March 18, 2024 -- Issue #281

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Hi, Charlie Uniman here, host of Legal Tech StartUp Focus ("LTSF"), the online community for everyone involved with legal tech startups. You're reading the latest digest of articles, opinion pieces, and other thoughts posted during the past week at the community.
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Conferences and Other Events

🔳 H/T to Russ Korins, friend of the LTSF community and a lawyer at the NYC-based Cohen Tauber Spievack & Wagner law firm, for alerting me today to this swell sounding event:

"In honor of Women’s History month, The AI Furnace is hosting a Power Women in AI Conversation Series and Lite Dinner in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank and DLA Piper.​

"Meet the Women Changing The Face of AI

"Agenda:

"5:30pm: Arrival + Networking

"6:00pm: Keynote Speech with Sheila Marcelo (founder of care.com and CEO of Ohai AI)

"6:30pm: Panel Discussion with Sol Rashidi (former C-Level at Estee Lauder, Merck, Sony Music), Alisha Outridge (CTO/CPO of Byte & Chord), Maya Ber Lerner (Co-founder and CEO at Chiefy, a seed stage AI Startup), and Nadia Masri (Founder and CEO of Aris AI)

"7:15pm: Mocktail Hour, Lite Standing Dinner + Networking"

More information about the event and details for registration can be found at this link: https://lu.ma/l6fkeai6​

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🔳 "Community member, Michael herzog, posts: "You're invited! Digital Records Room Innovations & Customer Stories. Sign-up here: https://www.docsolid.com/sign-up/?webinarKey=2802680865550487388 DocSolid's 30-min. presentation Thursday Mar-28, 2024 at 2:00pm EDT."

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Exit/M&A

🔳 From the “StrictlyVC” newsletter: “Thomson Reuters CEO Steve Hasker told the Financial Times that the company has a whopping $8 billion to spend on companies with AI capabilities and is spending roughly $100 million a year to develop AI applications in areas such as legal, tax, and accounting.” https://www.ft.com/content/9227c2e1-067e-4b49-8b33-9c276edc65e3​

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🔳 “UK property services provider TM Group has acquired Lawtech Software Group (LSG), which is the company behind Verify 365. Verify 365 is an AML risk and compliance KYC platform, offering solutions such as ID biometric checks, address verifications and PEPs/sanctions screening. The value has not been disclosed.” https://legaltechnology.com/2024/03/13/tm-group-acquires-lawtech-software-group-to-fill-digital-conveyancing-onboarding-capability/​

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Fundraising

🔳 “[Legal tech startup Draftwise is] thrilled to share the news – we raised our Series A! The $20M round was led by Index Ventures, with additional support from Y Combinator and Earlybird Digital East Ventures – you can read more about the round in our company announcement [found at the link below].” https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/legal-contracts-company-draftwise-raises-20-mln-amid-ai-investment-boom-2024-03-14/​

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Hiring/New Hires

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🔳. “Harvey, a generative artificial intelligence startup that quadrupled in value last year just months after being formed, has spent the first quarter of 2024 embarking on an expansion spree that shows no signs of slowing.”
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Read more in this proverbial “deep dive” on Harvey from Bloomberg Law: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/ai-startup-harvey-seeking-all-sorts-of-lawyers-in-hiring-spree​

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JusticeTech/A2J

🔳 “On March 8, at the Transform: Justice event, Harvard Law School publicly released for free the digital scans of 40 million pages of state and federal court decisions, comprising some 40,000 books of case law, with some decisions dating back to before the ratification of the U.S. constitution.” Much more at the link: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/03/12/harvard-laws-caselaw-access-project-releases-40-million-pages-of-state-federal-case-law/​

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Member Introductions/Questions

🔳 New community member, Ezra Clark, posts: "Law Firm or Legal Tech Company 🤔

"The line between law firms and legal tech services companies can be blurry, with some entities existing in a hybrid space. Here's a breakdown of their key differences:

"Law Firms ⚖️
- Core Business: Providing legal services directly to clients, such as litigation, contract drafting, and legal advice.
- Focus: Deep legal expertise, understanding of specific legal nuances, and adherence to ethical and professional standards.
- Technology: Historically used for administrative tasks, document management, and communication.
- Regulations: Subject to strict regulations governing attorney conduct and client confidentiality.

"Legal Tech Companies ⚡️
- Core Business: Develop and offer technology solutions for legal professionals and clients, such as document automation, legal research platforms, and online dispute resolution (ODR) tools.
- Focus: Innovation, efficiency, and accessibility in legal processes.
- Technology: Develops and uses advanced technologies like AI, blockchain, and cloud computing.
- Regulations: May face less stringent regulations compared to law firms, but specific regulations might apply depending on their services.

"The Overlap
- Law Firms Embracing Tech: Law firms are increasingly adopting legal technologies to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance client service. This integration of technology is essential to remain competitive in the evolving legal landscape. ⏰
- Emerging Legal Tech Services: Some legal tech companies are venturing into providing legal services directly to clients, blurring the lines further. Changing regulations are further enabling this trend, Arizona since 2020 has eliminated the rule barring non-lawyers from having an ownership stake in law firms. Utah is also testing the waters and has a pilot program that allows non-lawyer owned entities to apply for a license to offer legal services. 💸

"In conclusion, while the core functions of law firms and legal tech companies differ, the boundaries are becoming increasingly porous. The legal industry is witnessing a convergence of legal expertise and technological innovation, with both entities playing crucial roles in shaping the future of legal services.

"#legaltech #innovation #law #futureofwork​

"P.S. What are your thoughts on these trends? What are some hybrid companies you've heard of? You can respond to Ezra at this link: https://network-295075.mn.co/posts/52705914?utm_source=manual​

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Partnerships/Business Development​

🔳 As reported by the LawSites blog: “iManage is . . . is laying out its plans for the year ahead to further innovate its platform through development of AI and to further expand its partnerships and integrations with technology providers, including Microsoft.”
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Do take note, legal tech startups, of iManage’s further partnership plans. https://www.lawnext.com/2024/03/exclusive-imanage-reveals-details-on-its-growth-lays-out-plans-to-further-leverage-gen-ai-partnerships.html​

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Product Development

🔳 From a LinkedIn DM to me from Niko Edisherashvili, co-founder and CEO of Lawformer:

"We've just launched Lawformer AI - AI powered contract deconstruction tool that will enable large enterprises and law firms to upload contract databases on the platform, deconstruct them into individual clauses and build an intuitive, private clause library to optimize internal knowledge management process.

"Link to the demo video: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7171594516670332928​

"For enterprise customers we are doing API integration within their internal systems."

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🔳 “descrybe.ai, a year-old legal research startup focused on using artificial intelligence to provide free and easy access to court opinions, has completed its goal of creating AI-generated summaries of all available state supreme and appellate court opinions from throughout the United States.” https://www.lawnext.com/2024/03/free-legal-research-startup-descrybe-ai-now-has-ai-summaries-of-all-state-supreme-and-appellate-opinions.html​

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Purchasing/Using Legal Tech

🔳 “The fact that the mid-market [i.e., the mid-size law firm market in the US] is increasingly turning heads can be attributed to a wide range of factors. A number of them, though, can be traced back—directly or indirectly—to technology.” https://www.law.com/2024/03/08/how-tech-is-helping-fuel-the-rise-of-the-mid-market/​

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🔳 “The Modernize Legal project presents “a Rubik’s Cube of surveys” to simultaneously get the pulse of all sides of law firm innovation from associates, law firm leaders, practice technologists and legal tech providers.”
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Will this integrated comprehensive set of surveys finally get all law firm innovation stakeholders talking to, not last, one another once the results are released? Fingers crossed. Read at the link about the survey organizers, their aims and the survey timeline. Oh, and take the surveys. https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/03/11/new-tech-initiative-seeks-to-modernize-legal-by-fixing-broken-law-firm-feedback-loops/​

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🔳 From community member, Roushan Verma: "Looking back on the extensive journey that has brought us to this moment fills me with appreciation and anticipation. Today signifies the initiation of Proxiio in the U.S., representing the culmination of tireless effort, commitment, and deep faith in our vision. I deeply appreciate the backing of our investors and the invaluable contribution of our dedicated legal team, whose unwavering support has been pivotal in transforming our concept into a tangible reality." https://www.proxiio.com/proxiio-launches-in-the-united-states-bringing-technology-driven-legal-solutions-to-law-firms-and-legal-departments-93​

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🔳 “Thomson Reuters today brings its generative AI legal assistant CoCounsel Core to the United Kingdom, following its initial rollout in the United States and expansion last month into Australia and Canada.
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“The company also said that its AI-Assisted Research product, launched in November within Westlaw Edge for the U.S., would be available on Westlaw Edge UK within weeks.”
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Legal tech startups: take note of what, TR one of the mainstays of BigLegalTech, is doing by way of market expansion. https://www.lawnext.com/2024/03/the-uk-gets-access-to-thomson-reuters-gen-ai-product-cocounsel-core-and-soon-to-its-ai-assisted-research-on-westlaw-edge.html​

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🔳 A raft of interesting morsels from Legaltech News’s latest legal tech rundown. https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/03/12/legal-tech-rundown-bclp-launches-ai-bill-tracker-reveal-expands-its-partner-program-and-more/​

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🔳 From legal tech company, Gavel, on LinkedIn: “Overwhelmed by all the data coming out on legal tech trends? Gavel looks at all of them and synthesizes the key stats and actions you need to take from the research. Interactive questionnaires included to help your law firm plan!”
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Access to the report here: https://www.gavel.io/legal-tech-trends-report-and-worksheets?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=dornagroups​

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Regulation

🔳 As reported by LawSites, not “just” a fine for submitting papers with hallucinated cases: “Just a few weeks ago, I wrote about two more cases of AI-hallucinated citations in court filings leading to sanctions, and now comes the case of a Florida lawyer suspended from practice after filing cases that were ‘completely fabricated.’ “ https://www.lawnext.com/2024/03/federal-court-suspends-florida-attorney-over-filing-fabricated-cases-hallucinated-by-ai.html​

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🔳 “The EU AI Act brings some answers around liability between providers and users, as well as what enforcement in Europe could look like post-GDPR.”
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Analysis at the link here: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/03/14/inside-the-eu-ai-acts-risk-classes-liability-placement-and-enforcement/​

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Sales

🔳 “Pilot programs are starting to roll out in the [LatAm] region, where lawyers are looking to early adopters in the U.S. and Europe for guidance.” https://www.law.com/international-edition/2024/03/14/latin-american-law-firms-slowly-warm-to-artificial-intelligence/​

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Startup Management

🔳 What’s the go-to bank for startups now that Silicon Valley Bank has such a diminished profile? https://sifted.eu/articles/svb-fall-bank-founders-latest​https://sifted.eu/articles/svb-fall-bank-founders-latest​

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🔳 Episode 57 of the Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast -- An interview with Tanguy Chau, co-founder and CEO of Paxton, and Michael Ulin, co-founcer and CTO fo Paxton. Show notes and a link to the podcast episode at this link: https://network-295075.mn.co/posts/episode-57-of-the-legal-tech-startup-focus-podcast-an-interview-with-tanguy-chau-co-founder-and-ceo-of-paxton-and-michael-ulin-co-founder-and-cto-of-paxton?utm_source=manual​

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