Sejal Thakkar

TrainXtra

With over 20 years of experience as an employment law attorney and workplace culture strategist, I partner with HR leaders, executives, and teams to drive meaningful cultural transformation. 

Key Accomplishments. Partnering with teams to enhance workplace culture, foster collaboration, and team building. Delivering effective training programs (in person and virtually) to global organizations. Speaking at numerous conferences and events, sharing actionable insights and strategies to drive inclusion, civility, and organizational success. Two-time TEDx speaker on topics of unconscious bias and belonging.

Founder | Employment Attorney 

Super Founder

Key Accomplishments. Provide actionable strategies to help founders and leaders navigate cultural challenges. Share insights at virtual events on leadership, culture, and building high-performing teams. Write blogs on culture-related topics such as inclusivity, collaboration, and strategies for building resilient teams.

Super Founder Global Network Culture Head

Nobody Studios

Key Accomplishments. Collaborating closely with cross-functional teams to align cultural strategy with studio values. Developing recruiting, onboarding, and evaluation processes to attract and retain high-quality talent globally. Leading virtual programs to cultivate relationships across the studio, fostering open communication, team-building, and a strong sense of belonging in a virtual work environment. Providing strategic guidance for building and scaling newcos. Supporting fundraising, marketing, and business development initiatives. Hosting and moderating over 80 LinkedIn livestreams, covering topics like culture, the making of a venture studio, and startup strategies, to share insights, engage stakeholders, and strengthen the studio’s community-driven approach.

Co-Founder | Chief Culture Officer | Angel Investor

University of California, San Francisco

Managed sexual harassment and discrimination cases involving students, staff, and faculty.  Designed and delivered campus-wide training programs to promote awareness and foster a culture of equity and respect.

Senior Complaint Resolution Officer

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP

Represented employers in a wide range of labor and employment matters, including wage and hour disputes, wrongful termination, and discrimination claims.

Senior Counsel

Manning, Kass, Ellrod, Ramirez & Trester

Provided strategic advice to management on employment-related matters. Managed all aspects of litigation, from case inception through resolution, including court appearances, depositions, settlement negotiations, and trial preparation.

Employment Litigation Associate

I've been on every side of culture transformation: counseling, training, consulting, coaching, advocating, investigating, and building strategies. 

With over 20 years of legal expertise, I serve as strategic business partner and cultural architect. I partner with global organizations to enhance workplace culture through initiatives that foster collaboration, inclusion, to proactively mitigate risk preventing costly litigation. See key accomplishments in Experience section. DM to check availability and fit.

"Sejal’s unparalleled blend of legal expertise and people-centered leadership sets her apart as a trusted partner for any organization seeking to build inclusive, collaborative, and high-performing workplaces." - Min Bhogaita (Chief Scouting Officer at Nobody Studios, Ex Deloitte Director)

"Sejal’s abilities are best utilized towards making a true organizational impact from the working level all the way to corporate leadership." - Nick Gicinto (CEO at Hilltop Technologies, Former CIA, Tesla, Uber, Chainlink Labs)

"Sejal Thakkar is one of the most inclusive leaders on the planet." - Matthew Cahill (CEO of Percipio Company)

"Sejal is a force to be reckoned with. I highly recommend Sejal to companies who simply want to get things right." - John Carlson (Director, People and Culture at Treaty Oak Clean Energy)

"Sejal's exceptional communication skills have made her an invaluable collaborator. She has a unique ability to connect with individuals at all levels, creating a safe and respectful environment for meaningful discussions." - Becky Barton (CEO at People415)

 "To say she exceeded our expectations would be an understatement." - Jessica Kunkle (Vice President, Talent at Zeno Group)

"I have seen Sejal present to multiple different audiences (men and women, mixed ages, HR specialists, and attorneys) and she has been effective in all of these. People come out energized and happy, engaged on the topic, and willing to do better, which is a serious win." - Audrey Gee (Partner at Brown, Gee & Wenger LLP)

"Sejal is one of the most effective speakers and trainers for helping organizations foster civility and create safe, inclusive cultures." - Meredith Bell (President at Grow Strong Leaders)

"Sejal is an outstanding partner, trainer and consultant. Absolutely recommend her to anyone looking for a competent, authentic, thoughtful and knowledgeable partner.  Five stars!" - Caroline Davis (Vice President, Employee Engagement at EDENS)

Chief Civility Officer

Passionate Attorney and Educator with focus on delivering specifically tailored employment law and human resources training for employers on a variety of topics including harassment, bullying, discrimination, unconscious bias, diversity and inclusion and leadership training.  Deliver one-on-one sensitivity coaching for managers and employees concerning harassment, discrimination and diversity awareness issues.

After 22 years at the podium—defending legal cases, training global teams, speaking on panels, and showing up on livestreams and stages, my approach to preparation is still evolving.

It’s no longer about memorizing talking points or trying to impress. It’s about something far more sustainable: clarity and connection.

My prep ritual, 2025 edition:

--> Forget Memorization. Focus on Meaning. Instead of drilling bullet points, I review my notes for clarity. What’s the core message? Am I making it simple for myself—and my audience—to grasp what matters most?

--> Reframe key points into questions.This subtle shift moves my mindset from “delivering a monologue” to sparking a true conversation.

--> Visualize the audience. Before going live, I picture the audience: professionals tuning in between calls, listeners multitasking, skeptics who’ve heard it all. What are they tired of hearing? What would actually surprise or serve them right now?

--> Remind myself: My goal isn’t to perform. It’s to contribute something useful—even if just a single new insight or moment of clarity.

This isn’t about knowing everything. It’s about knowing what matters.

How do you prepare for moments when you need to show up and be heard?

Chief of Staff to CEO | Driving AI + LegalTech Innovation | Employment Attorney | 2X TEDx Speaker

What a GC told me at #SFTechWeek stuck with me:“I know exactly what I need. I just can’t find a firm that will deliver it the way I need it delivered.”

Here’s the truth no one wants to admit:
Clients tell us what they want.
We listen. We nod. We say “I understand.”
And then we go back to business as usual: the same playbook, with tweaks around the edges.

Why? Because change is hard. And the gap between client need and what we actually deliver? It’s not shrinking. It’s getting wider.

Here’s what’s changed:

1️⃣ ALSPs like ZentLaw aren’t playing by old rules. They’re rebuilding legal delivery from scratch... with decades of experience, transparency, tech, and user experience at the center.

2️⃣ In-house teams are far better at using technology than most firms. They’re keeping work inside because they can.

3️⃣ Client patience has run out. The pandemic proved lawyers can work differently. 

So, where do we go from here? Our panelists shared deep insights into this question. Link in comments with more details.

It’s NOT about making every lawyer a technologist or project manager. 

We have to start designing services around what our clients need, not what’s convenient for us.

Questions we should ask every day:

- How does this client make decisions?

- What format makes our advice instantly useful?

- How do we deliver answers—faster?

- How do we give clients total visibility into what’s happening, not just the final result?

- What if we built our offering today, from zero?

Sometimes, that means saying no to work that doesn’t fit.  

It means growing up as a profession... meeting the market where it is, instead of clinging to where it was 30 years ago.

AI is only as effective as the culture that surrounds it.

Every week, my LinkedIn feed is filled with legaltech polls:
“What AI tool do you use?”
“Is generative AI overrated?”
“Will lawyers be replaced?”

Helpful? Sometimes.
Insightful? Occasionally.
Overdone? Absolutely.

What’s missing from these conversations is the part that actually determines whether legaltech succeeds or fails:

CULTURE.

You can buy the most advanced AI tool on the market, but if your people don’t feel safe using it, don’t trust it, or don’t understand how it fits into their workflow, that technology will sit untouched—just another line item on a budget report.

I read about a firm who spent $200K on an AI platform. Adoption rate after 6 months? 12%. The problem wasn't the tool... it was that associates were terrified of partners finding out they were using it.

Vote in the poll: what matters most to build psychological safety around AI in legal teams.
Then share your thoughts — what’s worked in your team?

Because technology alone doesn’t change outcomes. Culture does.

li_at

JSESSIONID

Just saw this post by Monica Zent on AI in legal teams.

The recent surge in AI spending has legal departments investing in tools to speed up workflows, streamline contract review and document analysis. And as the article shows, now comes the real test...proving those tools deliver real value. Bloomberg Law.

Read more here: https://lnkd.in/g9WUBrkM

ALSPs have grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, managing everything from routine high-volume work to highly specialized legal operations.

Monica’s recent edition, “Alternative Legal Services Providers (ALSPs): A Look Back, and What’s Ahead,” takes us through:

--> The journey of ALSPs from niche disruptors to strategic partners.

--> How generative AI is accelerating innovation in legal services.

--> Why collaboration between ALSPs and law firms is the real game-changer.


Read the full edition here: https://lnkd.in/g7SHRC8w

Open article: Alternative Legal Services Providers (ALSPs): A Look Back, and What’s Ahead by Monica Zent • 11 min read

Alternative Legal Services Providers (ALSPs): A Look Back, and What’s Ahead

I just learned the US ranks 107th out of 142 countries in affordable legal services and access to justice. 🤯

Monica Zent just dropped a bombshell article about something nobody's talking about.
👉 Link to Venture Legal in comments

The digital divide isn't just about internet access anymore.
Who gets the tools? 
Who understands them? 
Who can afford them?

Monica breaks down:
--> Why top law schools are racing to solve this (with real examples)
--> Which VC-backed startups are actually making a dent globally
--> The ethical traps we MUST avoid (bias, privacy, two-tiered systems)

What surprises you most about the justice gap? (I'll be honest, the 107th ranking floored me.)

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