and what firms, educators and individuals should be doing about it now.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday - Lunch & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 3
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 		Small Firm Leader Roundtable Discussions
Details coming soon
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Friday Concurrent Session Block 3
1:00pm - 2:30pm 		Rebuilding the Work: A Facilitated Roundtable
A facilitated, cross-section roundtable that brings the threads of the program together. Drawing on a deliberately mixed table of perspectives, delegates work through how the ideas explored across ALTACON apply in practice, sharing what is working, where the challenges lie, and the practical steps firms can take next.
2:30 PM - 2:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change
2:34 PM - 3:40 PM Friday Afternoon Plenary Session
2:35pm-3:05pm
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Efimis - From Back-Office to Boardroom
2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Summit Wrap-Up

Concurrent Stream 1
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM Registration and Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:29 AM - 9:50 AM Friday Morning Plenary Session
8:30am - 9:50am
8:40 AM - 9:40 AM The New You: A Rebrand or Recharge
Dr. Jana Pittman Many of us have to change our career paths, step up or overcome an adverse event. You might want to inspire your staff or audience to push harder and change their perception or your company may have taken a hit and needs to rebuild. Jana will use her stories of swapping the track for the icy slopes of bobsled, overcoming media criticism and now becoming a doctor, to show how we can rebrand' and reinvent ourselves. Designed to foster leadership and creativity.
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
9:40 AM - 9:50 AM Platinum Partner presentation: Actionstep
9:50 AM - 9:55 AM 5-Minute Room Change
9:50am - 9:55am
Friday Concurrent Session 1
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM 		The Sharpening: What PE Backed Competitors Mean for Every Firm
Consolidation is quietly accelerating and governance structures are being reformed. Around a quarter of Australia's top 50 law firms now operate as incorporated legal practices, most have a services company, and many are spinning off service lines that no longer fit the core model. Private equity is now scouting Australian legal services for significant investment. When that capital lands, the recipient firms will reset the benchmark: better resourced, structurally reformed, operationally disciplined, and built to reinvest at a pace traditional partnership models cannot match. Built for COOs, General Managers and CEOs, the session names the structural reality most operational leaders already sense, and draws on UK and US evidence where this shift played out earlier. It shows what PE-backed competitors are building, why structural barriers inside most firms make responding harder than it looks, and what operational leaders can do right now to sharpen their position.
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 1
9:55am - 10:40am
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM
10:40 AM - 11:10 AM
Friday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 2
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM 		Indispensable or Interchangeable? The General Counsel Verdict
What makes a law firm indispensable? General Counsels will share how they assess value, trust and strategic partnership in today’s environment of cost pressure and technological acceleration. Expect practical insight into: • what truly differentiates firms in competitive mandates; • how AI is reshaping expectations around efficiency, risk and accountability; and • where firms must recalibrate to remain commercially relevant. This session delivers the buyers’ verdict on what matters now, and what will matter next.
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:10am - 11:55am
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday - Lunch & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 3
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 		Roundtable Discussions 1
Details coming soon
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Friday Concurrent Session Block 3
1:00pm - 2:30pm
2:30 PM - 2:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change
2:34 PM - 3:40 PM Friday Afternoon Plenary Session
2:35pm-3:05pm
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Efimis - From Back-Office to Boardroom
2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Summit Wrap-Up

Concurrent Stream 2
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM Registration and Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:29 AM - 9:50 AM Friday Morning Plenary Session
8:30am - 9:50am
8:40 AM - 9:40 AM The New You: A Rebrand or Recharge
Dr. Jana Pittman Many of us have to change our career paths, step up or overcome an adverse event. You might want to inspire your staff or audience to push harder and change their perception or your company may have taken a hit and needs to rebuild. Jana will use her stories of swapping the track for the icy slopes of bobsled, overcoming media criticism and now becoming a doctor, to show how we can rebrand' and reinvent ourselves. Designed to foster leadership and creativity.
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
9:40 AM - 9:50 AM Platinum Partner presentation: Actionstep
9:50 AM - 9:55 AM 5-Minute Room Change
9:50am - 9:55am
Friday Concurrent Session 1
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM 		Beyond the Bar: Lawyer-Led Innovation
The legal services market is experiencing a fundamental structural shift in how legal services are delivered. There is a large and growing segment of the population that does not qualify for legal aid yet cannot comfortably afford full-fee private legal services. This middle market is one of the most significant access challenges facing the profession. Around one in three adults experience a significant legal problem each year across areas such as family, employment, housing, debt and consumer disputes. Fewer than 40 percent of people with legal problems use a lawyer; many delay advice, self-represent or abandon valid claims. Drawing on national data across New Zealand and Australian market dynamics, this session explains why traditional delivery models do not scale for this group, and how lawyer-led innovation can bridge the gap. The audience gains a clear understanding of the middle-market opportunity, the risks of inaction, and the characteristics of responsible lawyer-led innovation.
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 1
9:55am - 10:40am
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM
10:40 AM - 11:10 AM
Friday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 2
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM 		Multidisciplinary Teams Don't Just Change Legal Practice. They Change How Firms Compete
Legal problems are rarely just legal problems anymore. Clients increasingly expect law firms to solve business, people, technology, operational and strategic challenges alongside legal risk. This is why multidisciplinary teams are becoming a competitive advantage in modern legal practice. Firms are bringing together lawyers, strategists, technologists, operations specialists, behavioural experts and AI-enabled tools to deliver faster advice, stronger client outcomes and deeper client relationships. The opportunity is enormous, especially for small and mid-sized firms that can move quickly and design intentionally. This session introduces a practical framework for understanding what multidisciplinary teams actually are, what makes them commercially effective, and how firms can build integrated teams that create long-term competitive advantage. Key takeaways include how to tell whether a team is truly integrated, five early warning signs of integration problems, and a workforce planning lens to separate a hiring problem from an integration problem.
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:10am - 11:55am
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday - Lunch & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 3
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 		Roundtable Discussions 2
Details coming soon
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Friday Concurrent Session Block 3
1:00pm - 2:30pm
2:30 PM - 2:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change
2:34 PM - 3:40 PM Friday Afternoon Plenary Session
2:35pm-3:05pm
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Efimis - From Back-Office to Boardroom
2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Summit Wrap-Up

Small Firm Stream
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM Registration and Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:29 AM - 9:50 AM Friday Morning Plenary Session
8:30am - 9:50am
8:40 AM - 9:40 AM The New You: A Rebrand or Recharge
Dr. Jana Pittman Many of us have to change our career paths, step up or overcome an adverse event. You might want to inspire your staff or audience to push harder and change their perception or your company may have taken a hit and needs to rebuild. Jana will use her stories of swapping the track for the icy slopes of bobsled, overcoming media criticism and now becoming a doctor, to show how we can rebrand' and reinvent ourselves. Designed to foster leadership and creativity.
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM
9:40 AM - 9:50 AM Platinum Partner presentation: Actionstep
9:50 AM - 9:55 AM 5-Minute Room Change
9:50am - 9:55am
Friday Concurrent Session 1
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM 		Improve Net Profit by 10%: Lessons from the PM Course
After 10 years facilitating and presenting at the Legal Practice Management Course in WA for the College of Law, Cathryn shares 10 key tips that can help a practice improve net profit by 10 percent. When legal practices focus on raising charge-out rates, billable targets and slashing expenses to increase profit, they opt for short-term gains with long-term pain. Sustainable growth comes from small, meaningful change that results in a big impact. Learn from the British Cycling Team, who used the aggregation of marginal gains theory to go from zero to Olympic heroes, and apply this thinking in a legal practice to lift net profit by 10 percent without a major overhaul of clients, practice areas or staff.
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 1
9:55am - 10:40am
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM
10:40 AM - 11:10 AM
Friday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 2
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM 		Marketing & Business Development Session
Details coming soon
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM Friday Concurrent Session Block 2
11:10am - 11:55am
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday - Lunch & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 3
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM 		Small Firm Leader Roundtable Discussions
Details coming soon
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Friday Concurrent Session Block 3
1:00pm - 2:30pm
2:30 PM - 2:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change
2:34 PM - 3:40 PM Friday Afternoon Plenary Session
2:35pm-3:05pm
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Efimis - From Back-Office to Boardroom
2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Summit Wrap-Up

ALTACON
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM Registration and Exhibition Open
A light breakfast will be available in the exhibition space for early arrivals
8:29 AM - 9:50 AM Friday Morning Plenary Session
8:30am - 9:50am
8:40 AM - 9:40 AM The New You: A Rebrand or Recharge
Dr. Jana Pittman Many of us have to change our career paths, step up or overcome an adverse event. You might want to inspire your staff or audience to push harder and change their perception or your company may have taken a hit and needs to rebuild. Jana will use her stories of swapping the track for the icy slopes of bobsled, overcoming media criticism and now becoming a doctor, to show how we can rebrand' and reinvent ourselves. Designed to foster leadership and creativity.
8:45 AM - 9:30 AM Bought It, Never Used It: Why Legal Tech Adoption Stalls and How To Fix It
Most legal tech does not fail because it is bad. It fails because no one uses it. This session looks at why new systems get bypassed, half-adopted or quietly abandoned, and at what actually drives adoption. Delegates leave with a practical, evidence-based way to diagnose adoption risk and build the conditions for technology to stick.
9:30 AM - 10:05 AM The AI Broker: A New Role Between Firm and Client
A forward-looking session on the intermediary role emerging between client and firm — translating client need into AI-assisted delivery. The implications for firm structure and client relationships, and whether a firm might build this capability.
9:40 AM - 9:50 AM Platinum Partner presentation: Actionstep
9:50 AM - 9:55 AM 5-Minute Room Change
9:50am - 9:55am
Friday Concurrent Session 1
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM
9:55 AM - 10:40 AM
10:05 AM - 10:40 AM Punching Above Your Weight
Real case studies of small firms using AI to compete with much larger competitors — the practical how, not the theory. Concrete, low-cost moves delegates can copy directly, with realistic expectations on effort and payoff.
10:40 AM - 11:10 AM
Friday - Morning Tea & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 2
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM
11:10 AM - 11:55 AM
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM The Lawyer, Rewired: Capability in an AI-Enabled Profession
As AI absorbs research, review and drafting, legal knowledge is no longer the differentiator it once was. What sets a lawyer apart is shifting toward judgment, commercial insight, client empathy and the ability to work fluently alongside these tools. This panel asks what that means for the role itself. If the routine work is automated, how does practice change, which capabilities become essential, and what does digital fluency actually look like beyond prompting a chatbot? Bringing together voices from across the pipeline, the panel examines how technology is reshaping the skills and expectations placed on lawyers, and what firms, educators and individuals should be doing about it now.
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Friday - Lunch & Exhibition
Friday Concurrent Session 3
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Rebuilding the Work: A Facilitated Roundtable
A facilitated, cross-section roundtable that brings the threads of the program together. Drawing on a deliberately mixed table of perspectives, delegates work through how the ideas explored across ALTACON apply in practice, sharing what is working, where the challenges lie, and the practical steps firms can take next.
2:30 PM - 2:35 PM
5-Minute Room Change
2:34 PM - 3:40 PM Friday Afternoon Plenary Session
2:35pm-3:05pm
2:35 PM - 2:45 PM Platinum Partner Presentation: Efimis - From Back-Office to Boardroom
2:45 PM - 3:05 PM
Summit Wrap-Up

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