September 28, 2026 -- Issue #413

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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Exit/M&A

◾ M&A news in a post from Legaltech News (LTN) reporting on Epiq's acquisition of Canopy, a ". . . data breach response and privacy software provider."

From LTN's post:

"Legal technology and services provider Epiq announced Friday that it acquired data breach response and privacy software provider Canopy. Financial details of the acquisitions were not disclosed.

"Canopy’s platform, which helps with data breach compliance by identifying and reviewing sensitive information, will be integrated into the Epiq Artificial Intelligence Suite, which was recently updated with expanded agentic AI capabilities."

The entire LTN post, right here at this link: https://www.law.com/2026/09/25/epiq-acquires-data-breach-response-software-provider-canopy-/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_content=20260928&utm_campaign=morningminute&utm_term=law&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&user_id=5a62392218ff43ec508b502b​

Fundraising

◾ As reported today, September 22, 2026, by Artificial Lawyer (AL), there's fundraising news from Chamelio, the builder of legal tech tooling (AI-driven, naturally) for in-house legal teams.

From the AL post:

"Chamelio, an AI-native platform for inhouse legal teams, has announced a $26 million Series A raise led by Entrée Capital, with participation from existing investors Work-Bench and Emerge Ventures. Bright Pixel Capital also participated.

"The company, which only started in 2024, will use the new funding to further develop its proprietary ‘legal action model, grow its legal engineering and product teams and invest further in onboarding technology’, they said."

AL's complete post here:

​https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2026/09/22/chamelio-raises-26m-series-a/?jetpack_skip_subscription_popup​

◾ Legal IT Insider (LITI) reports on a funding round by Noxtua, a European sovereign AI for legal. As you'll see from the excerpt from the LITI post (below), investors included German and Austrian legal publishers.

From LITI's post:

"European sovereign legal AI Noxtua has closed its Series C funding round totalling more than €100m, with German legal publisher C.H.BECK as its new majority shareholder and Austrian legal publishing house MANZ joining as a new investor. C.H.BECK was already an investor in the company.

"Noxtua says that partnering with these independent legal publishers provides new opportunities for long-term planning. The collaboration as part of the Series C round supports Noxtua’s ongoing development as well as its pan-European expansion into additional markets."

Read the complete post from LITI by visiting this link: https://legaltechnology.com/noxtua-closes-e100m-series-c/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Xb8o3w-5s__P1SAO-6UucYm5Sjws_KjrkI7yPl7yd0pWFNMlDrpFM4UC8O46jX8k_eK0qdQPJ2yhif9rvM4tl-Ji7gzmGTmAnLyzYSpukSYqzjno&_hsmi=146449285&utm_content=146449285&utm_source=hs_email​

Hiring/New Hires​
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◾ Here's this week's "end-of-business-week" legaltech rundown from Legaltech News (LTN), chock-full of hiring news, product and feature release news, fundraising news, and even some conference news for good measure.

Read the entire rundown here:

​https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2026/09/25/legaltech-rundown-harvey-raises-an-additional-50m-clio-brings-new-tools-to-canada-and-more/?kw=Legaltech+Rundown:+Harvey+Raises+an+Additional+$50M,+Clio+Brings+New+Tools+to+Canada,+and+More&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=afternoonupdate&utm_content=20260925&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&user_id=5a62392218ff43ec508b502b​

Honors and Awards

◾ The finalists for the American Legal Technology Awards have been named, and the LawSites blog identifies them and offers additional information about their finalists' selection;

From the post at LawSites:

"The American Legal Technology Awards has named the finalists for its seventh annual awards program, honoring outstanding achievement and innovation across multiple categories of legal technology.

"This year’s winners were selected from 234 submissions across 10 categories. Winners will be revealed at a gala awards dinner Oct. 25 at Suffolk University Law School in Boston."

Get this list of named finalists here at LawSites' full post: https://www.lawnext.com/2026/09/finalists-named-for-american-legal-technology-awards-winners-to-be-named-at-october-gala-in-boston.html​

JusticeTech/A2J

◾ Encouraging news on the Access to Justice front: Harvey has announced it is starting a pro bono program in the UK, Australia, and the US. Below is an excerpt from an Artificial Lawyer (AL) post reporting on Harvey's announcement.

From the AL post:

"Harvey has launched a pro bono program in the UK, Australia, and the US, which seeks to address the reality that today many millions of people still cannot gain access to affordable legal help. They noted that in the US alone ‘1.4 million civil legal problems (71% of all cases) brought to legal services organizations cannot be addressed due to a lack of resources’.

"A Harvey spokesperson told Artificial Lawyer: ‘The program will focus on building custom AI agents for high-volume casework, including housing support, veterans services, and social welfare claims, alongside shared resources and workflows."

Read AL's complete post here: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2026/09/22/harvey-launches-pro-bono-program/​

Product Development

◾ Legaltech News (LTN) has posted a deeper look into Cooley's development and launch of Cooley GO Public, ". . . an AI tool for IPOs that Cooley developed with OpenAI."

From the LTN post:

"Last Thursday, Cooley announced the launch of Cooley GO Public, an artificial intelligence-powered tool developed with OpenAI, designed to help the firm's lawyers with the initial public offering (IPO) process. Powered by ChatGPT Enterprise and other technology from OpenAI, GO Public will initially be used to help attorneys draft Securities and Exchange Commission S-1 forms, which are required as part of the process of going public."

$$Quote:

"Given the requirements of the SEC review process, the introduction of GO Public may have a limited impact on the start-to-finish time of completion for the IPO process.

"However, [Cooley partner and co-chair of Cooley's capital markets team, David] Peinsipp said the process of drafting the S-1 itself could be shortened by up to a month, allowing the firm's attorneys to devote more time to responding to SEC comments and addressing challenging issues while lowering the time commitment required of company executives."

Read the entire LTN post at this link: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2026/09/21/an-inside-look-at-cooleys-new-ai-tool-for-ipos-developed-with-openai-/?kw=An+Inside+Look+at+Cooley%27s+New+AI+Tool+for+IPOs,+Developed+With+OpenAI&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=afternoonupdate&utm_content=20260921&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&user_id=5a62392218ff43ec508b502b​

◾ 8 am, the holding company that owns a payments technology company and several legal tech practice management companies, has announced at its Kaleidoscope customer conference both new product features and a law firm loan program, all as reported in a post at the LawSites blog.

From the post at LawSites:

"At its second-annual Kaleidoscope customer conference in Las Vegas today, 8amannounced new generative AI features, a new Claude MCP connector, and new financial products, including a law firm loan program with quick approval and funding.

"Although 8am is the parent company of three law practice management platforms – MyCase, CasePEER and DocketWise – as well as the payments technology LawPay, the AI products announced today are available only within MyCase."

Read the complete LawSites right here: https://www.lawnext.com/2026/09/at-its-user-conference-in-las-vegas-8am-announces-mcp-integration-and-new-ai-tools-for-mycase-plus-new-law-firm-funding-program-through-lawpay.html​

◾ Legaltech News (LTN) posted yesterday, September 23, 2026, about Ropes & Gray's build-with-AI efforts, which resulted in a proprietary tool that enables firm professionals to conduct due diligence in a fraction of the time it would have taken without the tool. What particularly caught my eye was the post's mention of how OpenAI forward-deployed engineers worked with Ropes & Gray to consult on the build.

From the LTN post:

"The growing ubiquity of artificial intelligence-powered tools has left law firms searching for ways to stand out from competitors using similar software. Firms are increasingly looking for tools that not only perform tasks, but can do so in ways that conform to their internal practices and amplify competitive advantages.

"This desire to incorporate institutional knowledge into AI tools led Ropes & Gray to work with OpenAI on a new AI-powered diligence review tool, which the firm announced last Thursday. OpenAI's work with Ropes & Gray was one of several law firm partnerships announced as the company released Astra for Law, a legal-specific configuration of its most recent large language model."

$$Quote:

"After Ropes & Gray decided to work with OpenAI, lawyers and IT staff from the firm began to work directly with the company's forward deployed engineers and its legal vertical leadership through a series of meetings and conversations.

"'At each turn we explained what our vision was or where we thought that a new iteration could change or get tightened up, and then the OpenAI team would go back and make changes on the basis of the discussion,' [Joshua Lichtenstein, who heads Ropes & Gray's ERISA fiduciary practice and is one of the leaders of its AI development efforts] said."

You can access LTN's full post (which, BTW, is very much worth reading) at this link:

​https://www.law.com/2026/09/23/seeking-a-non-replicable-edge-why-ropes--gray-built-a-diligence-tool-with-openai-/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_content=20260924&utm_campaign=morningminute&utm_term=law&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&user_id=5a62392218ff43ec508b502b​

◾ Big Law's Akerman gets into the data services business, according to a post at Legal IT Insider (LITI).

From the LITI post:

"Top 100 US law firm Akerman this week launched PineWest Data Intelligence, a new data-services division designed to help organizations manage and act on increasingly complex data — extending beyond traditional eDiscovery to address information governance, privacy, litigation and transactions.

"Led by managing director Elan Hersh, PineWest brings together legal, technology and project-management professionals leveraging analytics and AI-enabled tools to address data challenges across the information lifecycle, from legacy-data remediation and privacy requests to eDiscovery and transactional diligence.

"Akerman says that what distinguishes PineWest is its evolution from a long-established eDiscovery capability into a broader data-intelligence business designed to help organizations address data issues before, during and beyond litigation."

Access the complete LITI post here: https://legaltechnology.com/akerman-launches-new-data-services-division/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_vkormoi70sikSube2eLZvqJ19-o2hwCeiuxuB4iyW-fqh4e_woPmmfXiUkM1j8Dk7JfHLd5I-FV4E_dpWeaNXvLoMV1a_t1CX1SNWWXpCnyMCGyU&_hsmi=146539580&utm_content=146539580&utm_source=hs_email​

◾ More law firm/foundation model lab collaborations; this time in a post at Legaltech News (LTN) about Sullivan & Cromwell's collaboration with OpenAI to build the firm's proprietary "Agreement Analyzer."

From the LTN post:

"A growing number of law firms have launched software co-developed with Big Tech and legal tech companies in recent months as part of broader efforts to both deepen vendor relationships and differentiate through the use of artificial intelligence.

"One such firm is Sullivan & Cromwell, which on Sept. 17 announced the development of a bespoke Agreement Analyzer built with OpenAI. The Analyzer's output includes memoranda which list issues in the proposed agreements, provide the rationale for the issues, and offer a set of proposed treatments that would address the problems. It also provides a Microsoft Word document with tracked changes to the agreement, which users can accept, modify or reject."

$$Quote:

"[Sullivan & Cromwell partner, John] Savva designed an initial proof of concept for the too, which was turned into a working prototype with assistance from the firm's IT staff in roughly a week. Sullivan & Cromwell then turned to OpenAI to refine the tool and prepare it for wider use.

"'We were able to take this proof-of-concept tool that we had initially developed, provide the code to OpenAI, [and] work with our engineers to do a few things,' he said. 'One was improve overall performance. Two, in particular, look for ways to speed it up. ... We worked with the OpenAI engineering team to find opportunities to have processes work in parallel, work faster, work more efficiently.'"

Do read the entire LTN post at the following link to get an illuminating account of how Sullivan & Cromwell worked with OpenAI to build the AI tool discussed here and also to get an idea of some of the broader implications (for law firms, their lawyers and lawyering itself) of these law firm/foundation model collaborations: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2026/09/25/how-sullivan--cromwells-agreement-analyzer-built-with-openai-fits-into-its-ai-strategy-/?kw=How+Sullivan+%26+Cromwell%27s+Agreement+Analyzer%2C+Built+With+OpenAI%2C+Fits+Into+Its+AI+Strategy&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20260928&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&user_id=5a62392218ff43ec508b502b​

Purchasing/Using Legal Tech

◾ For Game of Thrones fans who work in law and use AI heavily, "winter is coming." By that I mean that with the Harvey's/Legora's of this world shifting from per-seat pricing to consumption-based pricing, lawyers' costs for using AI will skyrocket. I'm not saying the cost won't be worth paying in many cases, but "cost increase are coming," and with some vendors, those increases are already being felt. Not a genius insight on my part, just stating the obvious, I guess.

Anyway, here are some thoughts on AI cost increases from a post by Legal IT Insider (LITI).

From the LITI post:

"Most firms buying legal AI are buying on a per-seat licence. That unit is on its way out."

$$Quote: "There is a real counterargument that also needs stating. Per-token prices have fallen steadily as inference gets more efficient. Competition between labs is genuine. Open-weight models put a ceiling on what anyone can charge for commodity work. On unit price alone, the pessimists may be wrong.

"However, that is not where the exposure sits. Unit price and total spend are different variables. Cheaper tokens make it rational to use more of them. Harvey’s fourteenfold increase is not a pricing story, it is a consumption story. A firm that halves its cost per token and multiplies its volume by fourteen has a larger bill and a more difficult conversation with its board. This is Jevons paradox. Jevons, a Victorian economist, noticed that as steam engines got better at burning coal, Britain burned more of it, not less. Efficiency made coal cheaper to use, so people found more uses for it."

Read LITI's entire post right at this link: https://legaltechnology.com/guest-post-the-ai-bill-many-law-firms-havent-priced-in/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8FNjuM7OQ4ZrC1OEDfEk3Yp93ItYAJpCYUWBRNGL_9aqa4ltP7ea7KZz3ZkPL2AhQcFIMpvOvbJRUGZ_mrDRYMBNQpc5oCslQjE-uUFyW3Nb1SFpI&_hsmi=146358441&utm_content=146358441&utm_source=hs_email​

◾ From a post at Forbes magazine online there's news of a fundraise by Fearn, an "AI native" law firm that offers patent-related work on a fixed-fee basis.

From the Forbes article:

"For founders used to moving quickly, the patent process often proves tediously slow, as well as unexpectedly expensive. But a growing number of legaltech firms powered by artificial intelligence (AI) claim to have the answer, with new patent services that threaten to disrupt a business that has traditionally been the preserve of big law.

"The latest such disruptor is San Francisco-based Fearn AI, which has just completed a $5.5 million fund raise as it continues to roll out a patenting service that it claims can speed up the process more than 10-fold. Critically, Fearn charges a fixed fee for its services – $2,500 for a provisional patent application or $9,000 for a more formal non-provisional filing – rather than leaving start-ups to face the unknown costs of a law firm charging by the hour."

Here's a link to the entire Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidprosser/2026/09/23/why-fearn-believes-its-ai-patents-service-will-disrupt-big-law/​

◾ Solid customer win for Entegrata, the legal data intelligence company, as the company announces that law firm Bass, Berry & Sims has adopted Entegrata for data services for the firm's ". . . artificial intelligence programs and reporting requirements."

From the Entegrata September 22, 2026 announcement:

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"We are thrilled to announce that Bass, Berry & Sims PLC has selected Entegrata to power and accelerate the firm's artificial intelligence programs and reporting requirements. One of the nation's most respected firms for healthcare, private equity and IP, Media and Advertising, Bass, Berry & Sims chose Entegrata to give its existing AI use cases a governed, well-structured data layer and to support the firm’s already strong AI adoption."

Read the entire Entegrata announcement at this link:

​https://entegrata.com/news/bass-berry-selects-entegrata?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9XWVankXE9lLcBtReuB_uFjlGH-r9EItAAxA8PUVqjX5JfsUrEoGiApFBVis98-jJyNSUNsamIMZ3R_ij6p1bOBgSNKfYz74N46BpjsaTvNcuHbX4&_hsmi=440707338&utm_content=440707338&utm_source=hs_email​