An Appetite for Technology with a Taste for Law — An Interview with Dries Wijnen, co-founder of Lawren.io
This month we had the pleasure of interviewing Dries Wijnen, qualified lawyer and co-founder of Lawren.io, an integrated online legal assistant for law firms based in Belgium, formerly known as Lawra. Dries’ early years in law school quickly taught him that the traditional path in law was not for him. His success story is a must-read for young law students considering an unconventional legal career.
A Passion for Law and Technology
Within the first few minutes of our interview, it was evident that Dries was passionate about the company he co-founded with his father in 2018. Dries began his journey by pursuing law in his undergraduate studies at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Keen on increasing his knowledge, he went on to complete a Masters degree in Intellectual Property and ICT Law at the same university. Soon, he became involved in extracurricular activities that gave him insights into what he wanted to do in the future and fuelled his passion for the law tech industry. He undertook various internships in reputable law firms and was involved in the university’s law society managing public relations (PR) for their student association, taking on roles of leadership and assisting in the organisation of major student events, including their largest legal job fair.
Being drawn to the idea of being an entrepreneur, Dries also assisted a legal clinic during his time at university where he could provide legal advice to start-ups as an assistant lawyer, akin to qLegal. Dries witnessed passion and excitement in the entrepreneurs he met and he quickly realised that he would much rather be in their position and that as a lawyer, he felt he was only limiting the possibilities an entrepreneur had.
Finding His Own Path
While Dries was interested in the legal sector, he rapidly realised that a traditional legal career working at a firm was not the right choice for him. Instead, he wanted to start his own company and expand his knowledge about businesses and management. As a result, he undertook a Masters degree in General Management: Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Vlerick Business School. While attending business school, he accepted an opportunity to go to Silicon Valley and interact with companies like Google and Facebook, in addition to meeting the co-founder of legal.io, Pieter Gunst, a Stanford professor from Belgium.
The Culmination of Education, Motivation and Experience
Dries’ expansive education and background led to the creation of Lawren.io, an innovative business that owes its burgeoning success to its founders, one of which brings experience while the other brings a forward-thinking attitude. It is an online legal assistant for Belgian lawyers and law firms that tackles the barriers created by technical and legal jargon on law firm websites.
Lawren.io’s chatbots help simplify a plethora of legal topics and subtopics, in addition to helping select suitable lawyers based on the client’s responses. The lawyer can then consider the appropriate course of action and meet with the client, making it an easy and efficient experience for all involved. The lawyers also receive client reports that contain all of the details, legal issues and relevant case law identified by the chatbot in a simple format. In addition to its chatbots, Lawren.io also offers contract bots to assist clients in drafting legally feasible contracts using client specifications and responses, which ensures that lawyers can put their expertise to use in a case instead of dealing with basic and tedious paperwork.
The Success of Stepping Outside of the Box
Dries cites everyday as a challenge that requires hard work, determination and a positive attitude. He does not shy away from the energy input required to run a business, making reference to occasions when he has had to work day and night to correct a specific problem for a client. He cites the moment when Lawren.io formally signed its first client to be the most rewarding.
While Lawren.io is a success in Belgium, Dries is already networking and meeting with people from all across the world. He used the Web Summit in Lisbon as an opportunity to realise the company’s international potential and is entertaining expansion in Canada and Germany.
Social Skills
When prodded on what tools potential entrepreneurs could equip themselves with, Dries stated that as a law student he developed many of the skills required, such as critical thinking and rationality. His best advice for finding a career path that suits your personality is becoming involved in student associations. He insists that the atmosphere fosters the development of social skills and a network of contacts. His experience taking part in internships early on in his legal career and managing other students in his law school’s association gave him an insight into different styles of management. It ultimately shaped the way he handles his team today.
Attempting to usher the legal industry into the new era of technology is a challenging task that calls for a full skillset. Dries puts this resistance down to the hourly-rate system, and the billable structure adopted by most law firms, making it difficult to calculate the length of time required for a project, particularly those with complex contracts. Dries’ aptitude for the law and communication has assisted him in breaking down these barriers and he has found that the majority of law firms Lawren.io has worked with are keen to embrace the law tech future.
The Future of Law Tech Entrepreneurship
A law degree equips you with a multitude of skills and aptitudes. Contrary to more traditional views, these tools are not only useful as a lawyer, but also in propelling you down an alternate, yet exciting career path akin to Dries’. Remember to make the most of your time in law school, and take advantage of each opportunity. In doing so, you will gain invaluable experience, and may find yourself travelling down an unexpected, yet rewarding career path.
Several qLegal students joined Lawren.io as part of qLegal’s LawTech Externship programme in January 2019. Are you a start-up interested in taking part? Get in touch at qLegal@qmul.ac.uk.
This article was drafted by Pamela Saroukos and Jyotsna Chandra, Student Advisers at qLegal.
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qLegal is a law clinic based at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London. qLegal provides free legal advice to tech start-ups and entrepreneurs across the UK.
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