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Each week of March, ILTA will highlight a 2021 Influential Women in Legal Tech List Honoree in celebration of the U.S. National Women’s History Month. Each Honoree has answered five questions and shared advice to get to know more about their accomplishments and initiatives. Make sure to follow ILTA on Instagram and/or Twitter to hear their advice. 

 
Andrea Markstrom is the Chief Information Officer at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP and Founder & CEO, i.WILL - Inspiring Women Igniting Leadership & Learning. As one of the few women CIOs in the AmLaw 100 space, Andrea is fully committed to encouraging and supporting other women in Legal Tech. She is a frequent speaker at events and for law schools and a member of multiple Customer Advisory Boards for technology companies. Her list of thought leadership and mentorship experience is substantial, but let us get to know her on a different level... 
 

ILTA: Describe your role as if you are speaking with a child. 

Andrea: My role is to help people so they are successful in their jobs. I work at a law firm where there are brilliant people whose jobs are to help create businesses and make sure people are treated fairly. I lead a team of incredibly smart people who know how computers work, and together we provide information, answer questions and solve problems so that everyone at the law firm can do their jobs easier.  

Think about your computers at school where there are programs that help you do your schoolwork.  We do something similar at work and provide computers and programs so people can write and send documents, connect, and work together to do their job.    

What accomplishment in the legal space are you most proud of?   

I am incredibly proud of the work of my team at Taft. This team has done amazing work in advancing innovation at the firm with the implementation of several initiatives that are focused on automating workflow, improving collaboration and streamlining work for clients, and co-developing solutions with clients and ALSP's (Alternative Legal Service Providers) that provide value and drive revenue for the firm.  

This work is only achievable with a collaborative partnership and integration of the technology, legal, and operations teams. This team has demonstrated the “art of the possible” for our firm and we continue to deliver sustainable, creative solutions that deliver value for our practice areas and provide the opportunity to be an extension of our clients’ team.    

How do you make sure there are seats at the table for women in the industry?   

I have built a community and culture that provides women a voice, gives them the confidence to speak up and be heard, opens the doors for opportunities, and makes the connections needed to succeed. This community is called i.WILL, Inspiring Women Igniting Leadership & Learning.  

i.WILL is a non-profit organization that provides a forum for women in legal and technology to connect, inspire, learn from each other, and advance women in the workplace. I invest the time to make connections, create opportunities, and encourage women at all levels, from student to executive, to drive their careers. That is the core and foundation of i.WILL. As a women leader in the legal and technology industry, it is so important to focus on supporting one another and to provide opportunities for women to succeed. It is not about competing against each other. It is about collaborating and helping each other rise. i.WILL provides programming focused on professional development, growth, and opportunity. i.WILL invests in women-founded businesses and programs that provide opportunities for women to have a seat at the table. i.WILL partners with organizations such as ILTA’s Women Who Lead to collaborate and take a role in narrowing the gender gap and advancing women in careers in STEM and legal tech.  

What is one challenge within legal technology you hope to help solve?  

One area that I think of as an opportunity vs. a challenge is creating a culture for change and experimentation. It is such an exciting time to make a difference in how people work and deliver their services. Now, more than ever, this has come to the forefront with the hybrid workplace. It is time to start and experiment in new ways of working and make incremental changes. Redefine work teams and move beyond working in silos. Invest and upskill in talent. Technology plays a major role in this shift.  This involves a focus on the adoption and training of existing technology and tools and carving out investment for new technologies that can drive productivity, such as robotics automation and artificial intelligence. Partner with key firm stakeholders to educate, experiment, and carve out a space to fail forward to learn what works and what doesn’t. Focus on the progress, not perfection. Incremental change leads to transformative change.   

If you could spend one hour with someone who you feel has had a significant impact on your success (directly or indirectly), who would you spend it with, and what’s the one question you’d ask them?   

My Grandmother, Loretta, has been an incredible role model for me in my career and who I have become as a mom, a woman in the workplace, and a leader of people. First, she instilled in me that nothing comes easy, and it takes hard work to get to where you want to be in life. If you want to get to a certain point in your career, you must do the homework, take time to do the hard work, and be persistent. Never give up.  

She encouraged me to dream and that anything is possible. She also impressed the importance of being kind and being true to oneself. These are my core values and ones that I think about and try to emulate every day as a leader, a team member, and a mother. As a mother and woman leader in the technology field, there have been challenges in finding work/life balance, and at times being one of the few women at the table and having a voice. My Grandmother has long since passed, but if I had the opportunity to spend one hour with her, I would thank her for giving me the confidence to succeed in my pursuit and share with her my journey and challenges.  

The one question I would ask her is for her guidance on what I should be doing differently to continue the path of giving to others, being resilient, and making a difference. 

Connect with Andrea on LinkedIn here. 

Read the Influential Women in Legal Tech press release which includes Andrea’s full bio here. 

Meet the other Honorees here: Rosemary Koech-Kimwatu // Farrah Pepper // Shannon Salter // Kristen Sonday