November 25, 2024 -- Issue #316
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 law firm in New York City will be hosting a webinar on December 10 that will be of great interest to M&A lawyers (and, of course, other players in the M&A space). In this webinar, Russ will discuss with his colleague, Jerry Cohen, common mistakes that unpleasantly surface right when a deal is in the works.
Further information about the Webinar (including a link to join the discussion over Zoom) can be found in the attachment that's accessed at this link: https://network-295075.mn.co/posts/72532004?utm_source=manual
◾️ "A year ago, attendees of ALM Global's General Counsel Conference East were wringing their hands over whether to adopt artificial intelligence, a question that most now have answered with a resounding "yes." So, at this year's confab, which ran Monday and Tuesday at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, the conversation had largely shifted to how to pull off a smooth, successful AI implementation."
$$Quote:
"Panelists for a session on using AI, data and analytics to reduce legal spending agreed that choosing an AI software vendor can be daunting.
“'It can be a bit of a crap shoot because there are so many players,' said Donna Brown, interim general counsel of the educational publisher Great Minds PBC. 'We rely on benchmarks, like reputation and value.'”
"Brown said her company hired a consultant to guide it through the process."
For more "observations and takeaways from GCC East 2024" click on the link below:
https://www.law.com/corpcounsel/2024/11/21/gc-conference-takeaways-picking-ai-vendors-a-bit-of-a-crap-shoot-beware-of-internal-investigation-scope-creep/?kw=GC%20Conference%20Takeaways%3A%20Picking%20AI%20Vendors%20%27a%20Bit%20of%20a%20Crap%20Shoot,%27%20Beware%20of%20Internal%20Investigation%20%27Scope%20Creep%27&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=newsroomupdate&utm_content=20241121&utm_term=cc&oly_enc_id=6788E2252056B4A
Exit/M&A
◾️ “On Monday, intellectual property management solutions company Anaqua announced that it plans to be acquired by Nordic Capital, a private equity investor.”
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/11/18/nordic-capital-plans-to-acquire-ip-management-solutions-provider-anaqua/
Fundraising
◾️ From Axios’ “Pro Rata” newsletter today, November 20, 2024:
“Theo.ai, a Palo Alto-based predictive AI platform for litigation, raised $2.2m in pre-seed funding. NextView and nvp capital co-led, and were joined by Ripple Ventures, Beat Ventures, and SCVC Fund.”
https://www.theoai.ai/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosprorata&stream=top
LegalEd
◾️ Joel Bijlmer posts: "A Landmark Case Against Algorithmic Discrimination
In the spring of 2021, Mary Louis, a Black woman in Massachusetts, found herself on the wrong side of an algorithm. Eager to move into a new apartment, Louis submitted her application and waited for approval. Instead, she received a rejection email saying that a “third-party service” had denied her tenancy.
"Read the full story: https://thelegalwire.ai/a-landmark-case-against-algorithmic-discrimination/ "
Partnerships/Business Development
◾️ Excellent way to end the work week: Legaltech News’ latest legal tech rundown. “An update on the legal tech market’s past week, from product launches to new partnerships.”
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/11/22/legaltech-rundown-lexisnexis-releases-lexis-ai-mobile-app-hotshot-launches-new-ma-training-simulation-and-more/
Product Development
◾️ SpotDraft, a contract management company, describes its newest product development efforts in this fall 2024 release summary.
https://www.spotdraft.com/fall-release
◾️ ECFX announces:
“. . . a major achievement for ECFX: we are now the first and only provider to offer automated court notice processing across all 50 states. This milestone, along with the addition of ECFX Track, brings a unique combination of comprehensive court notice management and case monitoring capabilities to the market.”
The company’s press release with more detail about the announcement can be accessed at this link: https://network-295075.mn.co/posts/72528556?utm_source=manual
◾️ “Featuring motion drafting and case assessment functions, the release marks an expansion into the creation of work product for the state court analytics company.
“On Tuesday, legal analytics company Trellis announced the launch of Trellis AI, a new platform for state trial court litigators.”
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/11/19/trellis-launches-trellis-ai-a-new-suite-of-automated-litigation-tools/
◾️ “Universal Migrator has added two new extractors that help migration specialists migrate law firms from one platform to another, bringing its total number of migration extractors to 120. It has also enhanced several of its existing extractors with additional backup options.
“Universal Migrator is a tool that moves data and documents from one application to another.”
https://www.lawnext.com/2024/11/latest-universal-migrator-additions-brings-count-to-120-extractors-to-help-migration-specialists-onboard-law-firms-faster.html
◾️ From Bob Ambrogi’s LawSites blog:
“Knowable, a legal technology company specializing in helping organizations bring order and organization to their executed agreements, has announced Ask Knowable, a suite of generative AI-powered tools aimed at transforming how legal teams interact with and understand what is in their contracts.”
Read, at the link below, about Ask Knowable’s feature set and what the company’s new CEO, Nik Reed, say distinguishes Ask Knowable from its competitors: https://www.lawnext.com/2024/11/knowable-introduces-gen-ai-tool-it-says-will-revolutionize-how-companies-interact-with-their-contracts.html
◾️ Aderant, a global provider of business management and practice-of-law solutions, announces today (November 20,
2024) SOC2 compliance for Expert Sierra and vi by Aderant SaaS platforms.
More in the full press release found at this link: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241119743508/en/Expert-Sierra-and-vi-by-Aderant-SaaS-Platforms-Successfully-Complete-SOC-2-Type-2-Audit-with-Zero-Exceptions-Noted
◾️ “On Tuesday, contract management solution provider Pramata announced the launch of AI Design Studio, its generative AI-powered contract management tool.”
“What is it: AI Design Studio is a gen AI contract management tool that allows users to create and organize contracts, produce contract templates, and draft and customize negotiation playbooks.”
Read on at the link below to understand what Pramata believes distinguishes its product from the competitions’ offerings.
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/11/20/pramata-launches-ai-contract-management-tool-ai-design-studio/
Purchasing/Using Legal Tech
◾️ “At Georgetown Law’s 21st Annual Advanced eDiscovery Institute, vendors, litigators, jurists, and more attempted to take stock of the state of the e-discovery field, and hazarded guesses about where it might be headed soon.”
Much worth reading here, especially when it comes to thoughts from Harvey’s
CEO about his company’s plans (as laid out in one of the conference’s key-note offerings).
https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/11/18/aedi-takeaways-demystifying-hype-changing-caselaw--harveys-ceo-talks-state-of-industry/
◾️ LTSF'er, Joel Bijlmer, posts: "We’ve all heard the saying “time is money”, but nobody feels this as deeply as legal professionals. In a profession where every billable minute (quite literally) matters, Billables AI offers a game-changing solution to help lawyers reclaim their time (and money) and focus on their core work.
"Read the full article here: https://thelegalwire.ai/billables-ai-streamlining-legal-timekeeping-with-automated-precision/ "
◾️ “A look at the numbers Legaltech News found most interesting from this year's survey [i.e., the 2024 LTN Law Firm Tech Survey], from gen AI adoption rates to cyber insurance costs and more.”
Much good insight here on actual law firm legal tech use: https://www.law.com/legaltechnews/2024/11/18/by-the-numbers-the-2024-ltn-law-firm-tech-survey-/
◾️ From Legal IT Insider: “A law professor [Benjamin Perrin] at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has concluded that Lexis+ AI’s content is ‘riddled with mistakes’ and should not be used by law students yet, following a series of tests of the generative AI research and drafting solution.”
“LexisNexis has now responded in some depth to this article and in a statement, Jeff Pfeifer, chief product officer for LexisNexis North America & UK, told Legal IT Insider that the article by Perrin ‘does not reflect the response from customers to the product.’”
For much more on the “Perrin Paper” and on Lexis Nexis’s response, visit this link: https://legaltechnology.com/2024/11/18/canadian-law-professor-gives-lexis-ai-a-failing-grade-lexisnexis-responds/
◾️ A link to a post on LinkedIn from Richard Tromans of Artificial Lawyer:
“Thomson Reuters (TR) is rolling out its genAI-driven CoCounsel for Drafting capability in the UK, after earlier launching in the US. The offering has been especially shaped for legal needs here and will directly engage with TR’s contract data in Practical Law.”
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/artificiallawyer_legaltech-genai-drafting-activity-7265002057802125317-ROlj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios
◾️ Another most welcome post from LTSF community member, Joel Bijlmer: "Imagine an associate in your firm who works tirelessly around the clock, never needs time off, and intuitively takes care of what needs to be done, without you having to micromanage. At first, this sounds like a recipe for eventual burnout – but there’s a catch. Your latest hire is a bot, and that’s exactly what AI agents promise to be… not just tools, but digital colleagues designed to manage what would be an impossible load for a human being. The term “AI agents” has been buzzing in tech and legal circles, but what does it really mean, and how do these digital assistants function? Let’s take a closer look: https://thelegalwire.ai/ai-agents-why-theyre-your-best-new-colleague/ "
Startup Management
◾️ “Funding continues to fall, venture debt has had a record year and the US is poaching European technical talent, according to Atomico’s State of European Tech report 2024.
“The 10th edition of the report is more reflective than usual, looking back over the previous decade of European tech, as well as the past 12 months.”
https://sifted.eu/articles/atomico-tech-report-2024
◾️ An interview with Avaneesh Marwaha on his return to the helm of Litera, including his take on the crowded contract drafting marketplace in the legal tech vertical, foretelling of next quarter’s product developments and the rising prices charged for legal tech solutions.
$$Quote (especially pertinent to the crowded-with-competitors marketplace mentioned):
“What is coming out from us in the next quarter leapfrogs the marketplace and according to the customers that have been helping us with early access program programs, we are getting it right. There are things we can do that others can’t: it’s not just a vehicle to draft it’s that you have the right data in the right place at the right time, and from winning a matter to doing the work and closing the work, we can provide that end-to-end solution. Drafting per se is table stakes and now we’re looking to innovate.”
https://legaltechnology.com/2024/11/20/avaneesh-marwaha-returns-as-literas-ceo-and-answers-a-few-burning-questions/
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