Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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The Legal Technology Resource Center’s Women of Legal Tech initiative is intended to encourage diversity and celebrate women in legal technology. This initiative launched in 2015 with a list of innovators and leaders in legal technology and with this year’s additions, that list now includes 141 talented and influential women leaders.
Every Monday and Wednesday, we have featured a woman from our class of 2022. Today we have Kristin Tyler!
Kristin Tyler is Co-Founder & Chief Brand Officer at LAWCLERK.
Three points to summarize you and your work in legal tech.
- I am one of the co-founders of LAWCLERK (www.lawclerk.legal) along with Talitha Gray Kozlowski and Greg Garman. At LAWCLERK, we are committed to helping attorneys connect with our network of freelance lawyers for project based work and also subscription remote associate work.
- I’m the kind of person who needs to have purpose in my work. I need to be involved with work I believe will leave the world a little bit better than how I found it. The purpose behind my work at LAWCLERK is to make the practice of law a little less stressful – to give attorneys an outlet for help when they need it. I am a firm believer that the practice of law can be rewarding despite its daily demands. With LAWCLERK, my focus is on finding the attorneys that need our service – whether that’s on the hiring side or on the freelancing side. So I want all the busy attorneys out there who are pulling all-nighters and burning themselves out to get the help they need via our incredibly talented freelance lawyers at LAWCLERK. And on the flip side, I want to provide freelance opportunities for those attorneys looking for extra work whether that is once in awhile or as a full time freelance lawyer.
- In addition to my work with LAWCLERK, I still maintain a law practice, am married to a trial lawyer, have two amazing kids and two dogs who are basically also my children. My life is chaotic, full, challenging and rewarding and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
How did you become involved in legal tech?
In 2015 I started a mid-size boutique law firm with eight partners. Prior to that we had practiced at a larger, regional firm. We knew when we started the new shop that we wanted a leaner business with significantly less overhead. We turned to a lot of “cloud based” technology tools to help us achieve that goal.
Along the way we found there were some human elements of the larger firm that we missed. We missed having plenty of associates on stand by and ready to help during times like trial prep or hectic end of year work. We also missed having the accessibility to other partners with specialized knowledge in niche areas of the law.
This was the same time period when lots of marketplaces were emerging, growing and disrupting other industries. It was suddenly “normal” to get in a stranger’s car and have them drive you to the airport via an app. It was also increasingly “normal” to rent a stranger’s apartment for a vacation rather than stay in a hotel. We began to ponder if there was a way to tap into technology and a marketplace type business to help shake things up in the legal industry. This is how the idea behind LAWCLERK was born.
What projects have you been focused on recently?
Lately I have been back out “on the road” attending many bar conferences and CLE events to connect “IRL” with attorneys across the country. It has been so wonderful seeing attorneys face to face and helping them brainstorm ways to solve their staffing challenges. It seems every industry is having staffing issues lately and legal is no exception.
Our team launched a subscription based service in 2021 and we are constantly working to refine and improve that service. We’ve grown our team at LAWCLERK significantly in the last year and so my primary focus areas continue to evolve. My main areas of focus relate to marketing, content, events, partnerships and of course telling the stories of how we are helping lawyers all over the country.
What do you see as the biggest challenge in legal tech today?
The biggest challenge in legal tech today is to develop tools and services that allow attorneys to be nimble during economic uncertain times. Rising inflation and the possibility of a recession have attorneys looking for ways to keep overhead low and be smart about how they run their firm.
Has the pandemic changed anything about the way you, your firm, or your organization does business? Has the changes that have resulted from the pandemic improved or altered your work or how you do it?
At LAWCLERK, we have gone to a primarily remote workforce. We have become a distributed workforce spanning across the US from Florida all the way to Hawaii. Before the pandemic we were largely based just in Las Vegas and working from the office five days a week. Going primarily remote has changed the way we work and I believe it has helped us attract top talent to join our team as there are no longer any geographical barriers.
What legal tech resource helped you the most in your legal tech career?
Do I only get to pick one?! In my work at LAWCLERK, I couldn’t get through the day without Calendly, Trello and Hubspot. In my work as an attorney, I depend on LawPay (a girl’s gotta get paid!), Docusign and Clio. I recently signed up for an account with Lawmatics and I’m excited to get onboarded and start using that tool as well.
What do you see as the most important emerging tech, legal or not, right now?
In addition to legal tech, I also follow the tech related to type 1 diabetes. My son was diagnosed with T1D in early 2020. The tech tools for people living with T1D have advanced so much in the past few years. For people unfamiliar, T1D is an autoimmune disease where the pancreas stops producing insulin. There is no cure at this time. The technology advances are coming closer and closer to providing the equivalent of an artificial pancreas. I’m very hopeful that we will find a cure for T1D but in the meantime I’m thankful for the tech tools that help us navigate the challenges of T1D every day.
What do you see for the future of legal tech?
The world needs lawyers and no matter how far the technology may take us, there will always be a need for human lawyers. That being said, the sky is the limit when it comes to technology tools that will make our lives and careers as attorneys a bit easier and that will also improve the experience of our clients facing stressful legal problems.
What advice would you give to other women who want to get involved in legal tech?
If you are interested in legal tech, don’t wait – dive right in! This industry is huge and ripe for disruption. The legal tech community is tight knit but also very welcoming. We love to meet new, brilliant minds and that includes you!
Give a shout-out to another woman in legal tech who you admire or have learned something from!
I want to give a heartfelt shout out to Gabriela Cubiero of CASEpeer! She was one of the first legal tech friends I made at my first TECHSHOW and she has always been so welcoming and encouraging. She has helped me connect with countless others in the legal tech space. She always has a huge smile on her face and I love when our paths cross so we can catch up on all the things … work, life, and motherhood. I admire Gabriela’s drive, focus and determination to make a lasting impact on the legal community via technology.