Guest Post: How Ukraine-Based Legal Tech Startup Lawrina is Adapting During the War

[The following guest post is written by Inna Ptitsyna, head of communications at Lawrina and ambassador at the Legal Hackers international community.]

Lawrina started in 2020 with a small team in Ukraine and two people working abroad who had a big idea — to change the experience of law. To build a living ecosystem with free and simple access to essential legal information in the U.S. To make collaboration between lawyers and potential clients a breeze. And to empower legal professionals with legaltech tools and growth opportunities.

Undoubtedly, the war in Ukraine continues to shake the world. On February 24, the Russian army began a full-scale invasion, and the situation remains very tense ever since. Since the battle started, almost the entire world supports Ukraine. That’s because the country is fighting for the international values of democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law.

The whole situation became a shock for the Lawrina team. In the 21st century, it seemed impossible to think that one country’s troops could make a brutal attack on another. A business could not truly plan or prepare for something like that. But it can adapt and learn for the future.

How is Lawrina responding to immediate challenges?

Competing technology, securing patents, recruiting top talent … these are the challenges a legaltech startup expects to encounter. Not the problems of war. But crises can happen. Businesses are built on relationships between people. Immediately, we took care of people from our team and those we work with.

• Team well-being and unity.

Russia’s attack became a shock to our entire team: not only for Ukrainians, but also for our team members in other countries. The priority for us was and remains our team members’ physical and psychological safety. We can assure you that our Ukrainian team is safe.

We all try to stay connected and support one another. Regular meetings and chats … helping each other (and not only on work issues) … this allows the Lawrina team to feel strength in unity.

• Communication with clients and partners.

We felt how the world cares and wants to support Ukrainians through communication with our clients and partners. Our team tells them that we’re doing our best and will continue to offer services without interruption. We’ve also taken additional security measures to protect our customer’s data and our unique technology.

It was essential for us to disseminate truthful information about the situation in Ukraine. We were genuinely pleased by the reaction of both our clients, who wanted to support Ukraine, and our partners, who wanted to help us develop even faster. This strength through a partnership is both comforting and motivational as we continue to work during these trying times.

What’s helped us to adapt swiftly?

• Higher motivation.

We love working on Lawrina. We previously devoted much more time and effort to its development than a standard work schedule required. But the war created a new wave of inspiration for us to do our best. Why?

1. It’s inspiring to have Ukrainian roots. Ukraine and its people have shown the world a fantastic example of strength and resilience. The mere association with this beautiful country gives the Lawrina Team more power.
2. It’s easier to focus on growing Lawrina. Work helps to cope with anxiety and frustration because you are doing something worthwhile.

• Experience in remote work.

We have always practiced a hybrid type of work, as 80% of the team worked fully remote. That’s why this transition was not an obstacle. While remote work means flexibility, we fully understand that it is important to see each other (even once a month). We previously planned two EU working hubs outside of Ukraine for the end of 2022, but now we have sped up this process and will be opening them soon.

• Caring about security.

We care about security because, in legaltech, it’s vital. Lawrina does not have dependencies on local Ukrainian infrastructure. Our security procedures were already well-established, following or exceeding industry standards., We have taken strong security precautions from the beginning and hired the greatest security specialists. While we’ve always been rock-solid, the lessons learned from this war drive us to continue strengthening our platform’s security.

• Invest in Ukrainian people.

We attract new tech and product experts from Ukraine, as it has been proven that Ukrainians are among the best professionals in legal innovation. We know that it’s important to support them because many talented workers in Ukraine lost their jobs due to the war.

• Active partnerships.

The war has shown that collaborations make us stronger, and the international network is one of the most valuable resources. We keep going and strive to get more opportunities in cooperation with partners from the US and other countries.

• Support for Ukraine.

We’re boosting Ukraine’s economy to fight enemies in our own way. Most of our top management stayed in Ukraine as they believe in our country and help it by all means.

We see the support of the world and are sincerely grateful. It’s more important than ever to stay united and support each other. See how you can help Ukraine by the link.

What are Lawrina’s main lessons learned?

Since the pandemic started, and now through the war, we have all learned that challenges create new opportunities. In a crisis, you should reflect on your weaknesses and mistakes and understand what helped you grow and evolve.

• Accept the change.

It was challenging to overcome the lack of stability and resume activities according to the previous plan or even try to update it. As time goes on, we continue to adapt our processes and start taking small steps to implement longer-term plans. That is when the first results appear and give us the strength to continue.

• Retain the best people and relationships.

It is much more expensive to attract a new client than retain an existing one. The same goes for team members, with whom it takes a long time to build trust and synergy. With only the best people who fully trust each other, we can create a truly innovative product.

• Grow through partnerships.

Access to legal information has always been a pressing and complex issue. One solution could not solve all legal needs, but a legal ecosystem could. Partnerships are an essential key to building up such an ecosystem. And the war showed us the real power of synergy.

• Expand internationally.

We all have seen that existing mechanisms are not enough to secure peace and democracy. It’s important to look for new ways a business can help. We plan to make Lawrina not just the biggest or the most popular platform but the most integral and living one with an international focus. Then we will be able to change the experience of law for both lawyers and their clients.

Ukraine’s victory as the conclusion

Ukraine continues to fight enemies bravely and has already shown the world its superpower — overwhelming unity and strength of spirit. We do believe that Ukraine will win. As light will always overcome darkness.

Lawrina will achieve more than we could have imagined as we keep going during these challenging times. Our team feels more robust and united than ever before. And as a living ecosystem for legal assistance, collaboration, and growth, Lawrina will help more people worldwide tackle their legal needs.