New to Legal – What’s that like?

As we get closer to June and graduation month, I couldn’t help but think about transitions. From rainy Spring days to hot summer nights. The nervous hope of going from student to graduate. The excited anticipation of pivoting into a new career.

So I thought it would be fun to sit down with two of our Lupl Team members who are new to the legal community. Jake Gaffney and Luke Houghton are Customer Solutions Managers here at Lupl. Each moved into Legal about six months ago when they joined our creative and dynamic team.

They were kind enough to share some thoughts about our interesting and inspiring industry!

What are some ideas you had about legal when you first started?

Jake – I used to work in healthcare, and I can say that learning the legal industry is more intense! The first thing I noticed was that I was surrounded by a lot of immense talent – there are so many folks willing to answer questions – plus a plethora of online resources.

Luke – I used to work with government agencies and lobbyists, doing foundational work. I had a high-level overview into the complexities of the legal world; it is fascinating to me and exciting to get to be a part of it all. There is always a learning curve, but I like the challenge and I like meeting the people within this realm. At LegalWeek I even ran into a former colleague that I didn’t know was in legal! That was a fun moment.

What is the biggest challenge you face as new service provider in legal?

Jake – Learning all the different tasks and functions across the various practice areas – each one has their one diff requirements. It’s fun learning something new and I like the challenge!

Luke – I don’t see this necessarily as a challenge, but constantly learning everyone’s trade and building upon those blocks as you meet more and more people with different roles at firms and legal departments…it’s the ability to quickly learn those workflows and peccadillos that I see as the most important part of my role.

What are you most excited about in our industry?

Jake – It is exciting that we are going to be changing the landscape of legal, of hybrid work models, and providing more client communication and transparency.

Luke – Being new to legal is being able to be the tip of the spear within a new company and revamping the way law firms and legal departments look at legal tech. For me, it’s the excitement of being personally new to legal and our product being new to legal as well. New frontier.

What advice would you offer someone who is looking to break into legal?

Jake – User connections and ask all the questions. I have family members in legal, so I reached out to them and to my network for advice about starting a new role.

Luke – Do your research, if you’re really passionate about a certain field or subject you’re going to find it in legal. Find what your passion is and then see how you can apply that legal.

Is there anything you want to add that I haven’t yet asked?

Jake – I think starting in any industry, you don’t know what you don’t know, so the most important part is getting to know your own team so you can feel more comfortable reaching out and meeting new people in the field.

Luke – It is an exciting time to be at Lupl and in legal – it is a little like landing on the moon: it’s new, it’s vast, and no matter where you walk, it’s into a new adventure.