Anna Lolua is Director of Legal Innovation at SYKE. Anna is one of the world’s leading experts on HighQ and Contract Express, advising legal teams and law firms on how to procure and implement legal technology. Having faced opposition to change and modernisation through her early career both in legal consulting and in-house, Anna worked as a business consultant focusing on process optimisation before joining SYKE.
What attracted you to a career in Legal Ops and Tech?
I am a bit of an efficiency fiend! I have spent my career finding a way to do things better and remove repetitive tasks – and this inevitably led to me becoming interested in legal tech. I was drawn to Contract Express because (in my opinion) it’s one of the best document automation systems ever invented and with HighQ as an extension of that it offers the whole package for my clients.
What challenges have you had to overcome in your career?
There is a lot of fear for people who think that what you’re implementing is going to inevitably lead to their job disappearing. They are afraid and the fear takes us a step back. It is upon us as an industry to help to educate people that the tech is there to help them do more meaningful work, not to replace them.
What’s your approach to problem solving?
Not to have one! You have to be open minded, and you have to be able to listen. When I approach a new project, I take a notebook and I listen, and I write down as much as I can. You need the full picture before you can jump in with a solution.
What advice would you have given yourself at the start of your career?
Be fearless. And let the numbers speak for themselves. A data-driven approach is key to any project, learn to convert information, trends, effect, results into quantifiable data and use that data for your decision-making process.
