Professionals interested in Legal Tech from all over NRW met for the 5. Legal Tech Meetup at Headquarters Downtown in Cologne.
It was clear right from the start that there was a strong desire to network and talk, the evening moderator Johannes Klostermann, (Head of Innovation Legal at co-host Wolters Kluwer Germany), had some trouble getting the 75 guests to stop networking so that the program could start. Klostermann and Christian Solmecke (Kanzlei Wilde | Beuger | Solmecke), another mastermind behind the series of Legal Tech NRW Meetups, then called to order so Klostermann was then able to start with the first keynote speech.
Karla Schlaepfer, the second speaker of the evening, engaged the audience by holding up a mirror to the usual thinking modes of lawyers. According to a study, about half of legal professionals consider innovation to be the greatest threat to the legal profession - and not as an opportunity. Schlaepfer showed the reasons why innovation should be embraced and why a specific orientation to the needs and requirements of the clients is fundamental for today’s legal business.
Ms. Schlaepfer works as a coach, consultant and expert for Design Thinking. She spoke to the audience about new opportunities when working with the human-centered methodology of Design Thinking. She brought case studies from the legal field and focused on the “growth mindset” of Legal Design Thinking. Schlaepfer brought to the forefront with a lively interactive exercise that had the legal experts who were present laughing and learning. After her presentation, folks won’t refer to Design Thinking as a simple “post-it party”, but rather as an important framework and approach for legal development -especially with regards to client integration.
Press release Wolters Kluwer
Translation: Schlaepfer