Gino Scapillati comments in the Financial Times’ Special Report on North America Innovative Lawyers. The report’s spotlight on Canada looks at how technology continues to help law firms deliver greater value to clients.

Bennett Jones has also hired expertise from outside the legal industry. Gino Scapillati, the vice-chair for strategy and innovation, joined from PwC last year after consulting on the firm’s strategic review.

“Our clients ask us: ‘How are you using technology to be more efficient?’ or ‘How are you realigning your business model to produce better value?’ ” he says. “That’s part of their criteria in selecting legal services.”

Mr Scapillati says that the firm offers many pricing structures, such as basing their fees on the amount of money its client makes, or saves, based on their legal advice. Drawing on his business experience, he has also started to track other measures of performance, such as the number of internal referrals lawyers make and the number of meetings with executives. This encourages collaboration and developing new clients.