From 15 – 17 March 2024, Bucerius MLB student Pia Schröder took part in the three-day LWOW Sprint event hosted by IE University in Madrid. Over the course of 3 intense and challenging days, participants were allocated to talented and multidisciplinary teams composed of a mix of intergenerational legal and business professionals, academics, and law/business school students from around the world.
The teams were sponsored by a corporate legal department, law firm or law/legal tech company and worked to solve real business-of-law problems or social responsibility challenges.
The Law Without Walls Sprint 2024 was taught with the innovative 3-4-5 method (3 Phases-48 Hacking Hours-5 Stages) and included collaboration exercises, intensive hacking as well as a mini-composium. Pia Schröder talked to us about his/her experience.
What attracted to you to participate in Law Without Walls?
LWOW's approach perfectly mirrors the MLB Program as it addresses real business problems at the intersection of law, business and technology. I really wanted the chance to put theory into practice and see what we could achieve. Also, I was very intrigued by the opportunity to learn about and actively engage with the principles of legal design thinking.
What´s the first thing that comes to your mind when thinking about the LWOW experience?
Networking, thinking out of the box and team spirit!
How intensive was the preparation for the pitches?
The days in Madrid were quite intense as we navigated through a tight schedule of hacking sessions. Despite the intensity, I was impressed by the organization and structure set up by the organizers, guiding us through each step of the process. This ensured that all teams were able to tackle complex problems efficiently within the limited timeframe and saw results at the end of each day.
Tell us more about your LWOW Sprint challenge?
Our focus was on addressing the lengthy and inefficient internal approval processes encountered by a global financial services firm for new technology projects. Our journey was highly interactive, involving engagement with representatives directly experiencing this issue within the company. It was fascinating to explore various potential solutions to find our final proposal.
What inspired you most on this tournament?
What amazing results and great team spirit can be achieved in such a short time. It was a unique experience to get to know and work with people from different backgrounds and countries.
Will you stay in touch with your team members?
Hopefully! It was a great networking experience, not only with the team members but also with many of the stakeholders involved.
Pia, thanks for the interview.
