Hands-on experience with legal tech, insights on how the legal profession is evolving and inspiration on alternative career opportunities: these were just some of the goals of this legal tech workshop.
Christopher Howard, Senior Tutor at the University of Law, one of the UK’s pre-eminent law schools, believes that law school curricula needs to evolve to meet the changing nature of the legal profession. That’s why he decided to partner with leading UK law firm, Trowers & Hamlins, who has a long-standing relationship with the University, and BRYTER to run this practical legal tech workshop.
Getting hands-on with legal tech
Chris’ goal was to offer students the opportunity to get exposure to a range of alternative legal careers, and give them practical, real-life examples of how the legal profession is evolving.
20 law students from the University of Law’s Moorgate Campus joined the workshop which was kicked off by Chris and the Dean of the University of Law’s Moorgate Campus, Aruna Verma. Students were split into four teams and tasked with the job of building a prototype application using the BRYTER no-code automation platform on four use cases: 1. Flight Delay Compensation; 2. Gift & Hospitality Advisor; 3. NDA Generator; and 4. Residential Tenant Advisor. They were given only 90 minutes to research and build their prototype application.
Supported by Trowers & Hamlins’ Innovation and Legal Technology team, and BRYTER, each team of students quickly got to work on building out their prototypes.
Each group presented their solutions to a judging panel comprising Sam Spivack, UK Managing Director, BRYTER; Christopher Howard, Senior Tutor, University of Law; and Anna Browne, Head of Innovation and Legal Technology at Trowers & Hamlins.
The winning team built a Gifting and Hospitality Assistant called “Auto GCP”. The tool streamlines and simplifies the complex task of managing and tracking corporate gifts and hospitality, ensuring regulatory compliance seamlessly.
What struck the judging panel about this submission was that they demonstrated a clear value proposition to their target audience, evidenced a strong understanding of the BRYTER building platform and delivered the pitch in style!
The presentations were followed by a fireside chat with T&H, to educate and inspire students about their Innovation Team’s work and the firm’s overarching objectives in the realm of innovation and digital products. The fireside chat exemplified the firm’s commitment to nurturing young talent, while also showcasing the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for those interested to follow an innovation path in their legal careers.
“We were delighted to partner with the University of Law and Trowers & Hamlins to host this inaugural workshop. As firms expand their use of technology in the practice of law, we want to work with law schools and education institutions to offer their students the opportunity to get hands-on with technology. Our no-code platform is perfectly positioned to offer future lawyers and legal professionals experience using tech to help them as they move into the world of work. By providing them with hands-on access to technology, we equip these aspiring professionals with the skills necessary to develop solutions that offer clients even better value.”
Sam Spivack, UK Managing Director, BRYTER
“Trowers are proud to partner with University of Law and BRYTER on initiatives like these. Law is changing at a rapid pace and Innovation and legal technology is central to the firm’s strategy. It’s great to see the next generation of lawyers embracing digital products.”
Anna Browne, Head of Innovation and Legal Technology, Trowers & Hamlins LLP.
“It was a real pleasure to host the BRYTER Building workshop at ULaw Moorgate, and to have additional insights from our colleagues at Trowers & Hamlins. The BRYTER Building Bar was a fantastic opportunity for our students to see BRYTER in action and to get first-hand experience. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and gained a real understanding of how no-code automation benefits law firms through hearing from the Innovation team at Trowers.”
Christopher Howard, Senior Tutor, University of Law
