What law firm Reed Smith found most attractive about Steve Agnoli was corporate IT transformation experience, not 13 years as CIO at another global law firm.

Our interview with Steve Agnoli, who became CIO at Reed Smith LLP, a global law firm, in June 2015. Earlier in his career he had spent 13 years as the CIO for another large global law firm before leaving to work in corporate IT transformation.

Heller Search: How did you hear about the CIO opportunity at Reed Smith?

Steve Agnoli: At the time I was working at Mylan as head of global IT transformation and I wasn’t looking for my next job.  I had known the previous CIO at Reed Smith, Gary Becker, for about 10 years. In fact, when Gary  was about to take that job, he was introduced to me through a mutual friend because he wanted to talk to me about the legal industry and what it would be like to be a CIO at a law firm. I was the CIO at the law firm of K&L Gates at the time, a position I held for 13 years.

We stayed in touch after that, and then last year Gary informed me that he would be retiring and that Reed Smith would be seeking a new CIO. He asked me if I would consider it.

You had left the legal industry four years earlier. How interested were you in a CIO role at a law firm?

I was extremely interested. I had always liked the legal industry because it has a level of service you don’t see in other industries.

The highest level of client service permeates law firms. It permeates the entire organization. You get used to it and you miss it when it’s not there.

My experience had been that having direct access to the firm’s partners, who are the owners of the organization, means you can get things done. There is not a lot of bureaucracy to deal with.

What was it about your professional background that was attractive to Reed Smith?

Certainly my understanding of the position and the culture of large law firms was a plus. They were familiar with my previous firm and some of the things my team and I had accomplished there. Also, the personal introduction by the retiring CIO must have helped my chances.

But the leaders here were even more interested in the work I had done and the experience I had gained working in the corporate world. They were interested in the innovative things happening with technology in other industries, and wanted to start adopting new products and technologies not yet common in law firms.

How did you prepare for your interviews?

I thought about the ways I could bring my IT transformation knowledge from the corporate world to the legal world, because I knew I’d spend a lot of time discussing that. I also reacquainted myself with the nuances of the legal industry and law firm IT, and did some research on what was new since I had left K&L Gates in 2011. I found that the industry had changed. Today, it is much more focused on the value that can be delivered and created for clients. Leading up to my interviews here, I tried to put all those things together.

"They were more interested in the work I had done in the corporate world... in the innovative things happening with technology in other industries."
 

What did you learn about this CIO role and the firm during your interviews?

This firm was ---and is--looking to position itself for the future, and without a doubt, technology will be a major determinant of success. This is a changing industry and I found that the firm’s management and partners were engaged in serious thought and discussion about what that means.

What excited me the most was their determination to understand what could be done from a technological and also a business process point of view to serve clients better and continue to strengthen this firm. With IT they were looking to do far more than keep the trains running, and were very amenable to doing things very differently, which isn’t always the case.

How did you prepare to start your new role?

I reviewed my notes and everything I learned while I was interviewing. I also had the benefit of being able to speak to Gary, the retiring CIO, in order to help me get acclimated.

Who do you report to at Reed Smith?

The Chief Operating Officer

From day one, what are some of the concrete steps you took to learn the business and build relationships?

One of the key things was meeting with the stakeholders across the organization, including the attorneys and those in administration side, and listening. This helped me understand what people needed from IT, what their business drivers were, and their current view of IT, whether good or bad.

In these meetings, after they had answered my questions, I would read my notes back to them and gauge their reaction to it.

In one of the first presentations I gave to the senior management team, I included a slide summarizing what I had heard in those stakeholder discussions, and I asked them to respond. I wanted to validate what I was actually hearing, which was critical because it was to become the basis for our IT strategy and many of my early priorities.

I also met with each member of our firmwide IT team to put a face to a name, understand their roles, hear their views on IT at the firm, and start to build a working relationship with them. It was time well spent.

Did you find that anything that was 'on fire' and needed to be dealt with right away?

No, the good news was that operations were very solid. Our challenge moving forward is not fixing, but transforming. We are starting from a strong position, which is something I am thankful for.

You are coming up on the one year anniversary of starting your role. What have you been working on?

Our IT strategy focuses on mobility, digitization, collaboration, and client technologies.

Our business drivers determine technological change and investment decisions. For example, enabling our lawyers to provide excellent client service anywhere, at any time means we need to support a mobile workforce.

Everything in IT ties back to these focus areas.

What would you say were the keys to success for your first 100 days?

First was the careful listening during my meetings with stakeholders and staff, and developing a thorough understanding of the problems our people were trying to solve. Next was building a viable IT strategy that people could both visualize and understand. I am careful to take the time necessary to communicate to the rest of the firm about our IT transformation and modernization in business terms.

I think it’s important also to be able to show forward progress. You need to be saying a) we are doing strategic things here in IT that will benefit our clients and our firm for the long run; and b) here are the improvements we’ve already delivered; as well as c) here is the great thing that is coming next.

How do you know when your IT organization is succeeding?

Because we’ve put in place a governance structure and the focus areas to tie back to, we have institutionalized that. As we are completing the initiatives, we can show how we are moving forward in tech terms and how we are supporting the firm’s business.

We regularly report to management on what we have done and what we are actively working on, so we always have direct feedback about whether we are heading in the right direction.

What advice do you have for CIOs thinking about making the move to a bigger role and a bigger challenge?

The best thing you can do is to view everything through a business value lens. In the end, that is what  IT is about; increasing the value of the firm  in the marketplace and in the market for talent. If you are able to show value,  legal firms are  willing to make investments in technology.

And this applies to more than just CIOs, of course. I advise my direct reports to look at their functions as if they are the business owner of that function—as if the investments are coming out of their own wallets. An owner looks at value and investment differently than a manager.

About Steve Agnoli

Steve-Agnoli-CIO-Reed-SmithAs Chief Information Officer at Reed Smith, Steve Agnoli is responsible for firm-wide IT strategy, systems and technology operations, process improvement, and support for firm growth activities. Before joining Reed Smith, Agnoli was Head of Global IT Transformation for Mylan Pharmaceutical, one of the world's leading generic and specialty pharmaceutical companies. He previously worked as the chief information officer at a global law firm for thirteen years. Agnoli has been recognized with 12 national and international awards for IT leadership and excellence in business innovation enabled by technology.

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