Creative Thinking in Law // Eimear McCann - Legal Tech Director and Law Lecturer

Legally Different®

01-12-2021 • 48 mins

Welcome to this conversation with Eimear McCann, Commercial Director at TrialView and a lecturer in EU and immigration law.

Eimear has certainly had a multi-faceted and non-linear path into and around law, which you will hear all about! From her early career as a writer to working in immigration law for a law centre to private practice to legal tech.

When Eimear began to feel stuck in private practice and craved a way out into something else, without anything on the table, her solution was “I’m just going to have to get really creative about how I get out of this” which I love – you will see that creativity is a common theme in Eimear’s journey and is something she is so passionate about in law. At this juncture, she began by stripping out of the legal references in her CV to reimagine her experience – love this tip for getting a new perspective on experience, skills and purpose!

During this process, Eimear discovered legal tech and was so drawn to it as the “intersection between law and creativity” and has since had a successful and diverse career in legal tech in commercial and operational roles working for Flex Legal, Summize and currently TrialView.

Eimear shares interesting insights around the role of creativity in law, our work and lives. We discuss how traditionally (and still currently in many areas) the law and school system tends to label and separate creativity as though it doesn’t have a place in law. Eimear shares her passion for where creative thinking can assist – even in logical tasks!

“We are all wired to create” – I will leave you with that before you dive in.

What you can expect:-

Eimear’s journey into law

  • Law & Spanish at University
  • Deciding not to pursue a law career and becoming a writer

Legal Career

  • Becoming an immigration lawyer and working for a law centre in Northern Ireland
  • Doing meaningful work and being passionate
  • Mental health in law and dealing with tough cases
  • Moving to Manchester and working in private practice
  • Feeling unfulfilled and craving change

Legal Tech

  • Getting creative about making a career leap
  • Discovering legal tech
  • Roles with Flex Legal and Summize

Creativity

  • The meaning of creativity and how we are all creative
  • Creativity in law – where it’s at and how creativity can help
  • The future generations
  • Neuroscience insights
  • Creativity and logic going hand in hand

Finishing up

  • Why Eimear is Legally Different; and
  • What advice Eimear would give to her previous self wanting to get out of private practice

HELPFUL LINKS + CONTACTS

Thank you for tuning in