Can you give us some background about yourself?

Whilst there isn't exactly a 'typical' background for anyone in the Innovation Group, I'm one of a fair few in our team who started out on in more conventional legal career but gravitated over time towards the tech and innovation space. I studied law at the University of Manchester and worked as a paralegal for a few years, before joining the graduate scheme in September 2022.

Can you tell us a bit about your current role?

I'm currently sitting in the Legal Technology Consulting (LTC) pillar within the AG Consulting team, which is my fourth rotation in the graduate scheme. This team is all about understanding and supporting AG's clients and their legal operations, as well as sharing our knowledge and experience with legal teams at various stages along their legal tech journeys. As a result, there's a real focus on keeping up to date with the latest developments in the legal tech space, which is one of my favourite bits of the job.

What does your typical day look like?

I work from home most days, but if I'm in the office I'll usually start with a coffee (and sometimes breakfast – the hash browns are a highlight) from the café, checking emails and planning for my day. Since I'm working on a project involving stakeholders in the US, this usually involves checking if anything urgent has come in overnight. On Mondays our team has a morning call to run through any team news and big updates on our projects – this helps keep everyone aware of what's going on across the pillar, as well as providing a heads-up about any interesting projects we might want to get involved in.

I tend to block out my late mornings to get tricky bits of project work done, so I'll usually stick my headphones on and power through to lunch. This might involve anything from configuring a HighQ site, drafting a business case for a new tool, or putting together UI designs for AGPT. In the office we tend to eat together as a team – if I'm at home I'll usually go for a walk or (very occasionally) a run.

My afternoons typically consist of a mixture of project work, stakeholder meetings, and training sessions. We often have team or pillar-wide meetings in the afternoons, and knowledge-sharing or lunch-and-learn sessions covering topics like Generative AI, blockchain, excel best practices and empathy-mapping. If it's my turn to host the next one, I'll spend my early afternoon doing research and putting together slides and materials ahead of the session.

As one of my projects is being run using an agile approach, we have daily scrum sessions every afternoon. These act as an opportunity for key stakeholders to catch-up on what they've been working on, as well as sharing any issues or blockers. After this, I usually wrap-up the day by updating my to-do lists and making a brief plan for the following morning, as well as finishing up any last bits of admin.

Advice for someone looking at applying for the graduate scheme?

One of the things that makes the Innovation Group so successful is the variety of skills and diversity in the backgrounds of those in the team. I would strongly advise anyone thinking of applying not to be discouraged if they don't have a legal or technical background. As long as you have a genuine interest in legal tech (and a knack for problem-solving), I would strongly encourage you to apply – it's a really interesting team to be a part of, and a hugely exciting time for the industry as a whole.