To practice law is to be a change agent. Throughout the centuries, lawyers have driven progress in and around the legal field by challenging traditional mindsets and advocating for greater access to justice and transparency. Mia is at the forefront of this kind of thinking with her unique approach to legal practice: she blends her legal expertise with a strong interest in design and tech. 

While design and law may seem like distinct fields, they are quite interconnected. Both require a laser focus on understanding the needs and experiences of users to create effective solutions. Both use creative problem-solving methods to address complex challenges. And certainly not least, when done well, both result in clear and effective communication that makes sure all parties understand the processes and outcomes. 

By integrating design, data literacy, and technological innovation, Mia says that lawyers can create more efficient, transparent, and user-friendly legal solutions that better serve the needs of individuals and society as a whole. She believes that legal services should be as intuitive and human-centered as a well-designed smartphone app, and we couldn’t agree more. Read on to learn about Mia’s vision for the future of the legal profession.

Take it from the start—what motivated you to choose a career in law?

Originally, my passion was rooted in human rights and the international field. I was driven by the idea of using legal frameworks to protect fundamental rights and contribute to global justice.

Tell us more!

My analytical and creative brain saw a space where I could use my skills to map out bigger pictures. I was motivated by the potential of law to drive meaningful societal change. Later on, I combined this with innovative approaches, finding the perfect blend of all my interests.

I enjoy taking a multidisciplinary approach, blending creativity, analysis, and technology to find solutions that align with human needs, human rights, and international standards. I approach this from an empathetic view; when using technology or design thinking mindsets, I always circle back to behavioural science and psychology. 

My desire to continuously learn new methods and challenge the traditional lawyer's mindset keeps me focused on creating user-friendly legal solutions, whether by design or with technology. This approach applies to both local and global challenges. Over time, it evolved into a focus on change leadership.

You mention change management, technology, design, and law. How do you go about integrating these?

My current title is a Legal Tech and Design Lawyer, so I have three of my favourite words within one title—I'm very lucky! I found my way to this combination through a deep interest in justice and a desire to challenge the status quo. I saw that many conservative mindsets were hindering us from developing justice because, at the end of the day, we're serving people, even if we're serving companies.

Design is the perfect framework for that because we aim to find the pain points in a user journey and understand the needs of end users. I want to build a bridge between all these elements. With these tools, we can bring law closer to business. The legal field, and legal in-house teams, for example, wouldn't be such a lonely island doing their own thing.

A significant part of this involves creating a multidisciplinary field of law, allowing us to learn from different areas, as there is much to gain from others. I graduated from law school last spring, in 2024. Before that, I completed several traineeships and internships in related fields, including roles as a legal tech trainee, a legal design trainee, and positions involving substantive law in data, technology, and data protection. These areas now drive my professional interests the most. I love finding solutions in the data protection field using methods of design and technology.

It seems like it's all intertwined in your career. Are there any particular achievements you are really proud of, or that have propelled you forward in the past years?

What I'm most proud of is having the courage to present my full spectrum, with all my colors and interests, regardless of a framework that might limit the profession to a box.

It's easy to try to fit in, but I found my strength in thinking differently and embracing my unique perspective, always from a respectful point of view, because we learn so much from each other.

My biggest achievement is finding a way to show up as I am, embracing my role as a creative thinker—or creative lawyer—and owning that. Concretely, I would mention leading projects in legal design and legal tech. Especially recently, but also during my traineeships, I was given significant responsibility early on, which helped me build self-confidence in leading projects. I also expanded my network globally and found the most beautiful community within legal innovation, legal transformation, and specialists in tech, design, and other interdisciplinary approaches.

I'm very happy to have been invited to many international conferences as a speaker or panelist to share my views. That has led to very meaningful discussions, whether with the audience or other speakers. I'm very grateful for that.

It’s been a joy to follow your journey in those discussions. Considering the practice of law—or, as we might say, the craft of legal practice—what do you think truly makes law or legal work an art form?

I see law as the framework of society. Lawyers have a lot of responsibility, regardless of which practice area they're in. For me, legal practice is a craft that combines the ability to put yourself in other people's shoes and adapt to different situations. It's about having that humane, empathetic understanding in difficult or hectic environments that regulations or legal situations can provoke for laypeople.

A lot of it, especially now that generative AI represents the most significant global change across many fields—particularly ours, given our centuries-old working methods—focuses on adopting new working methods, applying different thinking and mindsets, and challenging the traditional lawyer's mindset. It's about embracing failure as a learning experience and shifting from top-down working methods to more iterative thinking.

Being a lawyer is actually very creative. Lawyers often say they aren't creative or that their work isn't an art, but it can very much be an art if you allow it to be.

Yes, actually, I was thinking about the translation of the word 'craft' into Finnish—'juridiikka taiteen lajina'—and it made me realise that it is, just as you say, an art form.

Yeah, I think so—the mission is to make law transparent and accessible and more functional, both locally and internationally. All these tools and mindsets support that.

What skills will be essential for future lawyers to be successful and drive the industry forward?

Well, as is perhaps obvious, technology—and especially generative AI—is finally reshaping the legal industry. I think it was the final push that no one could ignore any longer.

It's creating new opportunities to streamline processes, improve accessibility, and hopefully address global challenges and questions, including human rights concerns and the way we handle very critical cases.

I've been working with these themes since 2021 and have observed, even in that time, how much things have been developing and changing, and how these tools can transform legal practice. However, much of it depends on our mindset.

What I personally advocate is not just rushing into using the tools, but taking a moment to pause and ask yourself the right questions that may arise in silence. It's about mindfulness, self-consciousness, self-awareness, and empathy. Change doesn't happen on its own; it's within your system and influenced by our biases and habits.

Mindfulness—that's a rarely used word in this domain!

Perhaps, but it deserves to be used. Not only future lawyers but also today's lawyers need to challenge traditional mindsets, embrace continuous learning, and develop new skills. They must accept that they might need to adapt to different circumstances within a month and be comfortable with that. Additionally, they should develop skills like data literacy, technology integration, and understanding the intersection of law, technology, and design. Fundamentally, they should also approach these questions from both a sustainability and a human rights perspective. Ultimately, how might we, in the public sector, make the experiences smoother for people who are navigating the complexity of a legal system and its processes?

There are many points of view on this, but none will advance until people—especially lawyers—have the courage to slow down and look within. Perhaps that's my message: to look within, ask yourself the right questions, and support others. It's not an individual journey; it's about trusting the unknown together and being okay with uncertainty.

And that's something people—as Homo sapiens, as a species—are not particularly good at: accepting uncertainty. So I'm not saying it's easy; that's why we need to change.

What's your vision for the legal profession in the next five to ten years?

I hope our profession becomes more dynamic, more globally connected, and tech-driven, but within the framework of humanity. I also hope lawyers take on roles as change leaders and promote roles such as mine, where you can combine different fields of study. At the moment, I'm combining design thinking—or UI and UX design—with tech-driven approaches, computer science, psychology, and law. All of them support each other so we can move forward in this world that is super dynamic and multi-dimensional.

I believe generalists will increasingly thrive in the future, as the profession evolves to focus more on transparency, accessibility, and user-centric solutions. I hope that the solutions currently being created and developed also address questions about transparency in a data-driven world.

How can we remain human and make our work more efficient and meaningful through technology? Adopting new working methods, integrating technology and design, and innovating within their practice will be at the forefront of this transformation. Ultimately, it's all about acceptance.

And user centricity will be part of it?

We're all users of something, and legal design recognises that law has end users too. Every legal process, service, or document serves someone. Just as your phone is designed for intuitive use without requiring you to understand the complex code behind it, legal services should be accessible without needing to grasp intricate legal jargon.

In technology, frontend design makes products user-friendly, hiding the complexities of the backend code. In law, however, we're often stuck in the "backend"—the technical legal work—and forget the importance of a "frontend" that delivers legal services in an understandable way to laypeople. We need more lawyers who can bridge this gap.

Ideally, lawyers would be "full-stack," handling complex legal matters while communicating them clearly. With generative AI and technology, anyone can now translate complicated legal language into plain terms. There's no excuse for using exaggerated jargon or long, unstructured sentences. AI can help us deliver legal products or services effectively to end users.

Whether you're serving your client directly or your client is passing information to others who may not have legal expertise, AI can assist in making the content accessible. You don't have to be a legal designer or a UI/UX specialist to present information clearly; AI can help reformulate and rewrite content for different audiences. This is where technology, design and law intersect again.