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Professional Services

Lyz Veronica Llamas Vallejo

Senior Privacy Counsel, FIRST PRIVACY GmbH

Germany

Bio

•Lyz is a qualified Colombian lawyer from the Universidad Externado de Colombia, with a Master’s Degree in Law and Business from Bucerius Law School. She is experienced in supporting and preparing EU based corporate groups in different industries such as food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, startups and clean energy, with data protection related matters in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and their corresponding national laws. Furthermore, she advises companies in the interaction between the GDPR and other applicable national regulations such as the LATAM region. 

During the development of the current pandemic, she has further developed her research into the data protection implications of devices within the realm of the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) advocating for the integration of standardized requirements from data privacy by design and by default, in order to ensure their compliance with the principles of data protection. This research is now currently being applied into the design stages of devices used within the medical industry.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Regarding the field of legal technology, Lyz has found that currently there is a lot of uncertainty in regards to the use of technology in an ethical and compliant manner. Therefore, one of the greatest challenges is to communicate legal requirements from a privacy perspective to engineering teams to integrate privacy concerns into the design stages of IoMT products. She has thus designed strategies to create awareness on the need to implement privacy by design and by default throughout different industries. The above in order to facilitate communication channels between IT and designer teams and legal teams, to achieve the effective consolidation of ethically privacy compliant products. She is able to adapt tools, devices, applications and processing operations, and mold them to function in an ethical privacy compliant manner.  The above considering that the current world pandemic scenario has called upon the exponential development of IoMT devices due to the technological acceleration of the medical profession, in order to address the challenges of the “new normal”.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Andrea Miskolczi

Europe Director of Innovation, Dentons

Austria

Bio

Andrea is the newly appointed Europe Innovation Director at Dentons, the world’s largest law firm.  In her role, she leads the discussions on the Firm’s European innovation strategy and manages innovation and transformation activities to strengthen today’s business and create tomorrow’s revenue channels. Andrea brings more than 20 years of relevant experience to her new role. She was previously Chief Innovation and Business Development Officer at Wolf Theiss, where she also served in other senior marketing and business development roles. Prior to that, she worked for 11 years as a capital markets and corporate lawyer at various international law firms. She has significant experience in driving strategic innovation and legal tech initiatives to enhance client service delivery, develop disruptive new services, manage organizational change and support closer collaboration.

Contribution to Legal Tech

For Andrea (legal) technology is an enabler to achieve strategic goals. She likes to start with client’s or lawyer’s processes (issues, pains, JobsToBeDone) and works backwards towards technology. In terms of user adoption, she takes a focused approach and enthusiastically uses gamification to make the change relevant and less painful. Recently, she has pioneered in deploying and rolling -out HighQ, a project management and collaboration platform and achieved a remarkable 50% penetration within 12 months. Furthermore, she has developed contract management systems and other client-facing solutions on the basis of a low-code platform and its integrations. A frequent speaker on innovation, legal tech, leadership, and collaboration, a member of the Advisory Board of Lexpo – The Legal Innovation Event, and a former jury member of the Legaltech Hub Vienna, Andrea is passionate about the digital. transformation of the legal industry.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Kerry Westland

Head of Innovation & Legal Technology, Addelshaw Goddard

Professional Services

Tara Walsh

Client Solutions Lead, Foot Anstey

Professional Services

Elena Kozhemyakina

Managing Partner, BLS

Russia

Bio

For over 20 years, Elena has been an expert when it comes to Labor law in Russia. She along with her team at BLS Law, have worked on several projects to protect employers’ interests in Russia, including technical development of their services. She also advises on Labor law issues of neighboring countries – Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan etc.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Elena and BLS team have realized a new product – Smart-HR consultations when clients can choose hourly limits to use our experts’ time for their projects (consultations, audit, project support etc.). Over 50 clients use Smart-HR. BLS has made a new chat-bot service for clients to make HR-administrations easier and faster. In addition, they support clients to legalize this process. 

Elena and her team have created a new BLS-portal for their clients’ HR and lawyers. Getting an account they can get quick answers to their question, to see advise history, to keep up with major updates in Labor law etc.

During the pandemic, Elena and the team launched a new special project –Reduce costs and wage fund based on Labor Law. Currently, they are working on over 10 similar projects.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Tara Walsh

Client Solutions Lead, Foot Anstey

UK

Bio

Tara is Client Solutions Lead at Foot Anstey. Previous to this she held senior positions in Business Development and Marketing in the legal market over the last 15 years. However, it was her time outside of law that Tara really developed the knowledge and skills she applies in her role today. Forever curious she was fascinated by computers in the early 90’s and learned to programme in PASCAL. She then worked at a very entrepreneurial company in London which worked across a number of vertical and horizontal industries across the globe – this honed her skills on understanding clients and markets. Having spent the last 15 years in law has allowed her to nurture the skills required to span business, legal and technology in a way that helps to differentiate Foot Anstey. 

Contribution to Legal Tech

A creative thinker who is outcome focused, she is adept at not only bringing the voice of the client into the firm but helping to present the firm’s work in a way clients value and can readily deploy within their businesses. She has successfully delivered a number of fresh and novel solutions and product to client problems using technology. She has also played a key role in helping the firm to win new clients by creating proofs of concept to support responses to tender and she works as part of the legal team delivering work for clients to ensure that there is continuous improvement of solutions deployed and the lessons learned in the delivery process are adopted “on the job”. Her current work with the Real Estate team has not only achieved client wins but has also helped revolutionise the work being delivered to the client.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Sally Roberts

Solutions Consultant, Thomson Reuters

UK

Bio

Sally currently works at Thomson Reuters as a Client Success Consultant for HighQ. She provides consultancy services to leading Global Law Firms to help solve their business challenges around keeping pace with the legal tech landscape as well as dealing with regulatory change. Prior to this Sally worked as a well-respected Knowledge Management consultant with experience of knowledge management strategy, (from design to implementation), document and knowledge management systems, intranets, search, process improvement and change management.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Sally has been a pioneer in legal tech by making a natural transition from traditional Knowledge Management roles at various global law firms, to now working with one of the most well respected technology platforms in the legal industry. She is a trusted legal tech advisor to some of the most prestigious law firms in the world and, during her career in legal tech, has worked on some ambitious global projects involving Enterprise Search and Knowledge Strategy for magic circle and silver circle firms. Her ability and proven track record to deliver on complex projects by often bridging the gap between lawyers and technology solutions deserves recognition in this field.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Isabel Parker

Founder & Director, Doyenne Consulting Ltd.

Professional Services

Sara Molina Pérez Tomé

CEO, Nize Partners

Spain

Bio

Sara is the CEO of Nize Partners. She is also a People Innovation Coach and Consultant in Digital Transformation involving process modelling and tech solutions. Sara has over 8 years of experience in helping policymakers and lawyers to better use and understand technology. Her mission is to promote efficiency in legal administration and law firms management.

Contribution to Legal Tech

In order to achieve her mission, Sara also holds different positions in a number of organizations, some of the most remarkable are: member of Digital Transformation and Humanism Group of experts in EOI, Vice president of Mental Health Institute of Legal Professions, Promoter of juiciostelematicos.com, Co-organizer of Legal Hackers Madrid (legalhackers.org), Promoter of the Management and Innovation Department for Law Firms in Madrid BAR Association, Member of Woman in a Legal World

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Miriam Vietzke

Lawyer, Founder and Managing Director, Scheidungsportal24

Professional Services

Isabel Parker

Founder & Director, Doyenne Consulting Ltd.

Professional Services

María Jesús González-Espejo

Managing Partner, Instituto de Innovación Legal

Spain

Bio

Maria is the Founding partner at Instituto de Innovación Legal a consultancy from which she advises many law firms, lawyers and organisations of the legal sector on innovation and digital transformation. She has organized three hackathons and two editions of the Legal Design Challenge, a pioneering program that has introduced the Legal Design Thinking methodology in Spain. Vicepresident of the European Legaltech Association (ELTA), co-organizer of Madrid #LegalHackers and Vicepresident of the Latin American Legal Professionals Women Association (AMJI). She has created and build several corporate and professional brands and is a lawyer passionate for Technology Law.

Maria Jesus devoted the first half of her career to the practice of law, specializing in #IP, #DataProtection and #Contracts’ Drafting. Admitted to the Madrid bar in 1989. She practiced first as a solicitor at Clifford Chance and Gómez-Acebo&Pombo; and later as a corporate counsel in several companies. Is author of several books on innovation and LegalTech, management of law firms, innovation and Legaltech. She contributes frequently to professional media and lectures in several universities, conferences and workshops. She has been recognized by the International Legal Tecnology Association (ILTA) as one of the 5 most influential women in Legal Tech. The Madrid Town hall named her ambassador of Madrid and she has been included in the ranking of Spanish Leading women, Top 100. She can work in Spanish, English, French, Italian, Dutch and Catalan.

Contribution to Legal Tech

She has organized several events with an strong impact: three hackathons (#HackTheJustice and #JustiApps) and two editions of The Legal Design Challenge, a pioneering program that has introduced the Legal Design Thinking methodology in Spain.  She has organised Madrid, 2020 European LegalTech Congress. She is a co-organizer of Madrid #LegalHackers. She has developed www.comparador-legaltech.com a directory of legaltech that lets users compare and choose the right tool. She has also develped www.conflictmap.com a legaltech help individuals a auto diagnosis of their interpersonal conflicts to understand them and help them finding a solution. She is author of several books on innovation and LegalTech, management of law firms, innovation and Legaltech. She also contributes frequently to professional media. She teaches in several universities and lectures frequently in conferences and workshops.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Mareike Christine Gehrmann

Salary Partner, Taylor Wessing

Germany

Bio

Mareike is Salary Partner at TaylorWessing in Düsseldorf and is listed in the Women in Business Law Expert Guide as one of the best TMT experts in Germany. In 2019 she was nominated as “Best in Privacy & Data Protection” at the Euromoney LMG Europe Women in Business Law Awards 2019. As a specialist lawyer for IT law, Mareike guides clients through the changes of digitalisation. Both companies and authorities value her legal advice. With proven expertise gained from numerous digital projects, she advises on data protection, cybersecurity and IT contracts.

Mareike is familiar with the needs of medium-sized companies and global players, especially in the insurance, healthcare and personnel services sectors. Her practice also includes cross-border work with the Dutch Taylor Wessing team, primarily advising companies entering the German market.

Contribution to Legal Tech

With proven expertise in IT licence management gained from numerous digital projects, Mareike advises on data protection, cybersecurity and IT contracts – including agile software projects, SaaS (software as a service) and IT sourcing.

Mareike has over 8 years experience in drafting and negotiating IT contracts, in particular for the agile development of software. In this context, the question of how software can be created in an agile manner and at the same time in compliance with labour law is being intensively dicussed. Together with her colleague Dr. Anne Förster Mareike Gehrmann is currently involved in the development of a Legal TechTool for the design of agile working (Scrum, Kanban & Co) in accordance with labour law. Interested clients should be able to check whether they comply with labour law requirements in their day-to-day cooperation with their IT service providers or whether they have to adapt their cooperation.

Mareike publishes articles, gives lectures and is a member of the Computerwoche magazine expert network for “IT Compliance, IT Law and IT Security”.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Katsiaryna Pazniak

Associate, Morae Global

Belarus

Bio

Katsia is an Associate at Morae Global. She has worked on several legal transformation projects including IT reviews, external legal spend management assessments, and working practice behavioral observations studies. Prior to joining Morae, Katsia was an Analyst at JandersDean International. She was involved in numerous client engagements working with senior leadership at large in-house legal departments and private practice law firms in the UK, France, and Australia. Katsia has been responsible for providing in-depth analysis, project management, and creative and innovative solutions for clients.

Prior to that, she gained valuable experience as a marketing strategist and worked on successful business development initiatives. Katsia was also an Intellectual Property Legal Advisor at Sterling Law. Her international experience includes working in London, Amsterdam, and Minsk. Katsia is a mentor of the University of Miami Law Without Walls program, a founder of multiple start-ups, and a member of the UCL BaseKX Hatchery Accelerator. As a student, she has been participating in the annual scientific and research activities organization, appointed as the Ambassador of the Economic Summit at Warwick University, as well as has to be responsible for running the Model United Nations Conference. Katsia graduated from the Belarusian State University with an LLB and has undertaken a one-year International Law exchange program at the Charles University in Prague. 

Contribution to Legal Tech

Katsia contributes to the legal technology community through her advisory and consulting in the professional services space, as well as through her role in legal design and technical development. She regularly works with international law firm and inhouse legal team management to strip back the waste from current processes and technology stacks. Katsia is involved in the identification of potential innovative interventions where workflow and decision-tree technologies can replace existing legacy approaches, and has been involved in developing some of the most complex multi-year technology roadmaps for law firms and legal departments. A champion of democratised data and intuitive design, Katsia also regularly works to develop bespoke tools in the access to justice space.

Other Nominees

Professional Services

Leyly Erfani

Knowledge Management Lawyer, Taylor Wessing

Professional Services

Marjan Hermkes

Co-Founder, L-IME

The Netherlands

Bio

Marjan is the co-founder of L-IME. L-IME is an independent legal tech consultancy company that is focused on advising, guiding and assisting law firms to thrive in an ever-changing playing field driven by the digital transformation of our society.

As a business consultant, business change, and project manager Marjan has successfully delivered several large-scale IT projects for renowned national and international law firms. Her leadership skills, strong didactics, and over 18 years of hands-on experience are valued by many law firms, corporate legal departments, and business partners in the legal industry. Marjan is a true entrepreneur and legal tech enthusiast focussing on the human side of change.

Contribution to Legal Tech

After years of consulting and being in various leadership positions for legal IT software vendors Marjan decided to break away from the vendor arena, to launch L-IME and to team up with law firms as their go-to advisor. By sharing her in-depth knowledge of legal tech and its industry Marjan contributes to the increasing awareness of the opportunities that arise when stakeholders dare to think outside the box and start collaborating on innovative solutions for the challenges ahead. In that very position Marjan is ELTA Ambassador for the Netherlands. A group of handpicked well-connected legal tech pioneers from all over Europe and beyond, who volunteer to act as “swinging doors” between their country or region and the international level of ELTA (the European Legal Technology Association).

With L-IME Marjan not only launched the Legaltech Academy providing law firms and law students training on legal tech solutions and concepts enabling lawyers and students to get a better understanding and grip on legal tech developments, but Marjan also developed the Legaltech-Radar: a free and easy to use platform that helps law firms to find and compare legal tech and legal IT solutions based on the features they are looking for. The Legaltech-Radar goes beyond a mere legal tech map including the option to actually receive a comparison summary by mail at no costs. Currently the Legaltech-Radar is available for the Dutch market: IT-Kieswijzer and the Spanish market, managed by Instituto Innovación Legal:  Comparador Legaltech and is expanding to other countries or regions.

Other Winners

Professional Services

Karol Valencia

Legal Project Leader, eID and Legal Designer & Dead of Innovation Affairs, Lawcus