LegalTechTalk Uncovered 2025 - Kiyala Matanga - E17

0:00Welcome to the Legally Speaking Podcast Legal Tech Talk Uncovered Miniseries 2025 sponsored by Clio. We're back with our red mic for a behind the scenes series all about legal innovation at Europe's largest legal tech event. So we're granted access to meet some of the greatest speakers, sponsors, brands in the whole legal tech world. We've got 300 speakers with over 70 sessions with over 4 ,000 attendees from all across the globe hitting us here over the next two days at Legal Tech Talk live in London. From AI to access to justice to smart compliance, you name it, we're covering it all. This isn't just another conversation or another conference.

0:41It's a blueprint for community and transformation. So buckle up. We're speaking with some incredible people about policy change, change makers, legal innovation and so much more. Over and out. Welcome to the Legally Speaking podcast, recording live here at Legal Tech Talk. I am joined by name, title and organisation.

1:03Kiyala Matanga:Yes, my name is Keala Matanga. I'm the campus vice president at London Moorgate at the University of Law. I'm also an SQE student and a future trainee solicitor. Absolutely are. And you're doing great things, bringing people together from all walks of the legal community. So in one sentence, what's one problem you're trying to solve in legal? I am trying to help future solicitors or future lawyers position themselves for success in the legal industry. Yeah, and I love that. And I guess what's, we're at a legal tech conference, one of the largest in Europe, undoubtedly. from your own perspective, obviously at the early stages of your legal career, but what's one assumption you think people have about legal tech that might be incorrect?

1:45Kiyala Matanga:That it's not accessible. For example, there's events like this that make it a lot more accessible. So I think if we did some research and got ourselves to network and events, we would see that it is accessible. And I also learned a lot today that there are, you know, platforms like Clio that you can go on and do a tutorial and request a demo. So it is a lot more accessible than I think people in my generation believe that it is. Yeah, absolutely. And shout out to Clio. They sponsor our show and they do put on so much educational content and help the next generation of lawyers and legal professionals coming through.

2:18What sessions have you most enjoyed being here or what are some of the most ones you're looking forward to?

2:23Kiyala Matanga:So I went to a brilliant session called Strategizing for Legal Tech. And it basically was a conversation where law firms and corporations were trying to decide whether it was best to buy legal tech or to create it themselves and what would be the pros and cons towards each option or each solution. and it was just very interesting to hear what would go into the thought process as a managing partner or as somebody who is more in charge of the innovative and legal tech side of the law firm and one of the main things that they raised was law firms are not necessarily interested in new technology but they're interested in what the technology can do in terms of improving efficiency and how that efficiency can result in greater profit them yeah that was really interesting no thank you for articulating that it does sound super interesting and there's been so many of those nuggets and you know great sessions happening throughout the time here at legal tech talk and this year's themes are across law and tech evolution revolution access to justice purpose-driven law collaboration and smart compliance of those themes which of those speaks loudest to you and why i would say collab access to justice stands out a lot just because a lot of what i do is providing access or knowledge so that future solicitors whether that's undergrads or people that at the start of their careers can have the knowledge necessary to position themselves for success and I also think that translates to with people who don't have a lot of opportunities to be represented in law and could also be better well informed so that's also something I do with my platform I try to teach those who may not have access to justice about just common legal terminologies that they need to know if they They want to be able to determine their pathway, whether that's understanding what a sole trader is, a partnership is.

4:15Kiyala Matanga:So little things like that. I think that's the most important when I think about the legal industry. Yeah, no, well said. And looking at Legal Tech Tour, what's been your biggest surprise being here? Oh, my biggest surprise is that legal tech is not something that is, you know, slowly coming into the industry. I think it is already in the industry and it's up to us as future solicitors to become proficient in it because it's something that is here and something that is moving. So you don't want to be left behind. And it's also not something that's coming to take your jobs because legal tech doesn't replace reasoning.

4:53Kiyala Matanga:But it does help to, you know, make work a bit more efficient by taking away the more administrative tasks. So that's something I've really enjoyed learning. good stuff okay and then as we look to close let's look five years down the road yeah um what do you hope is one thing that's finally fixed in law i think what i would really love is i can only speak about where i'm from i hope that the courses have become more well-rounded in terms of training solicitors or barristers to be ready that's including soft skill training and not just seeing that as something that you have to pursue as events or an extracurricular activity but actually something that is necessary to be successful.

5:34Yeah, love it. Okay, well, look, let's leave it to say thanks so much for joining us here live on the Legally Speaking podcast. If people want to connect with you or learn more, where's the best place for them to go?

5:43Kiyala Matanga:So I have quite an active following on LinkedIn, and that's under Keala Matanga. I'm also on Instagram, creating content for lawyers and people to gain a better understanding of the law. So you can also find me on Instagram under Keala Matanga and TikTok under Keala Matanga. There we go. There we have it. Well, thanks so much once again for joining us. But from now, from all of us here at Legal Tech Talk, 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.

6:18Go to our website, www.legallyspeakingpodcast.com for the link to join our community there. Over and out.