When Virginia Briggs first worked at MinterEllison, she was only 14 years old and her job was to file paper updates in loose- leaf binders of law reports. Today, she is the Australian law firm’s chief executive officer, tackling her heavy workload with the help of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
An early adopter of the generative AI powered assistant since September 2023, Briggs now finds it indispensable.
“I do use it for every task, every day,” she said.
This is no mean feat. As CEO, Briggs sets the course for some 2,500 employees across six offices in Australia.
Briggs relies on Copilot, and its more insightful Researcher agent, for a variety of tasks. These range from researching a potential client ahead of a meeting and producing an immediate transcript of that discussion, to advising how to have a better conversation or strategize messaging for a town hall.
She recalled using Researcher to prepare for a meeting with an executive from a company she knew little about. After keying in the scant details she had, Researcher suggested looking at how MinterEllison and this company might collaborate. Briggs agreed with that suggestion.
“It came back in a very short period of time with a whole script and very strategic approach to how I would have the conversation with this person,” she said. “It was just very tailored, very content rich, very strategic. And I think he – the executive – thought I was very well prepared for the meeting.”
Copilot also helps her when she’s spent her whole day in meetings. She often returns to a mountain of emails and uses Copilot to summarize the messages, flag priorities and suggest next steps.
“It really has changed my life,” she said.
And like any new convert, she’s spreading the word. Especially among MinterEllison’s more than 250 partners.
“It’s no longer a viable excuse to say that you don’t have time to learn the tool. My message is: This will save you time. You need to make it part of your everyday,” she said.
She uses every opportunity to demonstrate Copilot Researcher’s capabilities in real time, including in the MinterEllison boardroom. And the results are showing.
Recently, a board member had to advise a client over a weekend and used Researcher to quickly prepare the foundation of his advice, enhanced and verified by the depth of his skills. Later he told Briggs: “I don’t know how I could have delivered the timeliness of the advice without Researcher.”
For Briggs, the productivity and quality gains from Copilot are now a given. She’s now even more focused on how Copilot boosts her creativity.
“For me, the fact that it actually helps with my strategic thinking is what I found the most transformative,” she said.
Describing herself as an extroverted thinker, she welcomes how she can collaborate with Copilot to help develop her thoughts. “I hate starting with a blank sheet of paper. I never have to start with a blank sheet of paper anymore. And I love that,” she said.
Looking ahead, she hopes for a Copilot that can analyse the firm’s client engagements against emerging regulatory and societal trends. This could help the firm “anticipate what our clients’ next problems might be, so that we can help clients solve problems before they arise.”
And as an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the workplace, she is determined to see these concepts reflected in MinterEllison’s use of AI, be it via gender-diverse prompts or equal access to the technology.
So, what would she advise her 14-year-old self today, if she could go back in time?
“Keep imagining ‘what if’ and stay curious and open. And that will help you lead your organization in a world that’s going to be completely transformed by technology,” she said.
Top image: Virginia Briggs, CEO, MinterEllison. Photo: MinterEllison. Image background generated with Microsoft Copilot.
