Shippable Futures, Escaping Microsoft Word, and Prototyping Your Career with Baru Obračajová

<p>This week on the podcast, I sat down with Baru Obračajová. She is a Czech lawyer, legal designer, and the mind behind &quot;Attorney at Code.&quot; After years of handling cross-border M&amp;A and ESG transactions, she realized the traditional, hyper-specialized legal path was not for her. She took a free Harvard coding class online, and it completely changed how she viewed the practice of law. Today, she teaches a &quot;Modern Lawyers&quot; course at Charles University and helps organizations rethink how legal services are actually delivered.</p><p>We got into why the legal industry&#39;s obsession with Microsoft Word is limiting our imagination, and why lawyers need to start treating their work as an end-to-end product rather than a series of disconnected emails.</p><p><strong>What you will learn</strong></p><ul><li><p><strong>Legal product management.</strong> It is time to stop viewing legal work as just replying to an email with a Word document attached. Discover how to design an end-to-end client experience, from onboarding and pricing all the way to final delivery.</p></li><li><p><strong>Escaping the Microsoft Word trap.</strong> Word is the lowest common denominator in law. Baru challenges us to explore ideas outside of this standard environment. When you stop designing every legal process around a single document editor, you open up massive opportunities for actual innovation.</p></li><li><p><strong>Shippable futures vs. R&amp;D.</strong> Most law firm innovation is vendor-driven and plays it safe with commercially viable &quot;shippable futures.&quot; Learn why exploring speculative, outlandish ideas is essential if you want to understand where the industry is actually heading.</p></li></ul><p><strong>Why this matters</strong>Young lawyers constantly message me worried about getting stuck in a single, narrow practice area forever. Baru&#39;s journey proves you do not have to be a hyper-specialized technician to be successful. By layering different skills—like project management, design, and coding—you can build a highly customized, generalist career that actually fits your interests. You have the agency to shape the future of the profession rather than just sitting around waiting to see if artificial intelligence will replace your job.</p><p><strong>Three takeaways</strong></p><ol><li><p><strong>Prototype your career.</strong> Do not make massive, high-stakes career pivots overnight. If you are interested in legal design, start by redesigning a single, simple document. Test the waters with low-risk experiments before completely changing your path.</p></li><li><p><strong>Become a self-started learner.</strong> You no longer need formal permission or another expensive degree to learn a new skill. Find free resources online, build your own reading lists, and pursue the subjects that genuinely intrigue you, even if they fall outside traditional legal boundaries.</p></li><li><p><strong>Embrace multidisciplinary work.</strong> Being a lawyer is just one layer. When you add other disciplines like design or coding, you gain the ability to automate repetitive tasks, communicate complex ideas more effectively, and build completely new systems.</p></li></ol><p><strong>Guest:</strong> Baru Obračajová, Czech lawyer, legal and futures designer, educator, and founder of Attorney at Code.</p><p><strong>Where to listen and how to support the show</strong>Search Studying Law Around the World on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. If you found value in this episode, please take a moment to follow the show and leave a rating.</p><p>Selected episodes of Studying Law Around the World are eligible for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credit with the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) and Continuing Legal Education (CLE/CPD) credit with the Law Society of British Columbia (LSBC).</p><p>For approved episodes, accreditation details, and participation information, please visit: <a href="https://studyinglawaroundtheworld.com/" target="_b