Date: 21 April 2021 Author: FINTECH Circle This week’s Startup Focus is shining a spotlight on Charlotte Gerrish, the Founder of Gerrish Legal, a digital boutique law firm specialising in Privacy and Data Protection, Intellectual Property, New Technologies and Contract/Commercial law, serving clients globally with the UK and European legal needs.

How would you describe your business in one sentence?

Gerrish Legal is a digital commercial law firm based in Stockholm, Paris and London, serving clients globally and with innovation at its heart.

Tell us why your company is a game changer for our industry?

We are turning the traditional law firm model on its head. We still prove high quality legal advice, but our lawyers act as true business partners. Whilst we are enabling access to justice to entrepreneurs and startups through innovative solutions and the implementation of legal tech and document automation technologies, we always have the human element as real lawyers stand behind our solutions and are always on-hand for bespoke advice.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

Winning the Women of European Legal Tech Award for Professional Legal Services in 2021!

What has been the greatest challenge leading a startup so far?

Gaining recognition in a saturated marketplace and finding the right legal tech partners with whom to collaborate. Much like any startup, we always have the usual day to day challenges – which means we are really able to put ourselves in our clients’ shoes!

What’s your typical day like?

Even prior to Covid, we were primarily a digital law firm – then this became 100% remote in March 2020. Our typical day therefore does involve a lot of screen time, but can start with emails, drafting client documents, having calls with clients across various time zones – whilst making time for team coffee breaks! Outside of lockdown, there is no one typical day, as the flexible nature of our business means that we are often travelling to provide the human face to our clients in their various locations: Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Stockolm…

Your advice to anyone starting out as an entrepreneur?

Listen to your instincts. As a female founder in the legal industry, many will be fast to cast doubt – but trust your intuition and your own abilities. Also, surround yourself with the best team and advisors – professional, friends and family as well as mentors. Charlotte will be one of the expert panellists at this year’s LEGALTECH Innovation Conference, discussing ‘Open legal data – international comparisons’. Join Charlotte and other industry practitioners and founders on 13 May for a day of inspiring conversations and virtual networking – register for your ticket here. 

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Charlotte Gerrish, a Solicitor (England & Wales and Ireland) and an Avocat à la Cour at the Paris Bar (France), is a legal expert in data protection and privacy matters with a strong background in advisory work. Working in Paris, London and Stockholm, Charlotte has over 10 years of commercial law experience gained in international law firms and heading up the France-Benelux legal team of an LSE-listed consulting company. In 2018, Charlotte founded a digital boutique law firm, Gerrish Legal. Charlotte also teaches at the International Commercial Law LL.M at Edinburgh University, and has spoken at several international conferences about privacy law and legal technology and innovation. In 2019, Charlotte became a published co-author of The LEGALTECH Book with a chapter discussing how the law can keep up with the development of AI. Most recently, in 2020, Charlotte’s contribution to the legal tech space was acknowledged as she was announced a Winner of the European Women of Legal Tech Award (ELTA/Hogan Lovells) in the Professional Services Category.

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