Women of Legal Tech: Producing Products with a People Focus

There's a shortage of women in science, technology, engineering and math. And there's still a 17 percent gender gap in pay—across the board—in all of legal (18 percent at Big Law). But within the legal technology community are many women with thriving careers. Monica Bay interviews Kate Samuels, 46, Senior Software Engineer at Heretik, in Chicago.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology, 2006 (I took a gap decade and a half…) Graduate work in Public Health at University of Illinois at Chicago, 2008.

Current Job: I am a software engineer/developer manager; we combine workflow optimization with machine learning. We make the contract review process much more efficient for our clients by teaching computers to do a lot of the most time consuming and repetitive aspects of review. I love making tools that let humans focus on what humans are good at—with an assist from technology.

I'm also helping to build our engineering team and mentoring young developers as we grow. I've been here two months, but since it's a start up and we're moving so fast, it seems like a year already.

First paid job: In high school, I got a part-time job at the Century Mall in Chicago recruiting people to give them market research surveys about a variety of products. It was a great after-school job—it helped me overcome my tendency to be a wallflower and gave me a great deal of confidence.

First seat at the table and how did it influence you: When I was a team member doing public health and social psychology research as part of University of Illinois at Chicago's IMPACT program, I was charged with building a training program to get our entirely non-technical clinical team up and running with computer-assisted interviews. It made me think about how people who aren't steeped in tech need a different approach when learning new skills, and how the tech they use needs to be designed to be accessible. I've carried those learnings with me in my career.

First obstacle and how you overcame it: My non-traditional education and employment background raised some eyebrows—most engineers aren't psych majors with a research background. I overcame it by demonstrating the value of diversity—of thought and experience. In that, I make our products better because I'm focused on the people using our tech, instead of just the tech.

Most flagrant sexism you personally encounter and how you address it: Having technical questions pointedly directed to completely non-technical male colleagues, even when the person asking the question knows our respective roles. I deal with it by answering the question directly, and if it persists, I slip in a subtle reminder about our roles.

Most recent accomplishment: I managed to reverse engineer the best potato leek soup I'd ever had, with delicious results.

Secret to your success: I make my work personal. I do my best when I care about the people I'm doing the work with (my team) and (my clients). That drives me through hard times when the work is boring or frustrating, and it lets me celebrate the good times when we have great success.

Who was your most important mentor: My first boss at University of Illinois was Erin Emerson. She helped me get my first important project. She was there with advice when I needed it, and offered moral support when life kicked my butt. I'd never had that kind of manager before, it shaped how I manage now.

Advice for young women: Do weird stuff if it seems interesting. The only person whose judgment matters about what you do and how you live your life is the future you—and you don't want her to think you were boring.

Five favorite technology tools:

• Visual Studio because it's an incredibly solid development environment
• Git is the best source control I've ever used, and you can also use it for document versioning
• Trello because it helps me stay organized on small projects.
• Google Home/Google Assistant is great for helping me keep my day and schedule on track.
• Pluralsight.com is a fantastic resource for getting very practical tutorials on a huge range of technologies.

Book that inspired you: Flatland by Edwin Abbott. In part because of the overall message that one's origins are not one's destiny. And in part because the idea of trying to understand the universe from the perspective of others, no matter how alien they may be. It has stuck with me since I read it as a child.

Favorite vacation venue: Anywhere far away from a city, as unplugged as it's possible to be, with awesomely clear night skies for stargazing. Removing all the noise and chaos of urban life and taking away all the distractions from various devices helps a vacation be a vacation. The Dakota Badlands are fantastic for this.

Favorite quote: “What do you care what other people think?” – Arline Feynman, telling her future Nobel Prize winning husband Richard Feynman to embrace his eccentricities.

There's a shortage of women in science, technology, engineering and math. And there's still a 17 percent gender gap in pay—across the board—in all of legal (18 percent at Big Law). But within the legal technology community are many women with thriving careers. Monica Bay interviews Kate Samuels, 46, Senior Software Engineer at Heretik, in Chicago.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology, 2006 (I took a gap decade and a half…) Graduate work in Public Health at University of Illinois at Chicago, 2008.

Current Job: I am a software engineer/developer manager; we combine workflow optimization with machine learning. We make the contract review process much more efficient for our clients by teaching computers to do a lot of the most time consuming and repetitive aspects of review. I love making tools that let humans focus on what humans are good at—with an assist from technology.

I'm also helping to build our engineering team and mentoring young developers as we grow. I've been here two months, but since it's a start up and we're moving so fast, it seems like a year already.

First paid job: In high school, I got a part-time job at the Century Mall in Chicago recruiting people to give them market research surveys about a variety of products. It was a great after-school job—it helped me overcome my tendency to be a wallflower and gave me a great deal of confidence.

First seat at the table and how did it influence you: When I was a team member doing public health and social psychology research as part of University of Illinois at Chicago's IMPACT program, I was charged with building a training program to get our entirely non-technical clinical team up and running with computer-assisted interviews. It made me think about how people who aren't steeped in tech need a different approach when learning new skills, and how the tech they use needs to be designed to be accessible. I've carried those learnings with me in my career.

First obstacle and how you overcame it: My non-traditional education and employment background raised some eyebrows—most engineers aren't psych majors with a research background. I overcame it by demonstrating the value of diversity—of thought and experience. In that, I make our products better because I'm focused on the people using our tech, instead of just the tech.

Most flagrant sexism you personally encounter and how you address it: Having technical questions pointedly directed to completely non-technical male colleagues, even when the person asking the question knows our respective roles. I deal with it by answering the question directly, and if it persists, I slip in a subtle reminder about our roles.

Most recent accomplishment: I managed to reverse engineer the best potato leek soup I'd ever had, with delicious results.

Secret to your success: I make my work personal. I do my best when I care about the people I'm doing the work with (my team) and (my clients). That drives me through hard times when the work is boring or frustrating, and it lets me celebrate the good times when we have great success.

Who was your most important mentor: My first boss at University of Illinois was Erin Emerson. She helped me get my first important project. She was there with advice when I needed it, and offered moral support when life kicked my butt. I'd never had that kind of manager before, it shaped how I manage now.

Advice for young women: Do weird stuff if it seems interesting. The only person whose judgment matters about what you do and how you live your life is the future you—and you don't want her to think you were boring.

Five favorite technology tools:

• Visual Studio because it's an incredibly solid development environment
• Git is the best source control I've ever used, and you can also use it for document versioning
• Trello because it helps me stay organized on small projects.
• Google Home/Google Assistant is great for helping me keep my day and schedule on track.
• Pluralsight.com is a fantastic resource for getting very practical tutorials on a huge range of technologies.

Book that inspired you: Flatland by Edwin Abbott. In part because of the overall message that one's origins are not one's destiny. And in part because the idea of trying to understand the universe from the perspective of others, no matter how alien they may be. It has stuck with me since I read it as a child.

Favorite vacation venue: Anywhere far away from a city, as unplugged as it's possible to be, with awesomely clear night skies for stargazing. Removing all the noise and chaos of urban life and taking away all the distractions from various devices helps a vacation be a vacation. The Dakota Badlands are fantastic for this.

Favorite quote: “What do you care what other people think?” – Arline Feynman, telling her future Nobel Prize winning husband Richard Feynman to embrace his eccentricities.