LegalTechTalk Uncovered Ep 8 – Ayaz Saboor  

Transcript

Robert Hanna: Welcome to the Legally Speaking Podcast, LegalTechTalk Uncovered mini-series powered by Clio. Please introduce yourself. 

Ayaz Saboor: Hi guys, my name is Ayaz, and I’m the founder of the Commercial Law Pathway, and I mentor aspiring lawyers getting into the profession. 

Robert Hanna: Yeah, and you do a very good job of that, and it’s nice for us to be reconnecting here in person at LegalTechTalk. How are you finding the conference?

Ayaz Saboor: Yeah, it’s fantastic. It’s firstly, it’s a really well run event, and it’s just been great to meet familiar faces that you see on social media in person and connect beyond just the surface level chats that you might have online. And then the talks that I’ve been to so far have been fantastic and varied in terms of assessing the legal industry and where things are going. 

So yeah, it’s been really good. 

Robert Hanna: Yeah, I absolutely love it. And I think the energy has just been fantastic. And that level of connection you can get with people that you kind of know online but haven’t been able to really get to know as well, in the offline world. 

So yeah, I absolutely agree with you. Can you tell us a little bit about what you’re focusing on at the moment?

Ayaz Saboor: Yeah, so my main focus, like I said, is mentoring aspiring lawyers into the profession. Something that I’m hugely passionate about, helping people and individuals unlock their inner confidence and self-belief to go and navigate the process that’s pretty daunting, pretty scary. But also, when there’s elements of imposter syndrome, doubt, rejection, it can be crippling to a point at which you decide against doing and reaching for the goal that you’ve set yourself. 

And my aim is to prevent people from getting to that stage of giving up, because I was at that stage once. I almost gave up and I wouldn’t be sat here in this position at this conference had I given up.

Robert Hanna: Yeah, and really well said. And I guess that leads nicely onto what I was going to ask next, which is, you know, what are some of the problems or a key problem you’ve identified or a challenge in the legal sector? And how are you going about addressing that specifically?

Ayaz Saboor: It’s a good question. I think for me and where I’m currently focused, I think, you know, it’s about, and an element of diversity and inclusion falls into it. But in the main, you know, talent attraction and retention.

So yeah, that’s the main issue I see at the moment. And obviously, D&I feeds into that because, and I’m speaking on a panel tomorrow about that, but it really fits into the kind of theme of, you know, having that varied perspective and variety of thought within an organisation, but also allowing maybe even a variety of job role to cater for the diverse range of people that are within the practice. So yeah, so I think diversity and trying to move away from the rigid approach that kind of traditional law firm models have is probably the main issue I see at the moment. 

And yeah, in my part, I hopefully mentor individuals to reach the desired goals that they want. And hopefully, after the conference, looking to get more into the D&I space and hopefully help firms address the issue of D&I in the main.

Robert Hanna: Yeah, no, and it’s so needed and it’s such meaningful work. And yeah, we absolutely support that here on the Legally Speaking Podcast in terms of people really kind of pushing the needle because diversity of thought, inclusion, belonging, really getting that right is super, super powerful for law firms. And law firms who choose to change and embrace are going to be the ones that flourish absolutely, particularly in the world of AI.

Inclusion and kind of belonging is so important. What’s been a standout moment for you at the conference?

Ayaz Saboor: Part of me wants to say it’s yet to come because I’m speaking tomorrow, but no, the honest answer is, I think it’s the connections I’ve made over the last couple of days. Obviously, we were at the speakers’ drinks yesterday. And yeah, it’s just building those connections a lot deeper than, like you say, just when you’re online.

Offline, you get that real depth of connection, and I’ve really valued that. But also the talks I’ve been to have been also great. So yeah, but a particular standout moment is meeting the people that I’ve from afar and really bonding and connecting with them.

Robert Hanna: Yeah, and I agree. Plus one to that. So where can people find out more about you?

What are the best places for them to get in touch? Feel free to share your social media handles, website links, and also share them in this episode for you too.

Ayaz Saboor: Yeah, cool. So my name is Ayaz Saboor. LinkedIn is probably my favourite place to be contacted.

I am on Instagram. I’m not on TikTok. I am as a consumer, not as a creator.

And yeah, my organisation is The Commercial Law Pathway. And yeah, feel free to reach out. And if I can support anyone in any way, I’d be more than happy to.

Robert Hanna: There you have it, folks. Ayaz, it’s been great finally getting you on the show, doing this in person at the largest legal tech conference in Europe. Excited to see what you come up with in the future.

But from now, from all of us on the show, over and out.

Thank you for listening to this week’s episode. If you like the content here, why not check out our world leading content and collaboration hub, The Legally Speaking Club over on Discord. Go to our website www.legallyspeakingpodcast.com for the link to join our community there.

Over and out!