Legally On the Move: Careers, Tech & Insights from Dubai – Simona A. Toma – E17

You can hear Rob and Simona discussing:

– The Worldwide Impact of AI on Legal Work

– Dubai’s Legal World and the Innovation it Brings

– The Dynamic Range of Diversity and Leadership Roles in the UAE

– How Communication Factors into Professional Legal Work

– Legal Outsourcing and its Perks

Connect with Simona here – https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tomasimona

Transcript

00:00

Welcome to Legally on the Move.

00:02

Careers, tech and insights from Dubai.

00:04

In this exclusive miniseries of the Legally Speaking podcast, we’re taking you to the heart of Dubai, a global hub for legal innovation, cutting edge technology and transformative career opportunities.

00:15

Here’s what you’ll gain.

00:16

Career inspiration, unlock the secrets to thriving in Dubai’s dynamic legal market, tech trends, dive into how AI, blockchain and legal tech are reshaping the industry, diversity and leadership, hear from trailblazers,is driving inclusivity and innovation in the UAE and global perspectives.

00:34

Explore how Dubai’s unique blend of tradition and ambition is creating a thriving legal ecosystem.

00:40

Recorded in iconic locations, these episodes bring you the energy and insights of one of the world’s most exciting legal hubs.

00:48

Don’t just listen, experience the future of law.

00:50

Ready to move forward with us?

00:52

Let’s go.

00:54

So welcome to the Legally Speaking podcast.

00:56

What’s your name and title?

00:58

Hi, I am Simona Toma and I am the Director of Contracts, Commercial and Compliance in a legal outsourcing firm.

01:06

There we go.

01:06

Well, welcome to Legally Speaking podcast.

01:09

Thank you.

01:09

Tell us a little bit more about your career.

01:12

Sure.

01:13

Well, I started off as a legal counsel for a company which operated in telecommunications.

01:23

and then I moved on to working for an aerospace and defense company in London.

01:31

I also have some experience working in the public sector, also with telecommunications, and also I have experience working in pharma industry.

01:41

But at the moment, in my current role in my current organization, I oversee a big teamof lawyers, paralegals, contract administrators, and associates.

01:55

And we very much focus on legal technology and legal innovation.

01:58

Yeah, and we were speaking offline, obviously, about your current role in AI.

02:04

Tell us a bit more about a day in the life of the type of work that you’re getting up to and your thoughts on AI.

02:09

Oh, yes, absolutely.

02:09

I would love to speak about that.

02:11

Together with my team, we’ve developed different strategies for understanding how we can use AI and work with our clients and help them understand what are the benefits of using general AI in the legal space.

02:26

In order to do that, we started looking into prompt engineering.

02:30

That’s a very important aspect for understanding how AI can work better for our clients.

02:37

And for our testings, we identified that about 40% of the work that contract administrators and junior lawyers handle on a day-to-day basis can be outsourced to through the AI tools and technologies.

02:57

Yeah, it’s amazing what can be achieved now with this tech advancement.

03:01

Obviously, we’ve known each other for a while.

03:03

We’re recording in Dubai, which is super cool.

03:05

And we’re doing this series on Dubai.

03:06

I mean, what’s your thoughts generally on what you know of the sort of Dubai and legal market?

03:11

Dubai is a really up and coming place.

03:14

I’ve been travelling to Dubai for a couple of years.

03:18

mainly on holidays.

03:19

Yeah.

03:19

So I haven’t interacted a lot with the legal space and legal professionals here in Dubai.

03:25

However, as far as I know, the IFC, you know, it’s an area where it’s a free zone and legal professionals there operate within the landscape of UK jurisdiction.

03:37

Yeah.

03:38

So that’s that’s great.

03:39

And do you think for your area of work, obviously you mentioned you’ve been coming here for the last couple of years or so, do you feel there’s a lot of opportunity and there’s a lot of growth, particularly in what you’re doing within Europe?

03:48

No, absolutely.

03:49

As we know, Gene AI is, everyone talks about it, it’s mainstream.

03:54

And I’m sure that companies and law firms will start developing their operations here in the area and Dubai invests heavily in technologies.

04:04

So definitely a good space to watch.

04:07

Yeah.

04:07

And what’s one skill within your area of work and what you do that you think is invaluable and perhaps won’t be replaced by AI?

04:15

Communication, human interaction, that will never be replaced by AI.

04:19

Yeah, I think agreed.

04:20

You know, obviously there’s going to be humanoid robots more and more coming out, but I still think that genuine human-to-human connection is what it’s all about.

04:27

Okay, and what are you looking forward to most for the rest of this year?

04:30

Have you got any exciting plans?

04:31

Are you going to be back in Dubai again?

04:33

Hopefully I’ll be back in Dubai.

04:35

And in terms of exciting plans, I am very excited about working with my team and developing the current technologies and, you know, supporting our clients with legal outsourcing leveraged by Gen AI.

04:49

There we go.

04:49

And if people want to get in touch with you or learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best place for them to get in touch with you?

04:54

Feel free to share any social media handles or any websites and we’ll share them in this episode 3 too.

04:59

Absolutely.

05:00

Best way to contact me is via LinkedIn.

05:02

My LinkedIn panel, so to speak, it’s Simona A.

05:08

Thomas.

05:09

Simple as that.

05:10

Awesome.

05:10

Well, this leaves me to say thank you so much for joining me on the Legally Speaking podcast.

05:14

We managed to do it in Dubai whilst you’re away.

05:16

It’s just brilliant.

05:16

So thanks once again.

05:18

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

05:20

Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of our Legally on the Move from Dubai series.

05:26

If you enjoyed today’s conversation, please take a moment to rate and review the show on your favorite podcast platform.

05:32

It really helps us out.

05:33

And if you want to connect with us directly, join our vibrant Legally Speaking Club community on Discord or visit our official websitelegallyspeakingpodcast.com for more updates and ways to get involved.

05:44

Stay tuned.

05:45

We’ll see you again soon.

05:46

Over and out.