Following on from my visit to Bangor University back in December 2013, when I was invited to discuss my experience of life as a tech lawyer, Dr Pedro Telles from the School of Law at Bangor University recently asked if I’d be open to a visit from his Start Up Law students to our offices in Hoxton. That idea developed and we organised a full day’s visit to Tech City, hosted here at LoopUp. The aim of this ‘Tech City Law Day’ was to build on the students’ practical studies and invite some great growth tech companies and others operating in the space to share their experiences and really showcase the wealth of opportunities available in this exciting tech scene.
Although the event was based at LoopUp’s offices in Shoreditch, the students had the chance to visit other offices around London, thanks to the hospitality of the event participants. The students’ first visit was to TechHub in Shoreditch for a meet and greet with Andrew Tibbitts, who kindly showed the students around, and explained the guiding philosophy behind TechHub, which offers far more than a flexible workspace to tech entrepreneurs, through an impressive array of collaboration, mentoring and events in London and through the global TechHub network. Seeing the buzz of this tech community at work was inspiring, and the focus on our industry’s very open collaboration was a recurring theme throughout the rest of the day.
The students then enjoyed a discussion with Fernando Ripolles, CEO of hiyalife, which lets users document and share memories through a visually compelling digital timeline. Fernando touched upon many topics, including both the commercial and legal challenges and opportunities involved in starting up his company.
From Shoreditch, the students crossed the Thames (just) to visit the iconic Shard building for a session with Dani Kramer, Partner at Mathys and Squire, our patent and trade mark attorneys. Mathys and Squire generously provided lunch, after a very interesting presentation on IP and broader discussion on the life of a patent and trade mark attorney and career paths in the industry.
Refreshed after lunch, the students met with Nzube Ufodike, Founder of Amoo Venture Capital Advisory. Nzube’s very interactive discussion gave a fascinating insight into several commercial issues around investment, which dovetailed nicely with the student’s coursework in that area. Finally, Jonathan Snade, a Partner at Penningtons Manches, presented on his experience in the technology sector, from advising early startups to senior fundraising, with some interesting discussion about the role and control of social media in the life of a private-practice lawyer.
The day was packed, informative, and (from the students’ feedback) very enjoyable – a great combination! I personally felt inspired by seeing first-hand the exciting work that’s going on in Silicon Roundabout and the greater tech scene in London, especially the extent of open collaboration, cooperation and exchange of ideas that I feel is unique and often counter-intuitive to UK lawyers.
The feedback from the students was excellent, with one saying, “The different point of views provided by various speakers gave an angle that you could never gleam from the pages of a book. The chance to discuss practice and appreciate the differing viewpoints made the day interesting and has really opened our eyes.”
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Pedro for giving LoopUp the opportunity to help organise this event, all of the students for taking part and being so engaged, and mostly, of course, the companies who generously gave up their time. I’d like to end by wishing the law students best of luck with their exams, and that I hope this event has helped to provide some direction, if not clarity, on their future careers. I’ve heard that if pigeons disrupt your exams, it’s a sign of good luck!
