Bio

Sara is a part of the Enterprise Legal Services & Legal Technology Team within the Digital Services Tax & Legal Department in PwC Germany, Frankfurt a.M. She completed her bachelor and master studies in Law at the University of Belgrade, as well as additional master studies at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. As an individual who believes in lifelong learning, Sara has recently enrolled in the Foundations of Design Thinking Online Program at IDEO U.

Driven by the impact of technology on the legal profession, Sara specializes in the field of legal transformation and innovation. Legal departments are facing different challenges, such as the increase of volume and complexity of work, as well as the pressure to reduce costs. As a strong believer in change and growth, Sara supports clients in the mindful, digital transformation of their legal and procurement departments.   

Contribution to Legal Tech

Sara supports clients to make the legal function what it should be: the lifeblood of the business it supports.

Being a part of PwC enables Sara to work with big clients that have big challenges, and the results of mindful digital transformation of the legal function with such clients are mind-blowing and have a significant impact on the future growth and success of these organizations. Some of these challenges concerned the implementation and global roll-out of the contract lifecycle management solution, as well as change management to prepare, support, and help clients in making organizational changes. In addition, Sara led the implementation of an automated document generation software, as a part of the internal digital transformation.

Bio

Lydia Torne is a Managing Associate in Simmons & Simmons’ Intellectual Property team in London.  She is a specialist in intellectual property transactions, including licensing and collaboration agreements, monetisations, consortia agreements, joint ventures and the IP aspects of corporate transactions and financings. Lydia also advises on life sciences regulatory compliance issues. Lydia has a particular interest in Digital Health, where tech meets the healthcare and life sciences sector. Lydia advises clients on a wide range of digital health issues, including on collaborations using artificial intelligence in drug discovery, re-use of patient data and regulatory compliance issues for digital health solutions.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Lydia is one of Simmons & Simmons’ Tech Ambassadors, assisting with the roll out of, and engagement of lawyers in, new legal tech to help streamline lawyers’ work and increase efficiencies. Lydia is also part of a working group developing new software applications to help clients quickly and easily obtain information and high level advice regarding common digital health issues.

Lydia has worked alongside Simmons & Simmons Wavelength (Simmons & Simmons’ team of legal engineers) on a number of recent projects to help develop new technology solutions for her clients, including automating and/or condensing legal processes or simply developing new, innovative, ways of presenting key legal information.

Lydia is active in the legal and scientific tech community. She has been recognised as a Leading Individual for Life Sciences and Healthcare in Legal 500, as well as contributing to the Institute of Global Health Innovation’s white paper on data monetisation and being published in The Lancet regarding NHS/private collaborations using patient data. She speaks regularly at events such as Blockchain Live, the Westminster Forum and those hosted by think tank Reform, regarding data monetisation issues. Lydia has also been featured on the popular blockchain podcast, Blockchain Insider, discussing data monetisation issues. Lydia is a lecturer at the forthcoming Society for Computers and Law’s lecture on legal issues for AI.

Bio

Belen Martin Rial, founding partner, is a Spanish and US lawyer, admitted to the New York Bar after obtaining a Master’s Degree in Banking, Corporate, and Finance at Fordham University Law School in New York. She has a JD in Law from the Central University of Barcelona (Spain). She is passionate about the internationalization of businesses, her professional career is focused on representing local and foreign companies in data privacy and corporate matters. She has worked in Spain, New York and Amsterdam.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Belen brings trust to the client relationship providing strategic legal solutions in alignment with its clients’ interests in a win-win scenario. She has been working hard with several blockchain initiative and lawmakers to bring trust into play.

She participated as key speaker in the 2019 Barcelona Blockchain Week, the Tech Spirit Barcelona 2020 and several investors events, to address topics such as, blockchain as a tech that can accelerate the EU fair data economy, how GDPR is impacting cryptocurrencies and blockchain and the right to be forgotten. 

Bio

Since setting up the Addleshaw Goddard Innovation and Legal Technology (ILT) team four years ago with a team of three, Kerry’s drive, passion and philosophy of ‘there must be a better way’ has seen it grow to twenty-six. It develops, tests and invests in technology-enabled legal solutions and drives behavioural change across the firm by encouraging fee earners to actively seek opportunities to introduce tech into their areas.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Innovation and legal technology are now at the heart of AG operations, not an afterthought or an add-on but integral to how they work with clients and colleagues. It is not technology for its own sake, but as an enabler of smarter practices and processes with the ultimate objective of improving a clients’ business. One of first dedicated units of its kind, it has grown to become one of the largest, a unique mix of legal technologists, developers and lawyers that marries tech knowledge with proven legal expertise to create focussed, bespoke solutions. 

Working with HR, Kerry has forged new roles and alternative career paths within the firm and is particularly proud of the fact that 50% of the ILT are female. She is an enthusiastic advocate for developing, training and equipping the lawyers of tomorrow, helping to future-proof the firm for a changing business world. She has created a secondment programme for associates across the firm allowing them to gain experience utilising tech to better serve clients. ITL also boasts the first lawyers in the profession to have qualified through working wholly within legal technology.

Kerry displays a relentless drive and energy that has embedded an ethos within the firm that ensures technology and expert legal advice are blended to deliver an enhanced offering to clients and provide a real sector differentiator. She is not an avid ‘technologist’ but a passionate believer that technology is there to be harnessed to provide answers to her perpetual question: ‘Is there a better way of doing this?’

Bio

Stacy is an experienced construction and engineering lawyer who leads the technology, process and innovation initiatives at Fenwick Elliott LLP, the largest specialist construction and energy law firm in the UK.  She oversees the development and implementation of new legal technologies and processes internally, as well as collaborates and engages with clients on technology, products and delivery. She is responsible for Fenwick Elliott’s IT and infrastructure, internal tech operations and legal workflows, and external client initiatives.

Before qualifying as a solicitor, Stacy practised as an Architect, principally designing large-scale projects such as stadiums, hospitals and education buildings in both the UK and the US. This qualification and experience prior to practising law provides a unique expertise and design background, essential for digital transformation in both the legal and construction industries.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Stacy is passionate about the interface between law, process and tech and is dedicated to the digital transformation of both the legal and construction industries.  She regularly speaks on collaboration and delivering tech-enabled innovative solutions in construction law.  Her work focuses on maximising efficiencies and productivity in workflows and delivering a client-focused service.  Stacy has a particular interest in the legal tech necessary for digital twins, robotics, off-site manufacturing, BIM and AI/machine learning in eDisclosure.

Bio

Wiebke Reuter, LL.M., graduated in law at the University of Hamburg with focus on data protection and media law. Since 2018, she works at Taylor Wessing Berlin in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT) department. She advises companies on data protection and other issues relevant to technology law.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Among the various clients primarily active in the online sector are also companies that e.g. develop and provide legal tech solutions for data protection law compliance, whom Wiebke supports in the design of their product. Wiebke is also involved in the legal tech engagement of TaylorWessing. In this context she attends meetups on legal tech related topics and is committed to the internal use of new legal tech tools, particularly by participating in the pilot phase and assists colleagues in the application in practice.

In addition, she takes part in training sessions on legal tech solutions which are subject to internal assessment for possible areas of application in the firm. Besides, Wiebke also tries to make prospective lawyers aware of the relevance of legal law in practice. She is involved in the firm’s internal legal tech workshops for students, where they can experience the use of Legal Tech tools on practical examples. 

Bio

Since 2013, Lucia has experienced the rise and consolidation of entrepreneurship in Valencia (Spain) by creating synergies with the different agents of the Valencian entrepreneurial ecosystem. She is passionate about entrepreneurship. Her beginnings in the entrepreneurial world started in 2013, when some clients affected by the crisis bet and began to develop technological projects, with clear methodologies and scalability making a difference from the traditional enterprise.

She was the promoter of the creation of the TIC, Entrepreneurship and Startups Area in her first lawyers firm and actually the legal tech specialist at Bonet firm.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Through her current law firm, Lucia has developed and launched the Project www.reiniciandoempresas.com. Through this project, 6 companies from key fields (finance, legal, communications, technology, impact) provide solutions to companies affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The objective is to help them cope with the new challenges and become more resilient to the future. They are committed to implement Legaltech solutions to make companies more agile and competitive in the digital era.

Lucia has been mentoring startups in Innsomnia, open innovation hub based in Valencia and Madrid, where entrepreneurs develop Fintech, Insurtech and Legaltech projects of the Ships of the Valencia City Council and the Polytechnic University of Valencia. She provides legal advice on the processes to establish the society – according to the needs of each project-, partner agreements in the seed phase and partner agreements in the investment round phase, advice on the different types of contracts and loans for startups, intellectual property and industrial and data protection. She also acts as a connector with accelerators and incubators for the development of entrepreneurial projects.

Lucia is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on Legaltech and how to advocate digital transformation in law firms organized by the Valencia Bar Association.

Bio

Eleanor White is the Legal Technology Advisor at Shearman & Sterling LLP. Having over ten years of experience as an information professional, she started in data management within the energy sector before gaining her MA in Library and Information Studies from UCL. After transitioning into Legal Knowledge Management she found her interest in legal technology and currently drives Shearman & Sterling’s innovation efforts as part of the Client Value Team.

Contribution to Legal Tech

Eleanor works closely alongside legal teams to match legal technology solutions to lawyer requirements, overseeing product evaluation and implementation and advising clients on the uses of legal technology within the current landscape. 

She co-led the project to define and centralise Shearman & Sterling’s legal technology governance framework and continues to lead adoption efforts through internal projects focused on increasing efficiency and productivity using legal technology. 

Recently collaborating as part of the Barclays Innovation Consortium, she also contributed to the forthcoming edition of BIALL’s Legal Information Management journal sharing her experiences of running successful proofs of value based on projects resulting in the meaningful implementation of legal technology solutions.

Bio

Carolin Monsees is a senior associate at Taylor Wessing’s Technology, Media & Telecoms group in Germany and advises clients in the tech industry in data protection and IT law. She focuses on the contractual aspects of international digitalization projects as well as European and international data protection requirements. Being an expert in the field of privacy litigation, she represents clients in court and conducts negotiations with the competent supervisory authorities.

Contribution to Legal Tech

From the implementation of new KI algorithms to the design of legally compliant consumer platforms: Carolin’s advisory and consulting service is to enable digitalization. This work is indispensable without appropriate legal tech tools. Therefore, Carolin uses and further develops Taylor Wessing’s legal tech tools for managing complex contract structures and modules.

Bio

Priya is a corporate finance lawyer by background. She moved into knowledge management in 2009-10 when the legal industry began to grapple with the ‘more for less’ challenge. Inspired by the disruption in other industries, Priya started to focus on (Legal Operations) process design and use of technology to disrupt and innovate the practice of law and future proof the profession.

As a woman charting her own path, Priya believes we need to break down silos between disciplines, increase collaboration and improve diversity and inclusion to accelerate the pace of change in legal. She co-founded She Breaks the Law on International Woman’s Day 2019 – bringing together a community of 1000s of women from across the globe. She Breaks the Law supports and empowers women (#lawbreakers) of all backgrounds and disciplines in their strive for change and a more progressive, collaborative and inclusive legal ecosystem and gives them a safe space to come together and connect, develop, share and create.

Contribution to Legal Tech

A long-standing champion of human-centred design and legal technology, Priya has streamlined hundreds of legal processes and led transformational projects in private practice and corporations (including a Fortune50 and several FTSE100 clients). She is dedicated to helping legal teams adopt new ways of working that are supported by the effective use of technology and automated solutions to enhance the efficiency of legal service delivery and improve user experience. 

In addition to her day job and her work at She Breaks the Law, Priya mentors and advises legal-tech start-ups and entrepreneurs as well as students and young professionals, sharing her industry knowledge to inspire the next generation.