This blog is part of our ongoing Women in Technology series.
Alexis Hayman is a Business Development Regional Director at Consilio.
Alexis leads stakeholders in legal practice to define and deliver strategic solutions. Alexis draws on her past experiences as an attorney, experience director, and customer success leader to foster empathetic relationships and empower decision makers. With a thorough understanding of the client’s journey, Alexis considers not only the goals of a single project but each law practice’s full vision for discovery and information governance practice.
Alexis is a trusted advisor to clients, overseeing various data management and investigation workflows with expertise and reliability. She is keenly able to consider the downstream consequences of an organization’s data management practices, whether it be their operational controls, early case assessments, or document review process.
How did you get into this industry?
After graduating from law school directly into the depth of the early 2010 recession, I had to be resourceful and innovative in how I developed my career. I leaned into the skillset I gained in community law clinics where I engaged individuals to take ownership of complex concepts and processes. I applied this to a series of roles, focusing on Customer Success roles for legal tech software companies. I find a lot of fulfillment in demystifying technology for other lawyers and I am thrilled when I can capture their imagination to develop a better practice with the right resources.
What were some pivotal moments in your career that helped to get you to where you are today?
When my family relocated to the Bay Area, I had to rethink what my career map looked like. I was coming off of a career pause after the birth of my daughter. I had been building out my legal practice with an eye toward integrating better tech at my small firm. With this move, I was able to switch gears and work directly for an eDiscovery software company in the early days of their maturing Customer Success team. From there, I was able to understand the customer’s experience, their use cases, and the technology.
As I moved through a few roles in the start-up space, I became more interested in how the business development teams were able to create the most impactful solutions for legal practice. Soon, I extended beyond a trusted advisor to our existing clients and stretched into sales as a consultant to account executives on how to structure and set expectations for the best solutions.
Finally, and this isn’t a single moment exactly, but as I continued to meet more and more fresh associates who felt comfortable with technology, the need for a complete solution of people, process, and technology became undeniable. This moment was key; a reckoning that if my goal was the best experience for legal practice, I needed to be where the most tailored solutions could be found – my current role at Consilio!
Have you ever noticed a time in your career where your gender proved to differentiate you?
I became a mom for the first time in law school. I had to prioritize my studies, my work, and my child within the same 24 hours my childless classmates and colleagues had. I developed a fearlessness around being assertive – with my professors, with my internships, and with my daycare. I just did not have time to be reserved or shy; I had work to do. And I went from a B student to an A student after my son was born!
This courage to step forward into new challenges and ask for what I need to be successful does not come from a place of wanting to be “aggressive like a man.” It comes from my experience as a woman, where I need to be agile, practical, and overly communicative. I will always remember the moment when I asked a lawyer if she knew what a load file was, and she laughed and said, “No, not at all.” If I hadn’t been brave enough to ask that question, she would have been lost for the rest of our meeting and we wouldn’t have a successful project. We went on to have a great working partnership through many discovery projects. She thanked me many times for that basic lesson, but it was just as important for me to have an empowered, successful client!
What is your advice for someone working in a predominately male workplace?
I think there is still a mentorship gap for women. By that, I mean, the landscape, options, and opportunities that men face can be very different than what a woman will face. It is not diametrically opposed, simply different. I would recommend finding a mentor who makes you feel confident in this space. Ask hard questions to your mentors, and challenge them to create a vision for your successful and authentic future. A lot of mentors only know their own journey, and their wisdom can become a rebranding and generalization of their own experiences. Find people who understand the framework of your industry but are excited to creatively develop you around it – rather than curtail and reform you to fit neatly inside the old ways.
What do you think companies could do to motivate more women to pursue careers in technology?
In a past role, when my career was still primarily focused on customer engagement, I was able to work with and for a group of business school professors who developed a managerial strategy called “appreciative inquiry”. This model is designed to uncover value and strength within an organization, rather than lead with a problem to solve. Motivation comes from intentional, thoughtful management where our experiences and perspectives are mined for undiscovered value. For example, I have a key mentor who called out the fact that I keep my two children engaged in their hobbies, manage my grandmother’s NYC home maintenance needs, keep up a rigorous running routine, and still find time to be a silly goofball who roller-skates to the grocery store. Instead of just congratulating me, she got serious and used this as evidence of my fortitude, strategic mind, and enormous capacity to work. She applied what she saw in me to her vision of my 5-year plan.
It isn’t about just making room for women, it is about capitalizing on what we contribute. We talk a lot about representation, and thankfully, women represent a growing percentage of the eDiscovery space. I challenge organizations not to be satisfied with simply faces and names but to inquire into each person with curiosity, appreciation, and vision.