Julia Klingberg, a Swedish-qualified lawyer and attending Cornell as an LLM candidate in New York, draws on her experience as co-founder of the Legal Network of Sweden and Kindred to explore what it truly takes to move from an elite, traditional practice into legal tech and venture-building framing the transition not as a departure from law, but as an evolution in how legal expertise is applied, scaled, and delivered to create broader, more modern forms of value.

Klingberg mapped the transition through three lenses: self-awareness and skills, environment and mindset, and the practical steps lawyers can take now, whether they remain in private practice, move in-house, or build something of their own set, against a profession where career routes are widening, AI is reshaping workflows, and junior lawyers have a growing opportunity to drive change from within.

1) Legal Careers are no Longer Linear, and that is an Advantage

Legal careers are no longer a single-track journey from law firm to partnership. The landscape has widened dramatically, with legal operations, in-house positions, and legal tech now recognised as pathways rather than exceptions. While concerns about AI and job security are rising, particularly among students, the bigger reality is an expanding field of opportunity: more roles, more business models, and more routes to success than any previous generation has had.

2) Know Yourself Early: the “Skills Inventory” Matters

A central point was that the transition begins with self-assessment. Klingberg emphasised that lawyers should identify what they are good at, what they enjoy, and what they want to become, then build towards it deliberately. She argued this should start in law school, where many students still experience narrow recruitment pathways (for example, over-estimating grades), and where soft skills are often not systematically taught.

3) Soft Skills are Becoming the Differentiator

Klingberg repeatedly returned to soft skills as the missing piece in both legal careers and legal tech execution: listening, communication, delegation, relationship-building, and self-leadership. She argued that lawyers (and legal tech founders) often fail not because of insufficient legal knowledge, but because they skip the human skills that drive trust, adoption, and outcomes.

This was linked to change management inside law firms, where technology ultimately succeeds or fails on culture, communication, and adoption, not on features alone.

4) The Legal Mindset Still Matters, Especially in an AI World

Klingberg’s advice to students worried about AI was direct: learn the law first, and develop the legal mindset. Even if workflows change, the ability to spot issues, assess risk, and reason clearly remains foundational whether you practise, build, or advise.

5) Leadership and Exposure: your Environment Shapes your Trajectory

Early responsibility in practice, being trusted to lead a project as a junior, can be a decisive catalyst. The more important factor is often not where you work, but who you work with: the quality of leadership, the culture of the team, and whether you’re given meaningful opportunities to stretch and grow.

She also encouraged young lawyers to take on responsibility rather than waiting for permission, whether that means leading a matter internally or gaining visibility externally (speaking, joining communities, building networks).

6) New York vs Europe: Mindset, Regulation, and Risk Tolerance

In comparing Europe and the US, the discussion highlighted starkly different attitudes to risk and failure. New York was characterised as a market that backs teams early, embraces rapid iteration, and treats setbacks as learning rather than reputational damage, supported by a deeper venture capital ecosystem and greater access to funding that accelerates experimentation.

Klingberg also noted that Europe’s regulatory environment (and compliance mindset) shapes how companies build, often making founders more risk-averse, but also producing strong, durable brands.

7) You Can Also Modernise from Inside Big Law

Legal tech isn’t only for founders: lawyers within firms can introduce tools that improve delivery, particularly as clients demand greater efficiency and increasingly refuse to pay for manual work such as document review. This shift also creates a genuine “seat at the table” moment for junior lawyers, who are often well placed to understand emerging technologies and identify practical, high-impact use cases.

Klingberg suggested that hierarchy is shifting: firms face talent competition, clients expect modern delivery, and partners increasingly need to listen to junior perspectives.

Practical Actions All Lawyers Can Take Now

• Write your 10-year view, then work backwards: decide what you want your career to look like, then build the skills that the future requires.
• Build soft skills deliberately: communication, listening, leadership, delegation, stakeholder management.
• Stay curious and experiment: “play” with tools, test workflows, learn the basics without feeling you must become an AI expert overnight.
• Look for unmet needs: if you see a recurring problem nobody is solving, that may be the seed of a product or service.
• Find trust worthy mentors: a strong supervisor can accelerate your growth faster than any brand name alone.