Breaking with tradition for a new career in legaltech

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When I completed my LLB in 2020, I thought that it would either lead me to practise law as a solicitor or simply be better equipped in my well-established and ‘traditional’ career path within insurance.

Insurance faces many of the same challenges of the legal profession today, including:

• how we meet our clients’ digital expectations; and
• how  we equip ourselves and evolve with the right technology to improve client experience.

What are the legal or regulatory hurdles that accompany this evolution?

In 2020, I came across an advert for The University of Law’s MSc in Legal Technology. It was the height of the pandemic, and exhausted by the possibility of yet more TV and wondering how to occupy myself through lockdown, I applied. While that sounds like an impulsive act, in hindsight it was subconsciously years in the making. Frustrated by a myriad of technology solutions providing little value to me as a user and accompanied by a keen, but admittedly naïve, understanding of technology it made sense as a new career path.

What's legaltech?

The course involved the core module of AI and Blockchain in Law, which introduced the concepts of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, its history and development. The course also provided an opportunity to investigate and analyse products in the market today, how they work and who they’re used by. This then led onto perception tools, such as natural language processing and linguistic modelling. We investigated their use case in electronic discovery and automated contract review. The regulation of AI was naturally a huge topic as well as analysing how today’s legal concepts, such as duty of care, causation and foreseeability, applied to machines.

Blockchain and smart contracts were also covered. We were given the opportunity to look in-depth at these technologies and how they could be used in various use cases beyond cryptocurrency. Of course, we were challenged to critically evaluate the law along the way.

Other modules were equally as interesting. Technoethics prompts one to consider their own ethical views and creates a discussion around future regulation. Topics such as governance and disruptive technologies and the Internet of Things or IoT are just some examples of other electives that were offered. Across all modules, lecturers spoke practically, with expertise about the advancements and challenges of technology adoption – distinguishing between reality and science fiction. It allows you to get hands on and think critically about technology and the law.

Finally, the course concluded with a dissertation. My research centred on the adoption of technology in insurance claims management, with a particular focus on law firms that provide claims handling services for insurers.

How do I know whether legaltech is for me?

Apart from an interest in technology, other things to consider in studying legal technology would be its incredibly multidisciplinary nature. Academically, applying the ethical theories in consideration of technology application created the opportunity to delve into areas of jurisprudence. Understanding ethical theory in much greater detail contributes to appreciating societal views and development of the law, arguably for me one of the most fascinating and fast developing areas. Professionally, it requires the skill set of speaking to practising lawyers and clients one minute, and software engineers the next – it certainly keeps you on your toes and requires the ability to ‘speak many languages’. An example of this may be considering a legal issue and being able to distil the information provided to you so you can elaborate on this advice in product design and development with non-legal colleagues.

Today there are now many different courses available. A great resource is artificallawyer.com, where you can find details of an ever-increasing number of modules and specific qualifications at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Beyond this, the subject lends itself to postgraduate research. I would absolutely recommend reading articles on artificiallawyer.com more generally, it’s a useful resource in understanding how the market and the law is developing.

You can also use LawCareers.Net’s courses search to discover undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Completing the MSc provided the opportunity to join Kennedys Law LLP, or more specifically, Kennedys IQ. I work as a product manager, which involves:

• the development of software used by Kennedys’ clients;
• prototyping solutions; and
• collaborating with the wider firm and our clients.

Arguably one of the most interesting aspects of a career in legaltech is witnessing, and contributing to, the way technologies are creating a shift in decision making and shaping a new normal for both lawyers and clients alike. At its core, it’s about finding the value in technology. Bringing that value to life as a product manager is not just exciting but illustrative of the many varied roles emerging in the legal industry, alongside traditional career paths.

Joe Cunningham is a product manager at Kennedys IQ. You can connect with him via LinkedIn.