{"id":26724,"date":"2023-03-13T11:52:30","date_gmt":"2023-03-13T15:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/?p=941716"},"modified":"2023-03-13T11:52:30","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T15:52:30","slug":"the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"globeMy colleague is excited about taking the International Association of Privacy Professionals exam. \u201cI can\u2019t wait to practice in today\u2019s exciting, fast-developing privacy world!\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUh \u2026 wasn\u2019t privacy new and exciting like 20 years ago?\u201d I asked.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then my husband pointed out that privacy will matter for hundreds if not thousands of years. \u201cIn the grand scheme of things, we are still at the beginning, especially with technology,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginnings are long — very long, my friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legal professionals are still beginning the long process of understanding and using technologies that change our relationships with each other, businesses, and the rule of law in various ways. We\u2019re all still learning to make sense of new tech-enhanced legal spaces. But there\u2019s so much to love because all you need to join a beginning is a willingness to adapt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s So Much To Love About Long Beginnings<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some lawyers worry they are late to the blockchain party after missing out on a few initial waves. But that\u2019s the beauty of long beginnings: it\u2019s never too late to jump in and swim with the flow. (And you are definitely not late to blockchain adventures.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Enjoy the beginning because there are no lines to stand in or clubs to join here. Perfection is a distant ideal. Enter the conversation, the market, a community, or a company in any way your skill sets enable you to contribute. Embrace your peers and mentors. Ask and answer questions. Share ideas and resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll get plenty of opportunities to pivot. Mistakes are often preferred in the early days, as they can lead to discoveries. They can drive us to pivot here or there or to continue on our current path bolstered by our newfound knowledge and confidence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginnings bring the novelty of new interests and thoughts amid the unfamiliarity of a fresh experience. You\u2019ll likely need to guess as you go — the opposite of what law school teaches us to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Raising your tech competence can help alleviate that fish-out-of-water feeling. Lawyers don\u2019t have to code or become technologists with a capital T. But we should understand how technology impacts our work and the legal aspects of our client businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the same time, we must get comfortable with long periods of uncertainty. Regulations on technological advancements will arrive eventually. Then, the unfamiliar will be ours to navigate and make sense of again. This is what it means to practice law today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Partner with technologists to make sense of new areas. Left alone, lawyers discussing technology and the law can drift into abstract philosophy in three seconds. Technologists keep our discussions practical and rooted in how things actually work.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many ways to contribute initially, even if you don`t have the title or skills yet. I know a few lawyers who enjoy not having fancy titles or certifications because they get to enjoy the beginning stage longer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay as long as you like and pivot whenever you want to wherever you want. That\u2019s another benefit of practicing law today.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Are you at the beginning of a new area of law?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you collaborate with technologists on new projects?<\/span><\/p>\n

Where are you in your career journey?<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"OlgaLexisNexis<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0CEO of\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Parley Pro<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, a next-generation contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology. Olga embraces legal innovation and had dedicated her career to improving and shaping the future of law. She is convinced that the legal profession will emerge even stronger, more resilient, and more inclusive than before by embracing technology. Olga is also an award-winning general counsel, operations professional, startup advisor, public speaker, adjunct professor, and entrepreneur. She founded the\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Women Serve on Boards<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0movement that advocates for women to participate on corporate boards of Fortune 500 companies. She authored\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Get on Board: Earning Your Ticket to a Corporate Board Seat<\/strong><\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, and\u00a0 <\/strong>Blockchain Value: Transforming Business Models, Society, and Communities<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0She is working on Visual IQ for Lawyers, her next book (ABA 2023). You can follow Olga on Twitter @olgavmack.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re all still learning to make sense of new tech-enhanced legal spaces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27805,"featured_media":449290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[102,22,232,79,7],"class_list":["post-26724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-biglaw","tag-in-house-counsel","tag-olga-v-mack","tag-privacy","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019re all still learning to make sense of new tech-enhanced legal spaces.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-13T15:52:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Olga V. Mack\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Olga V. Mack\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/\",\"name\":\"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-13T15:52:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-13T15:52:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#\/schema\/person\/385a877cdc83729be5c21501b7f96ef5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/\",\"name\":\"Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event\",\"description\":\"A Legal Tech Adoption Guide For Perplexed Lawyers\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#\/schema\/person\/385a877cdc83729be5c21501b7f96ef5\",\"name\":\"Olga V. Mack\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c4240275f66fc6233c3ceaa5f252dc6a0df866bc1f00c2dc595d4caf405ab20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c4240275f66fc6233c3ceaa5f252dc6a0df866bc1f00c2dc595d4caf405ab20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Olga V. Mack\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/author\/olgamack\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event","og_description":"We\u2019re all still learning to make sense of new tech-enhanced legal spaces.","og_url":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/","og_site_name":"Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event","article_published_time":"2023-03-13T15:52:30+00:00","author":"Olga V. Mack","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Olga V. Mack","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/","url":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/","name":"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology - Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2023-03-13T15:52:30+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-13T15:52:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#\/schema\/person\/385a877cdc83729be5c21501b7f96ef5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/2023\/03\/13\/the-joys-of-long-beginnings-in-law-and-technology\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Joys Of Long Beginnings In Law And Technology"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#website","url":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/","name":"Above The Law's Legal Tech Non-Event","description":"A Legal Tech Adoption Guide For Perplexed Lawyers","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#\/schema\/person\/385a877cdc83729be5c21501b7f96ef5","name":"Olga V. Mack","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c4240275f66fc6233c3ceaa5f252dc6a0df866bc1f00c2dc595d4caf405ab20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7c4240275f66fc6233c3ceaa5f252dc6a0df866bc1f00c2dc595d4caf405ab20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Olga V. Mack"},"url":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/author\/olgamack\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abovethelaw.com\/legal-innovation-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}