We continue to add talent and drive for growth. In this interview, we introduce Karol Valencia from WOW Legal Experience, who is joining the GLTH Communications team with the aim of analyzing and enhancing the member user experience within the Hub
1. Karol, could you briefly tell us about your previous experience and how you came to GLTH?
I am a lawyer and a UX and service designer. When I explain this to people, it's a bit difficult for them to understand because they are very different things. But I give them the example that as a teenager, I studied violin and percussion in parallel, things that are apparently different but that helped me a lot. In the same way, design helps me better understand and empathize with the problems of legal teams, as well as citizens, and apply tools that allow for a better flow and experience for all the stakeholders of legal and justice processes and systems.
I have worked as a lawyer for almost 8 years in the private and public sectors, in companies and law firms, as well as in different legaltech and fintech companies from different regions and countries as a practitioner (because you always have to start somewhere), product designer, service designer, business development, and user experience designer. Nowadays, I can also say that I am a co-founder, along with 3 great people, of a venture called WOW Legal Experience, which seeks precisely that, to co-create better experiences for all users of the legal and justice sector. My current role is Design Ops and leader of the legal design team.
I came to GLTH because it seemed to me one of the most active organizations in networks and events, and I really liked the topics they addressed. So, with the rest of the team, we evaluated that it would be a good organization to be part of, and their model of "no competition and collaboration" convinced us.
On the other hand, at last year's GLTHday, we met Albert Ferré, who is the vice president, and who has become our friend. Little by little, we have been strengthening our ties to the point of receiving the assignment to analyze and improve the experience of the member users of the Hub, a task that we assume with enthusiasm and great responsibility because it will be an ambitious project of service design and UX design, and we know few legal sector organizations that bet on this.
2. What are the main challenges you expect to face in your new role at GLTH?
- Scheduling agendas with GLTH member users, as being high-impact professionals, there will surely be a significant challenge in finding the best time.
- An open and collaborative attitude, because although many GLTH members already have the DNA of innovation in their veins, others surely need to develop that openness a little more in order to talk to us.
- Trust, as perhaps GLTH members know nothing or very little about WOW Legal Experience, so we need a lot of tact and persuasion so that they can believe and trust us. Our projects will give us the necessary credibility.
3. How do you think your communication and legal design skills will be useful in your new role?
Very determining and will make a big difference between what has been developed and what is new to be developed, because one thing is to communicate and another thing is to communicate from experience and what happens day-to-day in legal innovation. I believe that there is a lot of talk today about innovation, legal tech, but it is important not to just stay in the theoretical part but also in the practical part and that is what gives legitimacy. I plan to contribute with many tips, advice, guides, playbooks, interviews, among other resources that, by applying legal design, creativity, and empathy, really have an impact and help the Hub's partners in their immersion in legal innovation and their personal upskilling process.
4. What motivated you to join GLTH and what excites you most about working in the world's largest legaltech hub?
I think what convinced me the most is that I already knew the quality of the human beings I was going to collaborate with, that was the most determining factor, and also again the purpose of not competing but collaborating, despite there being companies and entities of different proportions as members of the Hub, there is a spirit of cooperation and since I come from practicing law but also working with startups, I feel that I can add a lot to the skills and attitudes of the team and facilitate communication and participation with the different members of the organization, and that is what excites me the most. We seek to inspire and collaborate with others.
5. What challenges does GLTH face in the coming years?
- Sectorizing the expectations of the different types of members that can be very different.
- Addressing these different expectations by providing ad hoc tools and incentives to each of the member entities of the Hub.
- Promoting innovation in the legal and justice sector and not just in legal tech, as that may bias other entities from joining the Hub in the future.
- Sustainable growth of the team and resources over time, to better manage the services provided to members.
6. A dream to fulfill in the GLTH?
To instill the DNA of legal innovation in the veins of the GLTH partners and beyond, to make it natural to talk and hire hybrid digital profiles in our sector, to have more openness to collaborate among its members and to help the different projects of the GLTH partners take off and become sustainable.