Exploring Opportunities in Legal Tech Graduate JobsExploring Opportunities in Legal Tech Graduate Jobs
Finding Legal Tech Graduate Jobs
Legal tech is the use of technology to help law firms and individuals with their work. It includes everything from electronic databases to software that assists with trial preparation. It also includes e-discovery project management.
Clifford Chance offers an IGNITE graduate programme that mirrors the structure of a training contract. The programme focuses on legaltech, legal ops and innovation.
Job description
The legal field is being shaken up and rearranged by technology like never before. It’s creating alternative career paths for law graduates. The key is to find the right fit for you. Start by speaking to your firm’s innovation / legaltech / IT / ops team and ask for a taste of what they’re up to.
This could be anything from mapping processes and contributing to discussions on how to improve them, to working on legaltech projects (e.g. identifying and testing new tools or software) and delivering high ROI solutions. This is particularly important for a vendor side role, where cracking product-market fit can make or break you.
Large technology companies have big legal departments, and they often employ legal grads to build technical infrastructure to run those departments more efficiently. For example, they might create software systems that automate legal tasks and streamline the review of large contracts. These systems can also reduce the need for lawyers to manually check that vendors are following contract terms.
Requirements
A legal tech graduate job requires a combination of legal expertise and technical skills. The role involves working closely with teams to develop, implement and support digital solutions for their organisations. This is a great opportunity for law graduates to broaden their horizons and gain valuable experience in other areas of the business.
The ideal candidate for a legal tech graduate job should be comfortable with working on projects using design thinking methods. This methodology works by understanding the user’s needs, re-framing problems in human-centric ways, brainstorming ideas and prototyping. This is a useful skill to have as it is widely used in technology-related fields.
One way to test whether you have the right skills for a legal tech role is to volunteer your time on a law firm’s innovation or legaltech team. This will give you a taste of what the role is like and whether it suits your interests and personality. You can also network with people who specialise in these roles – they may have invaluable views on the best legaltech products and roles to consider.
Salary
Legal technicians are responsible for a wide range of tasks including handling confidential information, transcribing court cases and preparing correspondence. They also perform research into legal matters. They are a vital part of the law firm’s support team and must have excellent communication skills.
The salary associated with a legal tech graduate job depends on the area of specialization and level of expertise. For example, a legal technology specialist who is experienced in IT systems management will command a higher salary than one who has only basic knowledge of IT.
A legal tech ops and innovation consultant is responsible for aligning the technological framework of a law firm with legal industry standards. They use the legal understanding provided by a Master of Business, Law and Technology degree to tailor technological solutions that meet the specific needs of their clients. They are also involved in the rigorous defence of legal data against cyber threats. They also design and implement policies and systems for information governance.
Experience
JT: One of the most important skills for a legal tech role is problem solving, as a lot of time will be spent looking at existing problems that lawyers face and working out how best to solve them with different processes or technology. Communication is also important, as you will probably be liaising with individuals from all areas of the business and having to explain complicated things in a way that everyone understands.
Another good way to get experience is to join a legal technology or innovation group in your law firm or organisation and try to learn as much as possible about what’s going on in the space. Attending conferences is also a great way to network with other people in the industry and hear about the latest developments.
Some law firms also offer graduate schemes that focus on legal tech and ops. For example, Allen & Overy’s IGNITE programme is structured similarly to a training contract, and its trainees work across legal tech, Fuse (the firm’s incubator), project management and the markets innovation group, which develops tech solutions for clients.
