Sprint Teams

We build multidisciplinary teams comprised of legal and business professionals and students from law and business school students around the world who work together to create viable solutions to real problems related to the business of law and/or corporate social responsibility (or ESG). Based on years of LWOW, we know the importance of assigning roles and sub-dividing big teams in collaboration journeys. As such each team participant is assigned a specific role.

LWOW SPRINT ROLES:

At Sprint, participants are put on teams sponsored by a corporate legal department, law firm or law/legal tech company that assigns a narrow business-of-law and/or corporate social responsibility (or ESG) challenge.

Each team consists of approximately 8-10 members: up to 4 professionals selected by the sponsoring entity who serve as Lead Hackers; 2 to 4 Student Hackers selected by LWOW, and 1-2 Hacker Mentors (mix of professionals and academics) selected by LWOW. This core team is aided by 1 Innovation Coach (whose role is to drive the quality of the innovation) and/or 1 LWOW Project Manager (whose role is to prevent drift)—both of whom are selected by LWOW. Additionally, all Sprint teams have access to resident experts in business planning, pitching start-ups, technology, branding , and marketing.

LWOW SPRINT SAMPLE TEAM DIAGRAM:

LEAD HACKERS:

  • WHO & HOW SELECTED: a mix of legal and business professionals (from within the Sponsor’s organization or its clients) selected by the Sponsor who serve as the team leaders or Lead Hackers over the course of the 3 day in-person Sprint journey.

  • WHAT: Given their expertise and experience, Lead Hackers have a deeper level of understanding related to the assigned problem than do the Student or Mentor Hackers. As such, they lead the team in identifying the discrete problem and its root causes and in developing creative and practical solutions to the problem identified. They also provide critical feedback and commentary on the Student Hackers’ work and teaming efforts as they progress. They also guide the development of and lead the final dynamic Ignite-style presentation during Sprint concluding mini-ConPosium.

  • TIME COMMITMENT FOR SPRINT 2025:

    • Mandatory: Attend all 3 full days of the LWOW Sprint on the 14, 15, 16 March 2025

    • Optional: Lead Hackers are invited—but not required—to attend the pre-Sprint 2025 Cocktail Party:

      • Pre-Sprint Sponsor Cocktail Party: 13 March 2025 in Buckingham, UK

    • Optional: Lead Hackers are encouraged—but not required—to participate in the selection of the Topic Challenge.

    • Optional: Lead Hackers are invited—but not required—to attend two scheduled LWOW PopUp events:

      • LWOW PopUp: 10 Sept 2024 (London, UK) hosted by DLA Piper in collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group

      • LWOW Sprint WarmUp: 11 February 2025 (London, UK) hosted by Dentons

STUDENT HACKERS:

  • WHO & HOW SELECTED: Students from law and business schools from around the world who are selected through a robust application process and spend time to prepare for their LWOW journey through a pre-training curriculum offered by LWOW. The LWOW leadership team assigns the students to teams to ensure diversity of all kinds (although Sponsors can request certain schools/areas).

  • WHAT: Although the Lead Hackers play the lead role because they have a deeper level of expertise/experience related to the assigned problem than do the students, the students are still very much at the core of the Sprint. Student Hackers meaningfully participate (not just assist) in the real-life problem fine-tuning, solution development, and prototyping during the Sprint. Student Hackers work alongside the Lead Hackers in everything from understanding the big picture and substance of the problem to idea generation, prototyping, Ignite-style deck development, and they present alongside the Lead Hackers at the conclusion of the Sprint.

TIME COMMITMENT FOR SPRINT 2025:

  • Mandatory: Attend all 3 full days of the LWOW Sprint on the 14, 15, 16 March 2025

  • Mandatory: Attend Thursday evening 13 March in-person Pre-Sprint Meet-n-Greet Session (details to come).

  • Mandatory: Attend and participate in all interactive, pre-Sprint training and learning modules in preparation for Sprint 2025 (details to come).

  • Mandatory: Participate in a LWOW Tradition: the LWOW Music Video.

  • Mandatory: Post-Sprint, complete a final student self-assessment. To help preserve students’ learnings and experiences at LWOW, and to communicate the benefits back to the sponsoring institutions, students are also required to complete a creative and engaging post-Sprint overview and assessment that presents their experience at LWOW Sprint, the process, project development, learnings and professional development.

INNOVATION COACHES:

  • WHO & HOW SELECTED: Legal and business professionals, selected by LWOW, who are seasoned in LWOW and have experience in leading teams on an innovation journey.

  • WHAT: The Innovation Coach helps drive the team to innovate successfully.

  • TIME COMMITMENT FOR SPRINT 2025:

    • Mandatory: Attend all 3 full days of the LWOW Sprint on the 14, 15, 16 March 2025

    • Optional: Attend two scheduled LWOW PopUp events:

      • LWOW PopUp: 10 Sept 2024 (London, UK) hosted by DLA Piper in collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group

      • LWOW Sprint WarmUp: 11 February 2025 (London, UK) hosted by Dentons

    • Optional: Attend the pre-Sprint 2025 Cocktail Party:

      • Pre-Sprint Cocktail Party: 13 March 2025 in Buckingham, UK

PROJECT MANAGERS:

  • WHO & HOW SELECTED: Legal or business professionals selected by the LWOW leadership who are seasoned in LWOW and the 3-4-5 method of Innovation. Email lawwithoutwalls@lwow.org to request selection for this role at LWOW Sprint 2025.

  • WHAT: The Project Manager’s role is to prevent team drift. The Project Manager helps assign/divvy up tasks to ensure that teams move from problem to solution using the 5-Step method efficiently and effectively over the 3 days of Sprint.

  • TIME COMMITMENT FOR SPRINT 2025:

    • Mandatory: Attend all 3 full days of the LWOW Sprint on the 14, 15, 16 March 2025

    • Optional: Attend two scheduled LWOW PopUp events:

      • LWOW PopUp: 10 Sept 2024 (London, UK) hosted by DLA Piper in collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group

      • LWOW Sprint WarmUp: 11 February 2025 (London, UK) hosted by Dentons

    • Optional: Attend the pre-Sprint 2025 Cocktail Party:

      • Pre-Sprint Cocktail Party: 13 March 2025 in Buckingham, UK

MENTOR HACKERS:

  • WHO & HOW SELECTED: a mix of law and business professionals and academics who are selected by the LWOW leadership team but may or may not have prior experience in LWOW. Email lawwithoutwalls@lwow.org to request to be selected for this role at LWOW Sprint 2025.

  • WHAT: Lead and mentor the team by enhancing the team’s understanding of the nuances of the problem and solution and challenging group think. Help identify resources that can help the team gain the necessary corporate and industry knowledge quickly. Advise the team about the proposed solution to ensure that it solves the business challenge in a valuable and viable way.

  • TIME COMMITMENT FOR SPRINT 2025:

    • Mandatory: Attend all 3 full days of the LWOW Sprint on the 14, 15, 16 March 2025

    • Optional: Attend two scheduled LWOW PopUp events:

      • LWOW PopUp: 10 Sept 2024 (London, UK) hosted by DLA Piper in collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group

      • LWOW Sprint WarmUp: 11 February 2025 (London, UK) hosted by Dentons

    • Optional: Attend the pre-Sprint 2025 Cocktail Party:

      • Pre-Sprint Cocktail Party: 13 March 2025 in Buckingham, UK

CONPOSIUM JUDGES:

  • WHO & HOW SELECTED: Selected on a volunteer basis from a diverse array of legal and non-legal backgrounds.

  • WHAT: Watches the team present their Project of Worth at the end of the 3-day Sprint, and asks questions and provide constructive feedback on at least three factors: substance, creativity, and viability.

  • TIME COMMITMENT FOR SPRINT 2025:

    • Mandatory: Attend all 3 full days of the LWOW Sprint on the 14, 15, 16 March 2025

    • Optional: Attend two scheduled LWOW PopUp events:

      • LWOW PopUp: 10 Sept 2024 (London, UK) hosted by DLA Piper in collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group

      • LWOW Sprint WarmUp: 11 February 2025 (London, UK) hosted by Dentons

    • Optional: Attend the pre-Sprint 2025 Cocktail Party:

      • Pre-Sprint Cocktail Party: 13 March 2025 in Buckingham, UK

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