Founder and CEO Patricia Gannon. Image: Platforum9/Piman Khrutmuang/Stock.adobe.com
An audio forum similar to Discord or Clubhouse, Platforum9 enables lawyers to stay in continuous conversation in an interactive podcast format.
Patricia Gannon has been involved in the legal profession for more than three decades. A qualified solicitor, she has worked across leading Irish and European corporate law firms, non-governmental organisations, in-house legal teams and even the European Commission.
But her latest passion within the field lies in paving the way for younger lawyers to navigate their way through what is a very demanding profession and grow their personal brand. And this is made possible by merging podcasts and forums with recent advances in technology such as artificial intelligence.
Platforum9, founded by Gannon in 2022, pitches itself as a social audio app for lawyers.
“Think of it like an interactive podcast,” she says. “Leveraging off voice technology, Platforum9 is a bespoke app for lawyers, enabling live chat and practice development around nine universal topics – tech, trade, deals, rights, infrastructure, resources, property, energy and health.”
Following the format of audio forums – think Discord or Clubhouse – Platforum9 is a community of lawyers who gather in moderated live sessions that are recorded, transcribed and summarised using AI to achieve maximum time efficiency for what Gannon describes as a “time-poor, content-overloaded” profession.
An early version of the app is now available, and a waitlist is in place for lawyers wanting access to Platforum9’s beta test. According to Gannon, around 600 lawyers from around the world are already on the waitlist with several law firms exclusively onboarding at the moment.
From the Balkans to the US
Gannon graduated with a degree in law from Trinity College Dublin in 1990 and within five years was able to found her own full-service law firm. Today, Karanovic & Partners is one of the largest regional law firms in the Balkans.
Since then, she became a founding member of the Serbian Private Equity Association, served as a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce and the Serbia-based Impact Hub, where she advised and mentored early-stage start-ups. She also developed the WE Angel network for women angels in Serbia.
Needless to say, as a founder and CEO based in Dublin, Gannon is not averse to travel.
“My challenge is my nomadic existence, as I am always travelling. This makes building solid connections everywhere a challenge. I find I miss out on great events everywhere because I am somewhere else,” she says.
“The London scene is super dynamic and supportive, even for an Irish company such as ours. In Dublin, where we are based, I find everyone knows everyone and talks about everyone, which can be a great thing as people really value who you know and what you did before, so your credibility is built on that.
“In Spain, we also gain easy access to an investor community and in Berlin, we find there is much greater focus on ESG [environmental, social and governance] based businesses leveraging off deep tech. We have not yet approached the US market, pending our product validation in Europe but that’s on the radar for 2025!”
Social audio for lawyers and firms alike
With an app such as Platforum9, the hope is that legal professionals on the go can tune in to continue their development and business generation.
“The underlying magic of the app is built on two things: a social audio back end and AI integration to facilitate the transcription and summarisation of live sessions,” she explains.
“Social audio is the core technology behind the app, enabling continuous conversation in interactive podcast format, with AI assisting with the likes of transcription of sessions, so that upon relistening to them in recorded format, subtitles are available.”
But Gannon, who left Karanovic & Partners in 2020, is also targeting B2B law firms and legal organisations, which can use the Platforum9 app to enhance recruitment, retention and engagement of their lawyers.
She founded her own boutique advisory consultancy for law firms, Gannon Advisory, following her exit from Karanovic & Partners in 2020. At Gannon Advisory, she focuses on leadership development and strategic growth.
“I’m a committed advocate of building law firm networks and personal brands within those networks,” she adds.
“[My] various careers within the legal profession resulted in astute observance of the disconnect between lawyers locationally, generationally and cross-sectorally. There is a strong need to improve communication and connectivity in a world where physical travel will be less of an option.”
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