From BigLaw to DraftWise - 2 Reasons Why

John Park, Senior Business Development Executive at DraftWise, shares how his transition from BigLaw to tech and ultimately legal AI led him to DraftWise, where a deep understanding of lawyers' needs drives innovation. 

I started my career practicing corporate law in large Bay Street Canadian firms. During my years there, I became familiar with the inner dynamics of firm life and gained a deep understanding of the day-to-day demands of being a lawyer. The range of experiences included learning the importance of using precedents, leveraging redlines and navigating various workflows and deal team dynamics, all the while trying to hit billable hours targets. 

However, during my time practicing, I found myself increasingly drawn to the business side of things. This ultimately led to enrolling at UCLA Anderson School of Management and obtaining my MBA. Since then, my career has been spent developing knowledge and expertise in the technology space, at both B2C and B2B SaaS companies. In terms of function, business development and partnership roles were a natural fit as they allowed me to leverage my previous experience as a corporate lawyer. 

During my time working in tech, I stayed in touch with the legal community and did ad hoc contract review and drafting as the need arose in various roles. I wasn’t expecting to return to the legal industry, but the opportunity to combine my experience in tech with my knowledge as a corporate lawyer in the AI space was something that I couldn’t pass up. Looking back on my decision to join the DraftWise team, it was largely predicated on two things: the recognition that the team was building for how lawyers want to work and the incorporation of lawyer voice into every step of the building process.

Building for how lawyers want to work

What first drew me to DraftWise were the platform's capabilities—tools I wish I had when I was practicing. Thinking back to the hours I spent on manual contracting processes, DraftWise’s platform allowed me to reimagine what my experience as a lawyer could have looked like:

• Finding precedents and relevant language more easily from the DMS
• Redlining and marking up documents quicker 
• Leveraging generative AI in a way that keeps control in the hands of the lawyer 

The legal tech space has been growing for many years, but I would generalize the majority of those developments around managing aspects of a lawyer’s legal practice instead of helping the lawyer practice. It was clear to me that using DraftWise would improve lawyers’ efficiency and allow them to better serve their clients. 

Prioritizing deep user understanding

What also stood out to me about DraftWise was the high level of resonance and fidelity between the product and what lawyers’ actually find useful. 

Based on my past experiences at tech companies, a key indicator of product-market fit was a deep understanding of the end users and the challenges they face. A great example of this was at a company called ServiceTitan, which provides software for home and commercial service providers. The fathers of the ServiceTitan co-founders were both plumbers, exposing them to the ins and outs of the trades throughout their childhoods. 

It was clear the team knew the pain to solve, how to build for the workflows, and, overall, how their users thought about their work. Further, they made it a point to hire people from the trades to help inform their technology, increasing their exposure to user voice and experience throughout the building process. The results speak for themselves - ServiceTitan achieved Centaur status (+$100M ARR) and has raised over $1.1B in total funding. 

When I met James, Emre and Ozan, the DraftWise co-founders, I saw shades of the similar. James and Emre, while not lawyers, came from Palantir specializing in AI and big data projects. They had experience building and managing sophisticated high-performing products that provided functionality and scalability. Ozan practiced many years at Clifford Chance and brought the north star of the lawyers’ voice, experience, and expectations into the foundation of the platform. This combination of expertise created a unique ability to address the problems of lawyers today. 

Integrating legal expertise into every aspect of the platform

Since I joined the team, DraftWise has continued to add lawyers from a range of backgrounds (BigLaw, litigation, boutique) to the team. 

Today, we have Draftwise  lawyers contributing across all functions of the company:

• Product - help identify opportunities for new features and workflows based on direct experience of the lawyer use case 
• Sales - engage in discourse to illuminate understanding of lawyers’ current needs and pain points
• Marketing - help articulate our value proposition as it applies to firm interests and lawyers' work
• Customer Success / Engagement - help train users on the most effective way to use the platform and solve real existing drafting challenges using language that lawyers can connect with 

Integrating the legal perspective across all business functions enables DraftWise to continually adapt to user needs, fostering a deeper understanding of how lawyers approach their work and what tools are essential to success.

The results of lawyer-led product development

The DraftWise team currently consists of nearly 20% lawyers, making this the largest number of lawyer colleagues I have ever worked with in a non-legal capacity. The results so far have been very exciting. Below are actual quotes from users in areas where DraftWise is actively looking to make an impact:

Enhancing efficiency where it counts

“You’ve thought of everything, this is going to save me so much time.” DraftWise user

Lawyers are saving time on meaningful things that impact their everyday work. DraftWise aims to reduce timely processes of searching and discovery – instantaneously connecting lawyers with the language they need. 

Solving every day pain points

“This is incredible, we’ve been trying to accomplish something like this and this is the best I’ve seen.”  DraftWise user

While general solutions in the market allow lawyers increased efficiency, we’ve aimed to empower them with both efficiency and the unique knowledge they need, where and when they need it. 

Impacting lawyer work experience

 “I guess I'm officially a lawyer if I'm getting this excited.”  DraftWise user

A deep user understanding is paying off. We know we’re getting something right when lawyers feel like their unique needs are being addressed.

The future of legal tech is lawyer-driven

With a team combining lived experience and a deep technical understanding of the capabilities of LLMs and machine learning, we’ve aligned the best in technology with lawyer’s workflows. I’m confident that as we add more colleagues from the legal industry, DraftWise will continue to provide lawyers with the tools they need to be better lawyers.

If you have an interest in DraftWise, or are curious about my transition from practicing law to working in tech, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

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