July 7, 2025 -- Issue #348

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

◾ Law IT Insider writes:

"LegalTechTalk 2025 last week saw over 4,000 attendees and 300 speakers attend a conference that one delegate labelled ‘The Legal Tech Met Gala’, in a description that will resonate with many people who were there.

"With the flair that we are coming to recognise from this group of organisers led by co-founder and CEO Bradley Collins, guests were welcomed on the approach to the Intercontinental London by a LegalTechTalk DJ, striking an upbeat tone that pervaded the rest of the two days."

Aside - as someone who still considers himself a New Yorker (and, as such, whose local TV news is flooded with celebrity videos when the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Met Gala takes place each spring), I chuckled at the reference in the linked article (below) to the "Met Gala." https://legaltechnology.com/2025/06/30/legaltechtalk-the-met-gala-of-legaltech/​

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Exit/M&A

◾ I'll echo what Bob Ambrogi said in a LinkedIn post about the article from his LawSites blog (linked and quoted from below) - "this is huge . . . a landmark deal."

"In a landmark deal that will undoubtedly reshape the legal tech landscape, law practice management company Clio has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the AI and legal research company vLex for $1 billion in cash and stock.

"The companies say that the acquisition will 'establish a new category of intelligent legal technology at the intersection of the business and practice of law, empowering legal professionals to seamlessly manage, research, and execute legal work within a unified system'.”

"Since 2022, vLex has been owned by Oakley Capital, a major European private equity investor."

Congratulations are called for to the vLex team! Oh, and VC investors in other unicorn (and near-unicorn) legal tech startups (however many there may be) must be smiling upon hearing this news.https://www.lawnext.com/2025/06/in-a-mega-deal-clio-buys-vlex-for-1-billion-merging-ai-research-and-practice-management.html​

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◾ From LawSites:
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“After my [Bob Ambrogi’s] initial report [about Clio’s acquisition of vLex], [Bob] had the opportunity to sit down with Clio founder and CEO Jack Newton to discuss this deal and what it means for the legal tech market. Below is a transcript of that conversation, edited for length, style and consistency.”
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Access to the transcript here: https://www.lawnext.com/2025/06/a-conversation-with-ceo-jack-newton-on-clios-acquisition-of-vlex.html​

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Hiring/New Hires​
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◾ Artificial Lawyer reporting:

"Jack Shepherd, a senior figure at iManage, has left to join the innovation team at White & Case. The move follows the global firm’s hiring of Isabel Parker, previously at Deloitte, to lead the innovation group, and of Alistair Wye from Latham & Watkins.

"Shepherd joins as Director of Knowledge Solutions and is well-known in the legal tech world, especially for his insights into knowledge management and legal data. At iManage he was Senior Principal Business Consultant."

Full article here: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/06/30/jack-shepherd-leaves-imanage-for-white-case/​

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◾ Ever wonder how to navigate the path to a career in legal tech? In a lovely and deeply researched article, Legaltech Hub has a compass (and more) to offer:
​https://www.legaltechnologyhub.com/contents/from-blank-maps-to-blueprints-navigating-legal-tech-careers/​

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LegalEd

◾ The Artificial Lawyer's Richard Tromans argues that Big Law should be giving its clients a lot more of its otherwise time-billed work for free!! Intrigued? Read on at the link below. Here's a teaser from the linked article:

"So, to wrap up, if Big Law won’t give up the hour because it’s now in its DNA, then maybe they’ll have to keep it….but, not for everything [emphasis in original].

The way ahead is instead to look at giving away as much work as possible where AI and its automation abilities are at the heart of it [emphasis added]." https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/07/07/keep-the-hour-but-give-clients-more-for-free/​

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Member Introductions/Questions

◾ Mike Kochkin, a new community member, introducues himself: "Hi everyone, I’m Mike Kochkin – great to be here!

"I’m a former lawyer turned founder of BeSavvy Simulators (besavvy.app), a legal edtech platform helping law firms and legal teams train their lawyers more effectively using interactive simulations. Think of it as a way to help juniors develop real-world legal and business skills – not through lectures or quizzes, but by actually working through realistic scenarios: drafting, negotiating, giving advice, etc.

"Before founding BeSavvy, I worked in corporate law (Latham & Watkins), and now I collaborate with leading firms to reimagine how legal training is delivered – with a strong focus on AI, knowledge transfer, and performance-based learning.

"I’m particularly interested in connecting with people working on:

– Legal innovation / KM / L&D
– Practical uses of GenAI in training and legal workflows
– Scaling professional development in law firms and in-house teams

"If you’re exploring similar areas or just curious about simulations in legal training, I’d love to connect and exchange ideas. Always happy to share what we’ve learned and learn from others.

"Looking forward to the conversations here!"

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Product Development

◾ Also from Artificial Lawyer:
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"Raymond Blyd, the well-known legal tech expert, has launched S3, a new LLM evaluation framework for legal needs, which focuses on ‘identifying core deficiencies rather than proficiencies’.
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"As Blyd explained to AL, S3 was created to calibrate and compare open-source models during Sabaio’s (his earlier AI company) development, with the goal of targeting accuracy and reducing hallucinations.
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"It provides:
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"‘Standardized Evaluation Metrics: Implements industry-standard benchmarks and custom metrics tailored for legal tasks.Reproducible Workflows: Ensures that evaluation processes can be repeated and verified by others.Extensible Architecture: Easily add new evaluation modules or integrate with other legal tech tools.Transparent Reporting: Generates clear, auditable reports for regulatory and internal review.’"
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Do read the entire article here for deeper insight into how S3 works: https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/06/30/s3-launches-llm-eval-for-any-jurisdiction-language-model/​

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◾ Here’s this week’s Legaltech News legal tech rundown: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/07/03/-legaltech-rundown-aaa-partners-with-national-center-for-state-courts-wolters-kluwers-vitallaw-launches-esg-dashboard-and-more/​

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Purchasing/Using Legal Tech

◾ Quoting from an Artificial Lawyer article (link to full article below, including quotes from (i) Joe Cohen, Director of Advanced Client Solutions at CRS, (ii) Wendela Raas, CEO of Dentons Europe, and (iii) Magnus Oskarsson, Country Managing Partner at DLA Piper):

"The legal genAI market cake continues to get sliced up. The latest legal AI cake slices include: Charles Russell Speechlys has chosen Harvey; Dentons in Europe has chosen Legora; and DLA Piper in the Nordics has picked Newcode. And here is why each firm chose those vendors."https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/07/01/crs-harvey-dentons-legora-dla-newcode/​

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◾ Legaltech News writing:

"[NYC-based Big Law's Debevoise & Plimpton] ". . . is in beta testing for a new subscription offering for AI adoption, the Suite of Tools for Assessing AI Risk (STAAR). For a flat monthly subscription fee, Debevoise provides its clients access to an online platform containing various AI adoption policies, vetted AI use cases, and continuous regulatory tracking and updates related to court decisions and laws governing the deployment of AI."

​https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/07/02/debevoise--plimpton-is-building-a-new-model-for-delivering-ai-adoption-advice/?kw=Debevoise+%26+Plimpton+is+Building+a+New+Model+for+Delivering+AI+Adoption+Advice&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20250703&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&slreturn=20250703084722​

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◾ In the linked article, Legaltech News asks if Clio's $1 billion acquisition of vLex can "level the playing field" for smaller law firms.

"VLex has stood out from other legal research companies such as Westlaw and LexisNexis as it mainly caters to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)."

https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/07/03/will-clios-1b-vlex-acquisition-level-the-playing-field-for-smaller-firms-/

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​Regulation

◾ From Legaltech News:

"Texas is one of the first states to enact a comprehensive AI law, with Gov. Greg Abbott signing the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act into law.

"The act regulates artificial intelligence systems with requirements for government disclosure, prohibited uses, and civil penalties of up to $200,000 for violations."https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/06/30/new-law-texas-among-first-to-regulate-ai-practices-/?kw=New+Law:+Texas+Among+First+to+Regulate+AI+Practices&utm_position=3&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20250702&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A​

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Selling Legal Tech

◾ Below is a link to a LinkedIn post from a leader in startup GTM strategy, Lydia Flocchini, that will help startups “jumpstart Q3” sales and marketing.
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From the the post’s intro:
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“𝟯 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 #legaltech 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗤𝟮 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗤𝟯 𝗣𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲
Q2 is done & July isn’t just a time to look back, it’s a moment to drive cash flow acceleration and to
✅ Identify what worked and what’s leaking revenue
✅ Refocus your team for a strong second half
✅ Build the pipeline that powers Q1 of next year
✅ Develop action plans to hit targets and quotas
✅ Ensure that everyone is driving towards pipeline”
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Excellent actionable GTM advice at the link (and be sure to read the post’s comments too): https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7347490871308709888-kOR2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAEeWgABy4Qk3VIHegnQzUs0OlDLYxQ2fqo​

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Startup Management

◾ Monica Zent joins the Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast to share her journey as a seven-time founder and legal tech pioneer who has been at the forefront of innovation for nearly three decades. She discusses her evolution from creating some of the earliest ALSPs to investing in and advising the next generation of legal tech startups.

Show notes and a link to the episode here: https://network-295075.mn.co/posts/87052227?utm_source=manual​

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Teaching/Learning Legal Tech

◾ From Legaltech News:
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“Seyfarth Shaw has taken a unique approach [to encouraging the adoption of legal tech], recently launching the second annual edition of its SEYence Fair, a contest open to all firm personnel. Designed to mimic a school science fair, the contest runs across the summer as part of the firm’s AI & Innovation Summer Experience, and now includes a shorter-form version for summer associates.”
​https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/07/02/seyfarth-shaw-is-turning-to-the-old-school-science-fair-to-spur-firm-wide-innovation/​

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◾ From Artificial Lawyer:
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“Global law firm Freshfields is to offer its new junior lawyers the chance to do an LL.M in how ‘tech and AI will enhance the provision of legal services’. In short, it’s an LL.M in LLMs.
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“The legal innovation-focused course will be provided in partnership with The Dickson Poon School of Law at King’s College London, and will be for a ‘select group of future trainees’ [i.e. junior associates just out of law school].”
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Now this is farseeing and far thinking!! [APPLAUSE]
​https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/07/03/freshfields-offers-ll-m-in-llms-for-new-lawyers/​