10 questions in 10 minutes with Tia Freeman, Legal & Product Specialist at Robin AI

10 questions in 10 minutes: an interview with Legal & Product Specialist, Tia Freeman ‍

What excited you most about joining a legal AI startup like ours?

I first read about Robin AI in an article in the Times about the top startups to watch in the UK. I was struck by the statistics in this article on how much time and money the technology that Robin AI was building could save for clients when it came to reviewing and drafting contracts. I then watched demos online about Robin AI’s products and I was completely blown away by the technology Robin AI was developing and the way in which this technology could be used to transform an industry that is still quite outdated in the way it operates.

How does our mission and vision align with your personal values and passions?

Robin AI’s core mission is to make contracts simple, and in doing so make legal advice both quicker and cheaper to obtain. We hope this will make legal advice more equitable and accessible, which is so important. This mission resonates with me because working as a trainee solicitor made me realise how inefficient and expensive the process of reviewing, drafting and negotiating contracts is. I feel Robin AI’s mission is crucial not only for the clients in terms of the time and cost saving, but also in freeing up lawyers’ time so that they are be able to focus on more strategic tasks instead.

Robin AI believes in always having a legal professional in the loop when developing our products and delivering managed services powered by AI. It is vital to combine the power of legal AI with deep legal expertise and I think Robin AI has been spot on with that approach.

What unique skills and experiences do you bring to the team?

I completed a two-year training contract at a law firm in the city and am now a qualified solicitor. A key part of the Legal and Product team’s role on a day-to-day basis is to collaborate closely with our software engineers, machine learning and LLM experts to develop products that lawyers find intuitive and that help to drive greater efficiencies for them. The Legal and Product team test the products and share any feedback. We also share ideas and initiatives for product improvements. My training contract helped me see first-hand that there is a genuine need for anAI copilot for contracts, and to understand how this technology would be used by lawyers in practice which has been useful when it comes to giving feedback to our engineering team on the product.

What have you enjoyed most so far working here?

I have loved being able to learn about the business as a whole and developing my understanding of how a business is built and grown. One thing I particularly like is how transparent things are at Robin AI which helps when it comes to learning and development. We have a weekly company-wide meeting where each team lead presents on what they have been focusing on that week and what their priorities for the coming week are, which is a great opportunity to keep on top of what other teams are working on and how we can support each other across teams. We are all kept in the loop constantly so you can see what is happening across the company as opposed to just in your team. This helps with understanding the bigger picture of what the company is working towards. Robin AI is growing so fast that having these weekly companywide meetings is incredibly insightful as things really are changing so much weekly!

How would you describe the culture and work environment at Robin AI?

When I was applying for the role at Robin AI, I watched a video where our CEO Richard Robinson was talking about what it is like to work at Robin AI. In this video, Richard spoke about his previous experience working in a law firm and stated that he wanted Robin AI to be a place where people love coming to work. This video resonated with me because my background in law was similar to Richard’s and I had also been in a job that I did not love. I really think that the Robin AI team have been successful in creating a friendly and dynamic work environment. I would say it is a fun place to work, everyone is so enthusiastic - there is a real sense of camaraderie. We all care about the work we do, and all share the same commitment to growing the business.

What do you find most interesting about the problems our technology solves?

One of the main problems we are trying to solve is the speed at which contracts are put together and how expensive this process is for clients. I have been amazed by how quickly the technology that we have developed can do things, particularly as I have been the trainee doing a lot of the types of tasks that our technology aims to solve. AI-powered contract search in Query is particularly impressive -the way in which it can find and summarise key clauses across several contracts in a matter of minutes is a game-changer. When I was doing my training contract and we were carrying out due diligence, there were often multiple trainees staffed on the task at the same time because of how long it would take us to manually review and summarise all the contracts. AI-powered search can save hundreds of hours when managing contracts.

What opportunities for growth and development have you experienced since joining?

The opportunities for growth and development at Robin AI are extensive. The aim is for employees at Robin AI to be ‘fluent in the business as a whole’, and so we are actively encouraged to get involved in other areas of the business if there is other work that interests us. One way in which the Legal and Product team is meeting this objective is by offering internal secondments to our Legal Engineering team and to our Implementation team. I have really enjoyed being able to help in different areas of the business, whether it’s with hiring, marketing or on the product and engineering side. We are trusted with more responsibility and given lots of autonomy. For example, I joined the team fairly recently and I have already been helping out interviewing potential candidates which I enjoyed as I had never interviewed someone before!

What advice would you give to someone considering a role in a fast-paced startup like ours?

I think it is a fantastic opportunity for anyone looking to develop their skills and learn. In fast-paced startups you are learning daily, and what is unique about Robin AI is that you are not confined to your role, and so you can help other teams and get exposure to other areas of the business. I have found that is not the case in larger organisations. Working in an agile and ambitious company like Robin AI also means you get to see how quickly things are changing and how much the work you are doing on a day-to-day basis is contributing to this growth, which is very rewarding.

Where do you see Robin AI heading in the next 12 months?

It is a super exciting time at Robin AI right now and I am looking forward to seeing where the company is in a year’s time. I joined a couple of months ago and so much has already happened sinceI joined - not least getting a shout out from our Prime Minister on national television and launching our new Microsoft Word Add-In!

On the product side we are working on some cool new features, and in terms of our growth we are moving to a new bigger office in London to accommodate the rapidly increasing headcount, our team in New York is also growing and there is also an office in Singapore in the pipeline as we continue to expand globally!

If you could tell potential candidates one thing about the Robin AI team, what would it be?

What has really stood out to me is how much people at Robin AI genuinely care about feedback. The team is very invested in training you and helping you develop your skills. There is a lot of training, and we get daily feedback from the team members reviewing our work. I also have weekly meetings with my manager, who gives me feedback from the rest of the team. This means that issues are nipped in the bud quickly which is great from a learning and development perspective. What is also unique about the team is that because it is still relatively new, even the senior members of the team are still learning and so they are very receptive to our ideas and feedback too – the feedback is very much a two-way street in the team. We have monthly team meetings where everyone contributes by saying things that had not gone well that month or areas where we could improve - the team leads want to hear our views, and it is great to be part of a team where everyone’s feedback is valued and appreciated.

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To find out more about the opportunities to work at Robin AI, visit our careers page for more information.

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