In this illuminating interview, Sarah Ouis, a recent corporate life departee, and founder of Law But How?, shares her entrepreneurial journey and her ambitious plans for the future. Bradley Collins congratulates her on this new chapter and dives into the intriguing world of her entrepreneurial pursuits.
Sarah’s vision for the coming years is both insightful and transformative. She aims to assist legal professionals in growing their personal brands, differentiating themselves, and capitalizing on opportunities on LinkedIn by harnessing the power of visual legal content. Her mission challenges the traditional emphasis on technical legal skills within the legal industry, urging professionals to focus on self-marketing, networking, and influence-building to remain relevant in the face of technological and industry shifts.
Bradley Collins: Hi Sarah, great to chat, and congrats again on officially saying goodbye to corporate life! Please tell me a little more about your entrepreneurial plans over the year(s) ahead.
Sarah Ouis: Thank you! Entrepreneurship is probably the hardest thing to plan but I intend to keep growing LBH with a focus on helping legal professionals grow an audience, stand out from their competitors and ultimately drive the best opportunities on LinkedIn with visual legal content. It is about time for the legal industry to let go of this obsession for technical legal skills.
Legal industry folks need to learn how to market themselves, grow a network, build an audience and become key people of influence if they want to stay relevant in light of all the technological and industry changes.
I’d like to be in a position to drive this at scale and lead a systemic movement.
Bradley Collins: Really excited to see how things progress! What advice would you offer legaltech / startup founders looking to differentiate and create traction with the legal industry?
Sarah Ouis: Legal tech providers need to make peace with the fact that very few legal professionals are tech nerds. If an excel spreadsheet can achieve their desired outcome, they’ll use it over a shiny tool. In order for them to differentiate themselves and create traction, they have to fully embrace being customer centric. That is to stop developing features that no one asked for and start focusing on 1 major problem for your ideal clients and do it extremely well. Anyone can build new features, but not every legal tech vendor can fully delight a customer. Focus on the things you do well, know the use cases you serve the best and communicate accordingly. You do not need every single law firm or legal department. You just need those that you’re in a position to delight.
Bradley Collins: Finally – I’d also love to know why you believe it’s important for Law Firm Partners to build their personal brand and what advice can you offer so they can authentically stand out from the crowd?
Sarah Ouis: Plain is lame, boring, forgettable. If you look at the majority of law firms, they all look, feel, sound the same and have no differentiator. Law firm partners can make a difference by starting showing up online, creating content for their target audience and becoming a go-to for their micro-niche. Instead of being another “Employment Partner” become the “HR Ally for retaining talents whilst reducing headcount with modern employment practices” or “The Serial Settler for UK Employers HR problems”. You will attract more of the right people who will pay your fees and refer business to you. People do not just do business with people. They do business with people they know, like and trust.
Sarah will be speaking at LegalTechTalk on 12-14th June 2024.
