Bird & Bird VC/TC Application Questions

[PrincessTotoro]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on Bird & Bird application and one of the questions they ask is "what will be the greatest innovation to influence the firm in the next 5 years and why?" I'm really not sure how to answer this question. As Bird&Bird is one of the law firms who are most advanced in their application of legal techs I did not want to talk about AIs. Also, technology in itself does not automatically mean innovation. So I decided to talk about law firms needing a new business model to tackle the competition from alternative legal service providers. Does this make sense...? I don't have a degree in business and I don't understand the exact business model they need, would this mean my answer would be too generic? I would really appreciate any suggestions.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on Bird & Bird application and one of the questions they ask is "what will be the greatest innovation to influence the firm in the next 5 years and why?" I'm really not sure how to answer this question. As Bird&Bird is one of the law firms who are most advanced in their application of legal techs I did not want to talk about AIs. Also, technology in itself does not automatically mean innovation. So I decided to talk about law firms needing a new business model to tackle the competition from alternative legal service providers. Does this make sense...? I don't have a degree in business and I don't understand the exact business model they need, would this mean my answer would be too generic? I would really appreciate any suggestions.

ABS can be discussed, as long as your are presenting how that new business structure can work. If you are just saying they need to change their business structure because of ABS, then don’t - people have been talking about this for at least a decade now and it hasn’t really changed much for most law firms in terms of how they are structured/how they work.

 

[PrincessTotoro]

Thank you very much for your advice, I just want to ask what is the best way to approach this question?

 

[Jaysen]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on Bird & Bird application and one of the questions they ask is "what will be the greatest innovation to influence the firm in the next 5 years and why?" I'm really not sure how to answer this question. As Bird&Bird is one of the law firms who are most advanced in their application of legal techs I did not want to talk about AIs. Also, technology in itself does not automatically mean innovation. So I decided to talk about law firms needing a new business model to tackle the competition from alternative legal service providers. Does this make sense...? I don't have a degree in business and I don't understand the exact business model they need, would this mean my answer would be too generic? I would really appreciate any suggestions.

I like the idea of interpreting innovation beyond just technology.

I wouldn't worry about not studying business as that's not necessary. That said, if you feel you are writing about a topic that you don't really understand, you might want to pick a different topic.

A new business model could work - just be clear on why you are saying it's the greatest innovation to influence the firm and make sure you are being specific to Bird & Bird, rather than talking about law firms generally.

 

[PrincessTotoro]

Thank you, yes that makes sense. I think I will do more research to really fit the narrative to Bird & Bird.