This week in Episode 11 of the Legal Genie podcast, your host, Lara Quie is in conversation with legal tech evangelist, Giles Thompson of document automation, negotiation and analytics company, Avvoka. It has offices based in London and Singapore.  As Avvoka's Head of Growth based in London, Giles works with leading law firms, in-house legal teams, and businesses to help them draft documents, negotiate them, and leverage data insights from that process to draft better documents, and get to “yes” faster. He also spends lots of time designing and creating bespoke document automation solutions for clients and making Avvoka’s core product offering better for users. Before joining Avvoka, Giles worked as a city lawyer at Herbert Smith Freehills and Kirkland & Ellis and also has in-house experience working for BP’s in-house legal team and in the regulatory division of PAX Labs.   In this episode Giles shares: ·         His childhood growing up on a farm in Norfolk. ·         His degree at Bristol University and why he chose to go into law. ·         How he reached out to people asking for their advice. ·         His experience of law school. ·         His legal training contract at Herbert Smith Freehills in London and how he managed dyslexia and dyspraxia. ·         Doing a 6-month secondment at BP in their technology, media, and telecoms division.  ·         What he qualified into and why. ·         His time as an associate in the intellectual property group.  ·         How legal technology first entered his universe and how he saw himself being able to add value. ·         His role as Head of Growth at Avvoka. ·         About the Avvokka Academy and why it was setup.  ·         How small and mid-sized law firms and in-house teams can take their first steps into document automation. ·         What his dream is for legal documentation automation.  Learn more about Giles Thompson: You can connect with Giles here:  https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gilesathompson https://avvoka.com/ Also: ·         If you liked this episode, please rate the show, and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts to help the Legal Genie reach a wider audience. ·         Look out for the next episode coming soon. You can connect with Lara Quie as follows: ·         On LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/laraquie ·         Website: https://www.laraqassociates.com ·         If you have a question or guest idea, please do drop Lara a line at [email protected]         Lara Q Associates A boutique business and executive coaching consultancy