This short interview spotlights a rising star in legal ops who has a peculiar career story to share.
Giulia currently works as the Head of Customer Success at BRYTER, where she leads a dynamic team dedicated to supporting clients as they pioneer the legal and compliance industry and navigate the evolving landscape of innovation and automation.
Prior to assuming this role, Giulia honed her legal skills as an Italian-qualified lawyer, specializing in debt capital markets and structured finance at an international law firm. Fluent in Italian, English, and German, Giulia’s diverse experiences studying and working in Italy, Germany, and the UK have equipped her with a global perspective and a deep understanding of various legal systems and regulations.
Without further ado, here’s Giulia’s story.
Hey everyone.
I am Giulia.
Chapter 1: My Discovery Journey
I lead the Customer Success team at BRYTER, a company specialising in no-code automation for legal and compliance. Customer Success is a relatively new industry, and I invite anyone curious to learn more about it.
Working in Customer Success means being the main point of contact between the business and the customer and requires a mix of commercial, technical, and relationship skills. At BRYTER, it also means that we understand the legal industry and its primary challenges when it comes to tech adoption.
Without delving into the nitty-gritty of my studies, locations, and workplaces which you can easily find on my LinkedIn profile, I find it would be more interesting to discuss the reasons behind my shift to a different career, my expectations, and what I learned. I began my journey in law, following the typical legal career path, but eventually, I decided I was not keen on conforming to the unwritten rules of the profession. I was so certain about this that I did not feel the need to explore a different field of law, nor a different law firm for that matter.
Even back then, I realised there was a need for a shift in pace and innovation in the legal field. That’s what ultimately pushed me to take a leap and dive into something entirely different. In stepping into an entirely new field, in a city I was rediscovering professionally after being a student there, and in a world that swiftly went remote within weeks, I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, I found myself at a company that was remote-only even before the pandemic, and thus operating within a culture of trust and leadership from the start.
Chapter 2: New Pathways
During my time in this new and exciting reality, I discovered that working in a growing business requires quick adaptation. There’s often a blurred line between a generalist and a specialist role, depending on the product and market needs. In a client-facing role at a scale-up, the ability to prioritise and focus on the most crucial tasks is essential, and these tasks usually differ from those of the previous weeks. It involves taking ownership of and executing your projects, learning from successes, and improving rapidly rather than stagnating in pursuit of perfection (though I’m still working on this). One unexpected revelation I had in the first weeks was accomplishing much more in a single day (and not a 12-hour day) than I ever did as a lawyer.
Most importantly, I’ve learned that every step I took to get here equipped me with transferable skills. Contrary to what my law school professors told us as students, industries and roles are doors, not walls.
Chapter 3: My Legal Ops Way
Now, going back to legal operations and the alternative legal career path. I believe we no longer need to specify that this is an alternative. Moving to a legal technology or operations role is undoubtedly a career that you can pursue with a legal background. To me, this path is not an alternative or a second choice; it is a career, a path that, though new, now has its own connotations and required skill set.
In my case, the legal tech career presented itself as the perfect solution to what I felt was my purpose at the time: innovating a field that desperately needed new ideas and ways of working. Through my journey so far, I discovered that I particularly enjoy working in a business where my contribution can make a tangible difference, and I love working on innovative projects and products, not exclusively tied to the legal domain.
Motivations may vary, and instead of focusing on ‘why’ choosing or leaving the traditional legal career for legal technology or innovation as an alternative or ‘second choice,’ I’d advocate for assessing one’s strengths (both hard and soft skills) and considering how they can contribute to a business, and only then I would focus on finding a fitting role.
We are often told, since the first year of law school, that we need to fit into a narrowly defined job description and that any deviation from working at a top-tier law firm (preferably in M&A or finance) or becoming a judge equates to failure. There is also this unspoken notion that lawyers are not cut out to be the creative types and that we are supposed to have a passion for rules.
So, if we are supposed to like rules so much, what prevents us from writing some completely new ones and crafting our own path?
Giulia Paparella
Head of Customer Success
BRYTER
