Carly Van-Eetvelt is People and Operations Director at LOD and left law to join at its inception 12 years ago. She has undertaken various roles in growing the business, her latest focus is on transforming digital operations – a two-year global change programme overhauling all processes and technologies used by LOD employees, lawyers and clients.
What attracted you to a career in Legal Ops and Tech?
I’m a curious person – I’ve always been interested in tech ever since I helped a friend to build websites when I was at Uni. I strive to find the balance between people, process and tech to make work lives interesting and enjoyable. If you can do that, better business comes as a natural result.
What challenges have you had to overcome in your career?
Leaving the law behind was tough. You spend a lot of time and effort in training, and you have a very linear career path set out ahead of you. It takes a leap of faith to change directions and not be able to see how your career is going to play out.
What’s your approach to problem solving?
For me it’s all about listening and understanding. I try to get to the root of the issue by understanding all the details so that I can then step back and see the bigger picture. It’s a combination of micro and macro thinking that can then lead you to come up with the proposed solution.
What advice would you have given yourself at the start of your career?
Recognise and ride the waves. In your career you’ll get up and down curves along the way and it can be hard to see that in the moment. You don’t know where you are on the curve at any one time so it can be hard to keep perspective and remember that at some point you’ll come out the other side and it’ll swing back up again.
