On Tuesday 5th March, in sponsorship with Jigsaw, ILTA hosted it’s seventh (and largest to date) ILTA Connect: Women in Legal Tech event and what an event it was! The aim of these events is to build a community for women in legal technology. Our host’s Nina Gratrick’s only request is that all attendees walk away with at least one new LinkedIn connection, from my own experience you get a lot more than that!
This time our topic for discussion was ‘Advocating for Yourself’. Along with Nina and our fantastic panel of speakers, Alexa Isaacs (RPC), Dia Thanki (Alchemy Machines) and Rachael Hudson (Rachael Hudson Coaching) we explored what it means to advocate for yourself and how you can do this. What followed was an open and frank discussion where our panel shared their insights, experiences and how they had navigated difficult situations.
Some of the key takeaways from the event were:
· Know your worth – if you don’t, how will the person you are asking more of know it too?
· Understand what matters to you most and why - find your boundaries!
· Don’t be afraid of rejection
· Be resilient and persistent – if at first you don’t succeed, work out a way to try again.
· Surround yourself with good people who can coach and mentor you
· Be prepared – practice the conversations and run through the outcomes in advance
· Write a soft-skills CV focusing on what else you have learned in your career journey that will be valuable in that moment (especially if you want a career change)
Rachael Hudson suggested some great books to read:
· Never Split the Difference – Chris Voss
· Overcoming/Underearning – Barbara Stanny
· How Women Rise – Sally Helgesen & Marshall Goldsmith
Following the panel there was a chance to connect and discuss what we’d learned at the networking drinks. Once again, a fantastic ILTA Connect event with a room full of wonderfully passionate women! A special thanks to Nina, our panel of speakers, Annette Brown and Milbank for hosting us and to our sponsor Jigsaw. And finally thank you to all of you who were part of this event. If you’re not already on our ILTA Connect distribution list and would like to join, please complete the form linked below and select ‘ILTA Women in Legal Tech’ for the distribution list you would like to join.
https://www.cognitoforms.com/ILTA1/iltaspecialinterestgroupsigregistrations
We hope to see you at a future event!