Technical legal excellence is now the entry ticket, not the differentiator. Legal leaders from Uber, Fetch, and Linktree shared that the in-house lawyers who thrive will think like businesspeople, act like builders, and treat technology as a given.
“Our profession is evolving with incredible pace,” says Lisa Mather, General Counsel at Fetch. “We don’t have exclusive license of legal knowledge anymore. Everybody has access.”
The advent of AI has profoundly transformed business and the law. An individual with technical expertise is no longer as valued because the reality is that they are stacked up against a supercomputer.
For junior and mid-career legal professionals, it feels like the rug has been swept out from under them. One of the foundational elements of what makes a good lawyer has lost its weight with employers, so what desirable skills do they need?
We asked Lisa Mather and two other legal leaders to weigh in: Fiona Chung, Senior Counsel at Uber ANZ, and Rosanna Biggs, Chief Operating Officer and former General Counsel at Linktree.
The hybrid skills that now matter
“A principle that existed long before AI is that lawyers are businesspeople with legal skills,” says Biggs. She believes that the business side of law is more important than ever. “You can’t be stuck in the legal lane anymore.”
When AI has more technical prowess than a lawyer could ever dream of attaining, it becomes the human skills that will set a lawyer apart.
Mather looks for the ‘three C’s’ when hiring:
Curiosity
Mather describes curiosity as gold in a time of so much change and stresses the appeal of lawyers who are willing and curious to explore new technologies and ways of working.
“Technology is like electricity or oxygen these days,” reflects Mather. In other words, it’s an integral part of human life, especially business. Although it may seem obvious, Mather, Chung, and Biggs all stress the importance of ‘tech savviness’ in a lawyer’s toolbox.
Creativity
The law and creativity aren’t often paired, but as legal functions become more integrated into the wider business, in-house lawyers must be more creative about how they solve problems.
“Sometimes we see lawyers who produce a perfect legal answer, but the advice can seem a little disconnected with the wider business and unfit for purpose,” says Chung.
Critical thinking
“As the quality of AI outputs becomes glossier, there’s a real risk in taking information at face value and not challenging it,” says Mather. Lawyers are, above all, critical thinkers, and as Mather points out, this skill is increasingly valued and one she actively seeks when recruiting.
Caution creates gaps, and opportunities
“Businesspeople tend to adapt faster than lawyers, whether we like it or not. If we don’t embrace new technologies, that gap between us and the business doesn’t stay the same. It compounds over time,” Mather says.
Yet this innate caution possessed by lawyers isn’t all bad, as with most things it has duality. Biggs believes the ability to slow down and weigh up the consequences (both positive and negative) of a decision for the business is more important than ever in a world fixated on moving at pace.
“The product team, for example, may be heads down working towards a particular feature they’re building; they’re not necessarily seeing the bigger picture of its impact,” Biggs explains. “As lawyers, we are privileged to see every side of the business and can ask hard questions about potential ramifications for the business.” Essentially, slowing down in the long run allows the business to speed up.
What sets top legal talent apart
A high degree of initiative is of particular importance to Chung: “People who can run a matter end to end with minimal handholding.”
Mather considers the potential growth of a new hire, and whether they can foster good relationships and rapport with the wider business. “I also look for people who invest in themselves and others. We spend a lot of time thinking about how technology is transforming us. But how will you support yourself and those around you in evolving your skills and capabilities?” asks Mather.
Biggs prioritises attributes such as humility, curiosity, resilience, and most importantly, the ability to work through ambiguity and adaptability to new environments. “You can teach people skill sets, but you cannot teach them the underlying way that they will show up and approach situations,” she explains.
The future of legal careers
Biggs believes the lawyers who will thrive in the future will be ‘builders,’ a term borrowed from product and engineering teams. They will identify problems, navigate through ambiguity, and build solutions, presenting them to the business, and iterating until the desired outcomes are achieved. “Lawyers often fall short on the first mile and the last,” she says.
Mather calls herself an optimist, noting that while AI is overhauling the legal profession, it may create opportunity through new roles that we can’t conceive of as yet.
Chung advises embracing technology and actively making yourself indispensable to the business.
Key takeaways
- Technical excellence is no longer enough. Judgment, stakeholder skills, and business understanding is what sets lawyers apart.
- Think like a builder. Spot the business problem yourself, solve it end to end, and iterate until it works.
- Treat technology as a given and keep thinking critically. Question AI output, however polished it looks.
- Don’t wait and see. The gap compounds, so find yours now, whether in pace, perfectionism, or business literacy.
To catch more from Lisa, Fiona, and Roasanna at Legal Leaders Connect, click here
