The Legal Data Intelligence Podcast with David Cowen (Episode 24)

In this episode of Careers and the Business of Law: The Legal Data Intelligence Series, host David Cowen speaks with Stacey Lettie. Lettie talks about the importance of doing foundational work before integrating new technologies in legal workflows. She reflects on the nature of her non-linear career growth and how having skillsets and experiential knowledge across multiple domains enables legal professionals to create new career opportunities for themselves—just like taking on data challenges across a range of different use cases and practice areas makes LDI practitioners highly sought after for their skills and competencies.

Listen to the full episode and read a partial transcript below.

David Cowen: You have a very varied background. Talk to me about the importance of having experiential knowledge across multiple domains and stitching these experiences together.

Stacey Lettie: It’s funny. You know there was a point at which people would say to me in interviews that I’d been all over the place. And for a little while that was a negative in my career, because people looked at me as someone who couldn't make a decision on where they wanted to be. My journey from being a lawyer and then getting into tech work and consulting and then getting into legal operations has been interesting. I draw on all of those pieces of my career in different ways, almost on a daily basis, because what I do is so varied. It now helps me be a really good chief of staff. I feel like you have to really understand what you're looking at, the people that you're looking at, how they work together, how the department should function well, and how technology plays a part in that. And I think I've had people come up to me a lot and seek my advice on building their career. And I've told people a lot that I think having differing experiences in different areas makes you really valuable. And for people who are just starting their LDI journey, I would say spend a year working for a legal tech company. It is really super valuable to see what's out there and how it all works. Don't be afraid to take a six-month gig with a consulting firm, because you're getting this really broad view into different things. You might get three different assignments in different industries, which give you a varied perspective.

What’s your key takeaway when it comes to LDI?

I think it’s understanding that the technology is always going to be there. And every day we're going to get 10 different emails from 10 different brand new technologies that all look amazing. And if you're listening from a tech company, you guys are all amazing. You're doing amazing work. And you're putting out things on a daily basis that really are pushing us forward. But I think, as practitioners, we have to remember that laying the foundation for our technology has to be part of that LDI framework and doing that work which is less sexy and less bright and shiny. But it's still important work, and it's still important to understand what the foundation looks like before you start pulling in all this bright and shiny stuff, and I think that's my takeaway.