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An Insight into LawWithoutWalls – The KickOff Event

IE University Bachelor of Laws students Pedro Gil and Aïda Mekouar participated in the LWOW KickOff event this year, at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

LWOW KickOff Event

LawWithoutWalls (LWOW) is a venture lab and competition that promotes innovative solutions for current challenges in the field of law, business and technology. Students and professionals from all over the world come together to generate ideas and tackle today’s most important issues. Read more about the LWOW KickOff here.

Pedro Gil, IE University Bachelor of Laws student and Aïda Mekouar, Dual Degree in Business Administration and Laws student, participated in the LWOW KickOff event this year, at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Pedro and Aïda shared their LWOW experience, what they took away from the KickOff event and the challenges they expect from the competition.

What motivated you to participate in LWOW?

Pedro: What motivated me was trying out a completely different way of learning about the legal landscape. The course seemed very interesting from the beginning, but it completely surpassed my expectations. 

Aïda: Some of my fellow and brilliant IE colleagues talked to me about their experience and I felt like this was something I really wanted to do as well. I took an elective at IE where we had to find innovative solutions for legal problems, and the workshop was a little taste of what LWOW is about. I really appreciated every aspect of it, especially the amazing and inspiring people we had the opportunity to meet. After this, I knew this adventure was meant for me!

What are the biggest challenges you expect to face during the competition?

Pedro: The biggest challenge I expect to face involves coordinating effectively with professionals from around the world. It’s not easy for a student in Madrid to find the time to connect with someone working in Peru, for example. Secondly, I’ll have to learn about knowledge management in the legal worlda topic I’ve never studied before. This is never easy to do.

Aïda: I am in my last year of a Dual Degree in Business Administration and Law at IE. My program is extremely demanding and content heavy. This semester I will have to write two theses to graduate. Although it will be challenging to do both, I know I will find inspiration and broaden my horizons during this eye-opening adventure. So, I feel like embarking on the LWOW journey is the icing on my IE cake! The biggest challenges and opportunities will probably be to keep on developing my soft skills, especially my creativity. 

What qualities do you consider will be necessary for you to have or develop in order to be successful when designing the project?

Pedro: I believe the most important quality is perseverance. I’m sure at one point it will seem like it’s too much, but it’s important not to lose focus. This is a competition where a whole team is involved, which is the main reason why one must never quit. This goes hand in hand with another important quality; empathy. In order to make a team work, it’s crucial to have good communication and understand the situation each team member is facing. 

Aïda: I believe it is time we start thinking differently. Our generation has to deal with this challenge of embracing and being the change in a legal landscape that is surely adapting to the 21st century and all of its new actors. I believe that the qualities necessary for the competition are creativity, critical and design thinking as well as a taste for adventure, challenge and discoveries. It is for sure going to be a great journey.

LWOW KickOff Event

What did you take away most from the KickOff event?

Pedro: The best part of the event was meeting so many different people. It was being part of such an amazingly diverse group of talented professionals and students that made the experience so unique. Just talking to these people completely changed my perspective of the legal world nowadays. As a matter of fact, I’m thinking about learning how to program.

Aïda: The KickOff event was a great gathering of international professionals, lawyers, venture capitalists, academics and students. It was amazing to bring together so many talented people and create a space for exchanging thoughts and ideas. We mainly got to know our teams and network with the LWOW Community, while both working and honing our soft-skills. Having so many talented and successful people there, giving their time and expertise to adapt to 21st century industry needs, was definitely an amazing way to kick-start the LWOW journey! 

What is the topic you have to work on?

Pedro: The topic I have to work on is “Knowledge Management or mismanagement: How can knowledge management be utilized to help legal functions?”

Aïda: Our topic is “No Dodo: Given the increasing use of technology and a tighter focus on costs, how should we develop the skills, judgment and creativity of the next generation of lawyers?” From there, our challenge and task will be to work on developing a solution to our topic with a scoped commercial business plan, advertisement, brand, logo and so on. We have until mid-April to deliver our project and then pitch it in Miami at the “ConPosium” in front of the LWOW Community (over 300 people, including  lawyers, venture capitalists, business professionals  and academics via live stream).

Aïda and Pedro will meet with their teams online to develop innovative solutions to the problems posed by their topics. They will present their ideas at the “ConPosium” in April at the University of Miami.

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