We are interviewing some of the awesome speakers we have lined-up our brand new online conference on Tuesday 23rd June.
Nicole Bradick is CEO and founder of Theory and Principle, a legal and justice technology product design and development firm. She is a former litigator turned three-time legal technology entrepreneur, and is very much part of the Legal Geek family, but most importantly she is fantastic at karaoke!
If you could give your 20-year-old self some advice, what would it be?
Oof, I’d start with “wear sunscreen and guard your waistline.” Professionally, I would try to convince myself that I was highly capable, even though I didn’t know much. In my 20s I moved from college to the workplace to law school to practicing law. I wouldn’t undo any of those choices, but I would rid myself of the nagging imposter syndrome you have early in your career when you’re still figuring things out. It’s a very unhelpful energy drain.
What’s your one piece of advice for someone starting out in legal design?
Learn from someone who has had years of experience. It depends what kind of design we’re talking, but with things like service design, there are a lot of overnight experts who have read some books but never seen or worked with a true expert. Those experiences are extremely valuable. For other forms of design, like visual design, UX, etc., again working in partnership with an experienced designer on real projects is the best way to learn. Designing for lawyers and consumers of legal help requires some concentrated time studying the habits, behaviors, and needs of the unique user group. There are a lot of academic paths you can take to learn design, and they are great for fundamentals, but oftentimes the real-world constraints don’t exist and learning to balance and prioritize is such an important skill.
What’s your legal tech spirit animal?
I’m going with a Hyena-Grumpy Cat hybrid. When it comes to legal tech (or anything really), I’m very excitable about things that interest me, hence the hyena. But there are also quite a few things I’m fed up with after a long time in this industry, hence the grumpy cat piece. I no longer suffer fools gladly, (whether that’s good or bad is up for debate), but I always have time for and interest in people who are curious, hard-working, and interested in building something great.
What is the biggest opportunity legal tech provides?
It depends on what angle we’re looking at it from. From the consumer standpoint, legal tech offers a tremendous opportunity to narrow the information gap, make it easier to self-advocate, and to make the legal services they receive less expensive. As an entrepreneur, there are opportunities galore. While the market has become a bit saturated in some areas, there are an untold number of ways to continue to improve the lives of lawyers and consumers. There are plenty of issues to tackle and plenty of money to be made on ideas that solve real problems.
Nicole will be speaking at the Legal Geek Online on June 23rd, sign up free today!
