December 1, 2025 -- Issue #370

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

◾️ Russ Korins of the Cohen Tauber Spievack & Wagner (CTSW) law firm in New York City is hosting next month another one of his superbly informative fireside chats that are aimed at helping startup leaders:
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“Stacking Tech for Success: Lessons in Building a Modern IoT & AI Ops Platform
With Tushar Agrawal, Chief Technology Officer, ConnectedFresh
Friday, December 12, 2025, 12:00-12:30 p.m. Eastern Time
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“ConnectedFresh launched four years ago as a device-agnostic, IoT + AI platform built to modernize food-safety and operational monitoring for restaurants and foodservice operators. Today, it is a comprehensive real-time operations platform covering equipment health, cold-chain integrity, energy analytics, and multi-location compliance.
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“In a conversation with CTSW attorney Russ Korins, ConnectedFresh Chief Technology Officer Tushar Agrawal will share the product thinking and best practices that shaped this evolution. He will walk through how the team selected the right mix of remote sensing technologies, built an intuitive customer experience for multi-location operators, and created seamless integrations with leading food-safety, facilities, and restaurant tech systems.
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“Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pSSSF0q_Sx-odFdGBMC7nQ “

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◾️ Here’s a report from Caroline Hill of Legal IT Insider with the takeaways from a new legal tech conference in Carcassonne, France:
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“In the unusually beautiful setting of Chateau Canet in Carcassonne, France, circa 40 legal tech leaders gathered last week (19-21 November) for an inaugural IT conference, where the focus was on networking, learning, and wine tasting.
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“Run by former Milbank IT director Annette Brown and Roy Harris, who some of you will know from NetMotion Software, Uncorking Innovation was what I would describe as a ‘people-first’ conference on many levels.”
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​https://legaltechnology.com/2025/11/26/uncorking-innovation-key-takeaways-from-a-people-first-it-conference-in-idyllic-france/​

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Exit/M&A

◾️ From Axios' "Pro Rata" newsletter:

"• TPG and Warburg Pincus are in talks to invest more than $500m for a majority stake in Sirion Labs, an Indian provider of contract management software that's owned by Partners Group, per Bloomberg. axios.link/3MiKAHP"

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Fundraising

◾️ Legaltech News reports:
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“Since generative artificial intelligence entered the picture in 2023, investors have been quick to fund the technology. And that has held true for emerging legal tech companies that leverage gen AI, with funding rounds becoming constant and reaching new heights.
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“Recently, some of that money has come from an unusual group of players. Private equity firms, which typically invest in longstanding businesses, have increasingly been investing in younger legal tech startups.”
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$$Quote: “‘Private equity has obviously a ton of money. ... They bring in advice, it's not all good, but there's a lot of good in it,’ Joe Borstein, a partner with Baretz + Brunelle, told Legaltech News. ‘They bring in advice and professional management and how to bring in the right technologies to run the business.’ ”
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​https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/11/24/flood-of-private-equity-money-puts-legal-tech-startups-in-pressure-cooker-/​

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◾️ From the Axios “Pro Rata” newsletter today, November 26, 2025:
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“Monq, a London-based enterprise negotiations automation platform, raised $3m in pre-seed funding. Outward VC led, joined by Cornerstone VC, Portfolio Ventures, Octopus Ventures, Endurance Ventures, and Lakestar Halo. monq.io”
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Hiring/New Hires​
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◾️ From Legal IT Insider:
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“DAC Beachcroft has appointed a new chief technology officer and IT director in the past month, with Mark Clark and Chris Teller taking over those roles respectively. The appointments follow the departure of former IT director David Aird and come amid a raft of senior management changes at the UK top 50 law firm. Helen Faulkner took over from David Pollitt on 1 November. Marie Armstrong took over as chief operating officer in March this year.”
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​https://legaltechnology.com/2025/11/27/dac-beachcroft-appoints-new-cto-and-it-director-amid-raft-of-c-suite-changes/​

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JusticeTech/A2J

◾️ Below is a link to a LinkedIn post from Sam Harden that itself links to an essay from Sam that is a very good read (particularly, of course, for justice-tech advocates). From the essay:

“There’s an inherent problem with innovation funding in Legal Non-Profit Land: the funding model is heavily biased toward one-time projects, with little to no contemplation for long-term sustainability. Let’s say you’re a non-profit who wants to build a fancy new legal tech AI / forms / web tool. You apply for a grant, and … great news! You’ve been funded.” [But there’s bad news. The bad news?

“Project A takes a lot of money to simply get off the ground - development, project management, product management, cat herding, etc. But once it’s launched and the money is spent, you’ve still got people to pay, servers to manage, content / code updates to make, and general maintenance to do. There’s no more money for that since, well, this is a non-profit and you’re not charging users for subscriptions to Project A.”

​https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sam-harden-5382b114_abundance-in-non-profit-land-activity-7399626821052448768-HVNL?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAACjKkUBuYvfoBWwBGd7KKABZw3jrdiBcc0​

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Product Development

◾️ From the Avokaado press materials:
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“Avokaado the contract intelligence platform, today [Thursday, November 27, 2025] introduces Avo — a new kind of legal AI built for verifiable, accountable automation. Avo isn’t a chatbot or a plugin; it’s an AI infrastructure layer that lets teams build deterministic decision systems for contracts.”
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“Avo opens for registration today, with the first 100 signups receiving free early access to pilot Avo on their own contracts. The waitlist can be joined here avokaado.io/avo.”
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The entire press release can be accessed at this link: https://network-295075.mn.co/posts/94295720?utm_source=manual​

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Purchasing/Using Legal Tech

◾️ A post from Legaltech News about issues posed for litigation discovery by AI generated materials (both where the AI generation is acknowledged and, as in the case of deepfakes, for example, where the AI generation is unacknowledged).
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From the post:
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“The phrase ‘AI-generated evidence’ conjures images of deepfakes, fabricated documents, or, more benignly, digital illustrations. But more quotidian documents created in the ordinary course of business are also coming to be produced in whole or in part by gen AI-powered tools. Medical providers use transcription and summarization tools to take treatment notes, law enforcement agencies rely on software that converts body camera footage into incident reports, and businesses of all types use gen AI-powered tools to transcribe and summarize meetings.”
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​https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/11/21/georgetown-aedi-day-two-the-rise-of-artificial-evidence-/?kw=Georgetown+AEDI+Day+Two:+The+Rise+of+Artificial+Evidence?&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20251124&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&slreturn=20251124111544​

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◾️ A link below to a post by Legaltech Hub that's a nifty explainer for what questions a purchaser of a document automation tool ought to be asking of a vendor - and of itself. Come to think of it, the explainer applies to just about every kind of "looming" legal tech purchase.

​https://www.legaltechnologyhub.com/contents/5-questions-to-ask-before-choosing-a-document-automation-tool/?utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=Monday%20Rewind%20112425&utm_medium=email&utm_id=66​

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◾️ A RegTech market map from The Legal Tech Fund:

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"A detailed look into one of the fastest-moving corners of the legal ecosystem.

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"Regulatory compliance is undergoing a fundamental shift. As the $2 trillion legal services industry transforms, RegTech is moving from cost center to competitive edge. This market map spotlights the startups reinventing how organizations manage KYC, AML, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, and regulatory reporting.
​https://www.legaltech.com/post/regtech-market-map​

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◾️ From a post by Judge Scott Schlegel at his Substack (link to entire post below):

"This is how I [Judge Schlegel] think about GenAI in chambers. First decide what must remain human, which steps require independent judgment, and what cannot be delegated because it carries the weight of the robe.

"In practice, that means no AI assistance begins until a human has reviewed the filings and the record. Only then do we invite the tool to help by drafting a neutral bench memo, summarizing transcripts, building a timeline of key dates for a human to confirm, verifying authorities, and checking page limits and deadlines so human time goes to the merits."

Notice what comes "First" in Judge Schlegel's approach to using AI - human judgment, exercised independently of the AI and before the AI is at all engaged, with that judgment aimed initially at determining what steps in the process are indubitably (and only) to be taken by a human!!!!

​https://judgeschlegel.substack.com/p/purpose-before-prompts?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1176023&post_id=179948784&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1cv2&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email​

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◾️ A post from community member, Matt George: “Introducing Injuria, the competitive intelligence platform for personal injury attorneys. We are currently in beta and actively looking for pi attorneys to test out the platform before we hard launch next month. If you know a (marketing savvy) pi attorney who would enjoy early access to this tool, feel free to kick this their way or shoot me a DM. I would appreciate it. https://injuria.ai/ “

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Startup Management

◾️ Legaltech News posts:

"As more high‑growth companies rethink how to scale their legal function, fractional general counsel models are rapidly moving from a stopgap solution to a long‑term operating strategy.

"When Harvey Kaye launched +GC, he wasn’t sure how quickly founders and in‑house teams would embrace the idea of fractional legal support, but the momentum has been unmistakable. The old stigma around nontraditional legal careers, he said, has largely evaporated, and top‑tier lawyers are now choosing fractional roles for reasons that go well beyond flexibility."

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For startups and scaleups, the appeal is equal parts economics and speed. Full‑time headcount is expensive, and early‑stage companies often face long stretches of quiet followed by sudden bursts of work.

“'Many startups and scaleups simply don’t need a full‑time lawyer at their current stage,' he said. 'It’s peaks and troughs.'”

​https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/11/25/why-fractional-gcs-are-becoming-the-default-for-startupsand-why-the-shift-isnt-temporary/?kw=Why+Fractional+GCs+Are+Becoming+the+Default+for+Startups%26mdash;and+Why+the+Shift+Isn%27t+Temporary&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=afternoonupdate&utm_content=20251125&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A​

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◾️ Having a tough time getting coverage for your startup’s funding round? You’re not alone. Below is a link to an article from the Europe-focused, startup newsletter, Sifted, that has some suggestions for getting coverage for your funding that may otherwise be hard get.
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From the Sifted article:
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“As journalism continues to shift away from commoditised news, the era of funding rounds as a viable communications strategy is waning. Founders need to internalise this and redirect energy towards channels and narratives that move their business forward.”
​https://sifted.eu/articles/funding-round-article-is-dead​

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Teaching/Learning Legal Tech

◾️ From the Legal Tech Talk newsletter:
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“Stanford Law School has announced the launch of its first online executive course – AI Strategy for Legal Leaders.
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“The self-paced course is designed to support legal executives to lead on the strategic, technical, and organizational use of generative AI.
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Participants will be given access to Harvey.ai, an AI platform for legal professionals, for the duration of the course.”
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The rest of the article can be found at this link: https://www.legaltech-talk.com/stanford-law-school-has-announced-the-launch-of-its-first-online-executive-course-ai-strategy-for-legal-leaders/​

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◾️ Legal IT Insider posting:

"Luminance today (24 November) formally announced the launch of its AI Certification

"Pathway, which provides university students with access to Luminance’s platform as well as legal training materials, webinars and assessments.The certification is delivered through a partnership with universities and the first cohort of partners includes The University of Law, the UK’s largest law school; King’s College, London, one of the UK’s leading universities; and the Vanderbilt AI Law Lab (VAILL)." https://legaltechnology.com/2025/11/24/luminance-launches-ai-certification-pathway/​

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