Helping female legal tech innovators ‘avoid mistakes we made’
The Women of the Australian Legal Technology Association (WALTA) is on a mission to nurture the next generation of female innovators in law.
WALTA has launched a playbook, compiling some of Australia’s top legal tech talent and collating the best ideas, tips, learnings and resources to ensure women of Australian legal tech have the best possible opportunity to find success with their innovations.
“Australia has a thriving legal tech market and community, with more than 80 dedicated software companies building their legal tech ideas as members of ALTA,” it said.
“Within this vigorous community, there is a unique opportunity to provide women entrepreneurs with guidance, information, stories and support for building legal tech software and businesses in a robust, kick-ass fashion right from the beginning.”
As a legal tech community — including founders, builders, buyers, consultants and students — WALTA believes that it can help female legal tech innovators “avoid mistakes we made”.
“We can point them to shortcuts, we can show them what success looks like, we can help them speak to the buyers, we can guide them on funding options, and we can tell them about the regulatory potholes,” it posited.
“And, to do so is to arm them with as much information as possible to jump over those hurdles with their legal tech innovation intact and enable them to race to the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey with enough energy to keep going as long as they desire, not because they didn’t have the support or critical information that they needed.”
The WALTA committee is ambitious, it outlined, in its goal to continue to drive change and turn ideas into action.
“WALTA’s dream is that regardless of whether you are a legal tech founder or funder, consultant or buyer — there is a role that each person can play in supporting WALTA’s initiatives. WALTA lives and breathes its values; underpinned by diversity of thought and diversity of people, we are collegiate and inclusive,” it said.
However, for WALTA to succeed, bravery is needed, it added, as well as authenticity, to support through hardship and to celebrate through success.
“These values will, in turn, allow WALTA to be visionary — a place where you are inspired, and where you can inspire others. The WALTA committee is committed to actuality — turning ideas into action, so that we can leave a legacy for the women in legal tech of tomorrow,” it said.