March 10, 2025 -- Issue #331
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
◾ From a LinkedIn post by Dirk Hartung:
“I’m thrilled to announce an upcoming course that promises to delve deep into the intersection of legal complexity and technology. From August 25-29, 2025, the Lake Como School of Advanced Studies will host the course "Legal Complexity and Technology: Advanced Tools for the Legal Sphere" at the picturesque Villa del Grumello in Como, Italy.”
Here’s a link to the post that Dirk put up on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7302551668695416832?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAACjKkUBuYvfoBWwBGd7KKABZw3jrdiBcc0
◾ LawtechUK announces that it's hosting a reception in NYC during Legalweek 2025"
"Join us on Wednesday 26 March in New York
"As part of the UK trade mission hosted by the Ministry of Justice, Department of Business and Trade, and GREAT Legal Services, we're hosting a free drinks reception in New York to showcase UK legal tech.
"It's your chance to meet UK legal techs and connect with investors, Government officials and other legal professionals. Tickets are available by application."
"There will also be a chance to meet the UK legal techs who are on a trade mission from the UK to the US: Avvoka, Definely, Genie AI, Jalubro, Juro, Legal Pythia, Legatics, Robin AI, Xapien, Reg-1, Jigsaw, A-dapt."
Here are some details about the reception:
When: Wednesday 26 March 2025
Where: Orrick, 51 W 52nd St, New York, 10019
Timings: 5pm - 7pm
Dress code: no dress code, come as you feel comfortable
If you're interested in attending this reception the application to do so is available here: https://lawtechuk.io/events/uk-lawtech-drinks-reception-new-york/?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8L8CEUwbWQgyLrspZcPF7WRQOHbW8Ew5rEakPswCokuxpQHUUajy6L47D5EtFjcOHbAIC4jBMgHXO-ujW4x9OzY_LkdxLZLjJ18yJghb1GxqypPZE&_hsmi=105447649&utm_content=105447649&utm_source=hs_email
◾ “The Beacon Collective: A Legal Tech Gathering Like No Other
“Date: September 23rd & 24th 2025
Location: Beaumanor Hall, Leicestershire, UK
“In a world where the pace of change is faster than ever, something extraordinary is needed to keep up—and that’s exactly what we’re bringing you. We're delighted to introduce The Beacon Collective, a legal tech gathering with a difference.”
Learn much more about this forthcoming conference in the UK by visiting this link:
https://beaconcollective.co.uk/
H/T to Peter Duffy for making me aware of this event.
Fundraising
◾ Legal IT Insider offers a “Legaltech Latest” wrap up of recent events:
“Legaltech Latest: New win for Jylo; Atria AI secures £720k; Anaqua acquired by Nordic Capital; Microsoft to shelve Skype” https://legaltechnology.com/2025/03/04/legaltech-latest-new-win-for-jylo-atria-ai-secures-720k-anaqua-acquired-by-nordic-capital-microsoft-to-shelve-skype/
Hiring/New Hires
◾ “The alternative legal services provider QuisLex today announced the appointment of Sirisha Gummaregula as its president and chief executive officer, succeeding former CEO Ram Vasudevan.” https://www.lawnext.com/2025/03/alsp-quislex-names-sirisha-gummaregula-as-president-and-ceo.html
Partnerships/Business Development
◾ From the March 5, 2025 Consilio press release:
“Consilio, the global leader in legal technology solutions and enterprise legal services, today announced a partnership with LegalMation, the leading provider of AI-powered solutions focused on automating high-volume litigation and dispute resolution workflows. Complementing Consilio’s deep understanding of client tactical needs and strategic objectives, LegalMation’s purpose-built AI solutions automate and enhance a broad spectrum of law department processes that are primed for enhancement. The new partnership will also support the development of new solutions that address pain points faced by Consilio’s clients every day.”
Entire press release can be accessed here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250305737426/en/Consilio-Announces-Partnership-with-LegalMation-to-Bolster-End-to-End-AI-Automation-Capabilities
Product Development
◾ “BriefCatch, a legal technology company whose Microsoft Word add-in helps legal professionals improve their writing, has unveiled two new features that use generative artificial intelligence to enhance legal document preparation: AI-driven Bluebook citation correction and a context-aware writing advisor.” https://www.lawnext.com/2025/03/briefcatch-conquers-the-bluebook-with-ai-powered-citation-and-writing-tools-in-its-new-version-4.html
◾ From Artificial Lawyer:
“After the launch of several genAI-based tools for lawyers, LexisNexis is now bringing CaseMap+ AI to market, a multi-feature system for case management that offers: fact surfacing, chronologies and timelines, summarizing deposition transcripts, case analysis, and report-building.”https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/03/04/lexisnexis-launches-casemap-ai-for-timelines-transcripts-more/
◾ Legaltech News' latest legal tech rundown:
"The fast-paced legal tech world is constantly evolving. At Legaltech News, we always try to bring you the latest news on hirings, product and feature releases, new integrations, legal tech mergers and acquisitions and more. The Legaltech Rundown is a weekly update of legal tech happenings that might have gone under the radar."
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/03/07/legaltech-rundown-quislex-appoints-sirisha-gummaregula-as-ceo-modeone-expands-operations-to-australia-and-new-zealand-and-more/?kw=Legaltech%20Rundown%3A%20QuisLex%20Appoints%20Sirisha%20Gummaregula%20as%20CEO,%20ModeOne%20Expands%20Operations%20to%20Australia%20and%20New%20Zealand%20and%20More&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=afternoonupdate&utm_content=20250307&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A
Purchasing/Using Legal Tech
◾ “Legal IT Insider’s editor Caroline Hill spoke with Stephenson Harwood technology sector group head Simon Bollans and head of innovation Paul Orchard about how the UK-headquartered law firm partnered with Curvestone to create a GenAI custom contract review solution.”
https://legaltechnology.com/2025/03/05/stephenson-harwoods-genai-contract-review-journey-with-curvestone-the-inside-view/
◾ “In late February [2025], Ballard Spahr rolled out a trio of customized artificial intelligence tools designed for use by the firm’s lawyers.”
$$Quote: “‘We started building, in addition to looking at what tools were out there, and some of those tools are really, really expensive. So that led us down the road of, “what can we provide for our users that we can do ourselves, where we're just paying for the consumption?”’ [Lisa Mayo Haynes, Ballard Spahr’s director of technology innovation] said.”
There’s more worth reading (beyond the “$$Quote” above) in the full article on Legaltech News that can be found here: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/03/05/behind-ballard-spahrs-decision-to-develop-internal-gen-ai-tools/
◾ From the vLex press release yesterday, March 5, 2025:
“Miami, FL (March 5, 2025) — A new benchmark study from the law schools at the University of Minnesota and the University of Michigan found that Vincent AI from vLex significantly enhances the quality of legal work and significantly boosts productivity. In a first, the study also found that Vincent AI hallucinated significantly less than OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model, but also even less than upper-level law students in the study.”
The entire press release can be read here: https://vlex.com/blog/AI-Powered-Lawyering-Study
◾ Legal IT Insider reports:
"Leading international law firm Addleshaw Goddard (AG) has announced the adoption of Legora as part of its strategy to further integrate advanced generative AI (GenAI) tools across its legal operations.
"The decision to integrate Legora (formerly known as Leya) into AG’s suite of GenAI technologies follows what we’re told was a comprehensive evaluation of the platform’s capabilities. AG has been in conversation with Legora for almost a year, working closely with the team, and helping to shape new features."
Entire article here: https://legaltechnology.com/2025/03/06/addleshaw-goddard-adopts-legora-ex-leya-for-volume-doc-review/
◾ Below is a link to a post from Nikki Shaver, co-founder of Legalech Hub. The post announces Legaltech Hub's new legal tech AI market map. Quite mpressive work here.
"Legaltech Hub's GenAI in Legal Tech map is out today, in which we capture the 400 companies in the industry building with generative AI.
"💥 Unlike most market maps, when you access this one on Legaltech Hub, it's clickable - you can click on any solution to learn more about it. Find that live version here: https://lnkd.in/eddyPQye 💥"
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nicola-shaver_legaltech-genai-ai-activity-7303753807153295360-Nta2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAACjKkUBuYvfoBWwBGd7KKABZw3jrdiBcc0
◾ From Nikki Shaver of the Legaltech Hub:
"One of the hottest areas for legal tech right now is not the core AI technology law firms and legal departments use to automate workflows (“Core AI”), but the technology that is deployed to allow firms to use their Core AI solutions securely and responsibly. "
"Fortunately, there is an increasing class of tools that offer specific solutions to this problem [of secure and responsible deployment of legal tech AI solutions], supporting the responsible deployment of AI. Some of these wrap around existing solutions while others operate as an independent layer of governance and security. We are calling these AI Deployment solutions, a category of tools that sit adjacent to Core AI products in the legal technology market.
". . . we explore some of the most interesting solutions in this new category [at the article linked below]." https://www.legaltechnologyhub.com/contents/ai-adjacent-start-ups-the-picks-and-shovels-of-responsible-deployment/?utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_Dy8BqMlzpp7oD8KC_C-VKbf5lZ7zMf6Lh15LV0OMHJR-X_IZs4MpVUCzGo4qYU1Vn60FeUxxTztYQyxVZXylZ1tmRAacNu1eR9Kt2Wwg4pfXlHDw&_hsmi=350627950&utm_content=350627950&utm_source=hs_email
◾ "Since generative AI has entered the mainstream over the past few years, a myriad of companies and startups have developed AI-powered products to help legal professionals and firms automate a variety of tasks, from contract drafting to workflow management.
"Despite security and maintenance concerns surrounding gen AI adoption, some law firms have taken matters into their own hands, building their own large language models (LLMs)—the engine behind gen AI systems—in preparation for the next phase of AI innovation and to ensure their competitive edge." https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2025/03/06/firms-are-building-their-own-llms-to-stay-ahead-of-innovation-competition-/?kw=Firms%20Are%20Building%20Their%20Own%20LLMs%20to%20Stay%20Ahead%20of%20Innovation,%20Competition&utm_position=1&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=morningupdate&utm_content=20250307&utm_term=ltn&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A&slreturn=20250308-41204
◾ Joel Bijlmer posts: "Managing matter profitability in law firms is often a fragmented process, relying on manual tracking, spreadsheets, and retrospective analysis. Ayora offers an alternative: a platform designed to provide real-time financial oversight, helping legal and finance teams monitor live matters, track billing schedules, and address potential write-offs before they occur.
https://thelegalwire.ai/ayora-a-data-driven-approach-to-matter-profitability/"
◾ From Artificial Lawyer, an article that looks deeply at how Linklaters uses GenAI in due diligence work and other areas of its practice:
"Due diligence is a key area for commercial law firms and one that many legal AI companies have targeted. How does global firm Linklaters approach this vital element of its work for clients? Artificial Lawyer spoke to Greg Baker to find out."
$$Quote: "It’s clearly not primarily about replacing lawyers in the diligence process, but rather ‘it informs the negotiation of the deal’ – which is a good way to look at things, i.e. the AI tools are there to elevate the work of the lawyers, so they can complete better deals for the clients. In short, create value, as well as shave away inefficiency from laborious – albeit essential – work."https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/03/10/linklaters-approach-to-ai-and-due-diligence/
Startup Management
◾ Another "RDW" (run don't walk) recommendation.
Here it's the Geek in Review podcast where hosts Greg Lambert and Marlene Gebauer interview Zach Posner, Managing Director of The Legal Tech Fund. So informative and farsighted: don't miss the discussion, particularly if you're a legal tech startup leader (a discussion well worth listening to even if you're not now doing a raise) or a law firm/legal department innovator.
Access this podcast episode here: https://youtu.be/TeN-6gq5jSY
◾ From Richard Tromans at Artificial Lawyer:
“Maybe we’re looking in the wrong places for AI-driven legal transformation. As Jay Madheswaran, CEO of Eve – whose company just bagged $47m in a funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz – puts it: ‘AmLaw 100 firms are fear-tripping about AI, while plaintiff firms see profits.’”
$$Quote:
“Madheswaran explains that they did initially talk to plenty of major law firms, but decided to focus on plaintiff firms because there was a genuine welcoming of what could be achieved with tech. ‘On the defence side we could give them [i.e., major law firms] efficiencies [with our tech] but they [would want to] put it on non-billable work. Plus, there is also an inherent fear [about AI]. If they are more efficient, then they can’t charge as much.’
“So, Eve has found a market segment eager to be helped, rather than nervous about what’s on offer.”
https://www.artificiallawyer.com/2025/03/06/maybe-small-law-is-the-real-hope-for-legal-transformation/
◾ “There has been a significant increase in the adoption of artificial intelligence-based tools among law firms, with 30% of respondents now using AI technology compared to just 11% in 2023, according to the just-released 2024 edition of the American Bar Association’s Legal Technology Survey Report.”
“When asked about the most important benefits AI could provide, 54% of respondents identified “saving time/increasing efficiency” as the primary advantage, up from 44% in 2023. Document management and document review capabilities ranked second at 9%, while cost reduction was cited by just 4.5% of respondents.
“However, concerns about the technology remain substantial.”
Read the entire LawSites article here: https://www.lawnext.com/2025/03/aba-tech-survey-finds-growing-adoption-of-ai-in-legal-practice-with-efficiency-gains-as-primary-driver.html
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