LEGAL SIDEPIECE

Do you have aspirations to move from a law career to a tech career? We explore the ambits of both career fields and steps to take to leverage available opportunities in the tech space.

Law vs. Tech

A purely legal career or traditional law career generally entails representing clients in legal matters, which includes trial advocacy, providing legal business advice, or advising on family matters such as probate. On the other hand, a tech career involves working with technology in various fields, like, developing software, building and overseeing IT systems, or analysing user feedback.

Currently, more young lawyers are looking to make the transition from the traditional law career to tech. One reason for this transition could be the growing salary discrepancy between employees in legal roles and those in the tech space. Another reason for this pivot may be because more tech employers offer greater incentives to employees such as stock options and flexible work conditions with a lot of opportunities available for remote work that traditional law firms may not offer. For example, tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft both offer their employees stock options as part of their compensation package.

Educational background of legal professionals vs. tech professionals

Legal professionals have different educational backgrounds depending on the country and the type of legal profession. In general, legal professionals are required to have a degree in law from an accredited institution. In some countries, such as the United States, law is a graduate degree, meaning that students must first obtain a bachelor’s degree before attending law school. There is usually no restriction on the field of study since the American Bar Association acknowledges that students can obtain admission to law school from almost every field of study. In the United States, after obtaining a bachelor’s degree, the next steps would include passing the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), enrolling in a law school accredited by the American Bar Association in order to earn a Juris Doctor (JD) degree, and passing the qualifying state bar examination which is necessary to practice law in any given state in the US. In other countries, like the United Kingdom, law is an undergraduate degree, meaning that prospective students can study law directly after graduating high school. Those who did not study law in their undergraduate programme but wish to become lawyers can complete a law conversion course. After obtaining the law degree or completing the law conversion course, you will need to complete the Bar Professional Training Course and enroll for a pupillage with a barrister’s chamber for a year to qualify as a barrister in the UK. But, for those wishing to qualify as solicitors, they need to take the Solicitors Qualifying Examination.

On the other hand, the educational background of tech professionals is determined by the job role and industry. Some employers demand the minimum requirement of a bachelor’s degree in a field related to the job role. However, most tech employees transition from various careers to tech by acquiring specific technical skills. This may be because technical skills are considered more relevant in tech than undergraduate or graduate degrees. Anthony Hughes, cofounder and CEO of Tech Elevator and a Forbes Council member noted that ‘skills drive company performance and productivity, not degrees’ (1). According to him, the technology sector has paved the way in skills-based hiring and other sectors including the public sector are shifting to policies that support focus on skills.

What skills are most important for success in a traditional legal career vs. a tech career?

Skills needed for success in a legal career:

Professors Lee and Naccarato (2), noted that there are ten essential skills every lawyer must master to become successful in their legal careers. These skills are often taught in law school and harnessed over years of law practice. They include:

Critical Thinking: Critical thinking involves exercising careful judgement or evaluation over facts and law. Any good lawyer must have the ability to examine and analyse cases and determine the facts and laws presented in each case.

Critical Reading: Critical reading is an extension of critical thinking. It involves analytical reading to determine hidden meanings or contrary opinions espoused in reading materials, statutes, or written judgements.

Critical Listening: Critical listening is just as important as critical thinking and reading. It is expedient for lawyers to train themselves to listen carefully and analytically. Lawyers must carefully digest and analyse the spoken words of their clients, colleagues, witnesses, and judges so that they can make timely objections during trials and also present carefully considered counter arguments or claims.

Case Briefing: A case brief is the act of summarising a judicial opinion to show the basic aspects of the opinion including key facts, law and rulings. This is an important skill because case law is at the heart of every law practice. Lawyers rely on case law to make arguments and take legal standpoints. Therefore, every lawyer must master the act of case briefing.

Note-Taking: Good note-taking skills are important in almost every field. For a lawyer, note-taking happens in the courtroom, in the law office with the client and during private research. A lawyer must learn how to carefully note vital information from his readings or briefings with clients.

Outlining: Outlining is the hallmark of summarising. Most literature and judicial decisions available to lawyers are often voluminous. Therefore, it is imperative for a good lawyer to master the art of summarising all of his/her case briefs and case notes into usable information for case trials or drafting legal opinions.

Writing Skills: Excellent writing skills are crucial to winning cases and delivering well-curated letters and contracts. To win cases, writing skills help a lawyer produce well-written briefs that showcase persuasive arguments. In letter writing and legal drafting, good writing skills translate to carefully worded letters and documents that convey clear messages leaving little or no room for misinterpretation or ambiguity.

Organisational Skills: A good legal practice is run primarily on proper organisation. Lawyers are expected to be highly organised people since they need to organise every aspect of their activities to avoid unintended consequences such as losing a case due to improper filing of documents, late fees, breach of client confidentiality, etc.

Time Management/Balance: Time management skills are closely related to organisational skills. Time management focuses on prioritising tasks and responsibilities to achieve work-life balance and avoid mental breakdown or stress.

People & Leadership Skills: People skills are important since a lawyer works in teams and collaborates with other colleagues. In addition to strong academic records and work experience, employers are also looking for candidates who show team spirit and can work well with senior colleagues, peer colleagues, junior colleagues, administrative assistants, and clients from diverse backgrounds.

Additionally, a successful lawyer must possess leadership skills. Lawyers should be able to lead and influence others towards achieving a common goal.

Technical skills needed for success in a tech career:

Technical skills refer to the specialised knowledge and expertise required to perform specific tasks and the use of specific tools and programs to complete given tasks. Technical skills sometimes referred to as hard skills, involves the use of practical knowledge to accomplish certain tasks.

Technological skills or tech skills fall within the ambit of technical skills as they involve the use of technological tools, systems or methodologies in solving real-world problems. Various technological skills can be acquired to secure a career in tech depending on a person’s interest, and/or the job role or industry. Some of the popular tech skills include:

Programming and Coding: Programming/Coding entails writing instructions for a computer application or software via the use of programming languages such as JavaScript, HTML, SQL, Python, etc. These sets of skills are necessary across any industry that utilises software or data in their business.

Cybersecurity: This skill has become quite invaluable due to the increasing occurrence of cyber-attacks and data breaches. It involves securing computer systems, networks, programs and servers to ensure that private information remains safe, confidential and immune to digital attacks.

Cloud Computing: This is the hosting of servers on the internet to store, manage and process data instead of storing and managing such data over a local network or personal computer. Most businesses are adopting cloud computing in their operations making it a vital skill for tech professionals to possess. For instance, Amazon’s AWS, Google’s GPC, and Microsoft’s Azure all depend on cloud computing experts to manage their cloud platforms.

Data Science and Analysis: Data science and analysis encompasses presenting and analysing data to extract valuable insights and use those insights to make informed business decisions. Almost all businesses generate data and need tech professionals to analyse these data, making this skill highly sought after in modern businesses.

Computer Science and Networking: Computer science is the study of computers, its components and processes. Computer networking relates to the process of interconnecting systems to enable them to exchange data and share resources. Computer science and networking are the backbone of technology because you can find at least one computer system in every modern organisation and the ability to understand how these computers interact and function is essential for the smooth flow of information within an organisation. It is a core skill for tech professionals to possess.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): The application of AI is making a profound impact across various industries ranging from IT, finance, e-commerce, Hospitality, and Healthcare, to Marketing. AI refers to the development and deployment of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. These AI systems are designed to analyse data, learn from such data, and adapt their behaviour accordingly. And, because most organisations now deploy AI to perform a wide array of tasks, understanding AI research and having the expertise to create enterprise software that is based on AI is crucial to modern businesses.

Project Management: Businesses depend on project managers to deliver tech projects on time and within budget. Project management skill is important in streamlining workflows, allocating resources efficiently and ensuring the successful completion of projects.

User Experience (UX) Designing: UX designing covers all interactions with the users of a technological product or service. Persons with UX designing skills have become highly in demand because they ensure that products and services are easy and enjoyable to navigate. They also obtain user feedback from consumers and this feedback is a valuable resource for tech employers because it helps these employers improve their products and services.

Digital Marketing: Digital marketing is the marketing and promotion of brands, products and services on the Internet using electronic mediums such as emails, social media, Apps and websites. Most modern businesses now depend heavily on digital marketing platforms because the use of physical papers, banners, and fliers is being greatly reduced due to green initiatives. Also, digital marketing allows businesses to reach and engage with a wider audience across different locations and demography making it a must-have skill for tech professionals.

How to transition from a traditional legal career to a tech career

Having noted the vital skills that are needed for success in the tech world. The next step in transitioning from law to tech would be to identify those skills that you can learn to position yourself for employment in the tech field. Notwithstanding, there are emerging areas where both law and tech overlap. These areas are in Legal technology (Legal tech) and Law technology (Law tech). Both areas are inter-related but have minor differences.

Legal tech involves using technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of legal services by combining legal expertise with technology. Law firms and legal departments use Legal tech to automate routine tasks, such as document review, and to analyse data to identify trends and patterns. Legal tech also includes tools for practice management, contract management, pricing software and case management.

In contrast, Law tech is a wider term that encompasses all technology used in the legal industry, including Legal tech. The major difference between the two is that while Legal tech refers to technologies that law firms or law offices deploy to streamline and optimise their productivity, Law tech on the other hand, is utilised by the clients of law firms or businesses who want to provide self-serving access to individuals by granting direct access to law or law products. It is often utilised by online legal companies that provide online legal services. Law tech includes tools for client management, billing, and accounting, tools for online dispute resolution, virtual hearings, etc.

With a background in law, a career in Legal tech may seem appropriate and rewarding. For example, a lawyer could work as a Legal tech consultant or a Legal tech researcher. There are also opportunities in Legal tech sales, marketing and customer success.

Another way to begin a career in Legal tech would be to learn and master the use of popular software utilised in legal practice, often referred to as legal practice CRM (Customer Relationship Management). CRM is a technology for interactions with customers. CRM tools help businesses manage the entire customer lifecycle from getting new customers, storing customer information and recording service issues.

There are diverse CRMs that can be deployed in legal firms depending on the size and type of clients of the firm. Examples include:

Practice Management software that helps with the management of the firm’s practice and its clients. It can cover information on budgeting for various matters, billable cases and client information.

Case Management software that helps with case accounting and tracking important case dates.

Pricing software that helps with creating pricing models for different clients.

Legal Billing software that helps with capturing and monitoring billable hours in the firm.

Client Management software that helps with tracking important meeting dates and improving communication with clients.

Getting a job in tech

Landing a tech job is another way to kickstart a tech career. Although, what qualifies as a tech job is often difficult to pinpoint. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that what makes a tech job is based on three major categories namely: Role-based, Product-based, and Company-based.

Role-based: This means a job role that strictly deals with computers and their systems. It involves technical positions such as IT Engineer, Software Engineer, Web developer, Data Scientist, Database Manager, etc.

It is important to note that a role-based tech job may be found in non-tech fields such as banking, retail, manufacturing, schools, etc.

Product-based: Product-based tech roles provide support to role-based jobs. They are not technicians themselves but support the work of technicians. For example, project managers, product managers, customer success, UX designers, etc.

Company-based: This means a non-technical role at a major tech company such as Google or Microsoft. Roles in this category may be in departments like sales, public relations, customer success, finance, human resources, etc.

In conclusion, a recent report by Ernst & Young in collaboration with iMocha, revealed that the demand for tech skills is increasing exponentially (3). The report showed that tech skills and tech roles are evolving to become embedded across all job fields. It also showed that proficiency in tech skills has become essential for workplace productivity since companies are investing in new technologies and prioritising professionals with ‘high power’ tech skills.

There is something for everyone in tech.

Reference List:

1. Hughes, A. (2023) Jobs Need Skills, Not Degrees. Forbes Technology Council. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/06/14/jobs-need-skills-not-degrees/ (Accessed: 14 December 2023)
2. Lee, C. and Naccarato, T. Legal Skills for Law School & Legal Practice. Pacific McGeorge Skills Hour Series: University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.
3. iMocha and Ernst & Young (2023) Tech skills transformation: Navigating the future of work in 2025 and beyond. Available at: https://assets.ey.com/content/dam/ey-sites/ey-com/en_in/topics/consulting/2023/ey-tech-skills-transformation/ (Accessed: 14 December 2023)