ISSUE No.24
The emergence of blockchain technology enabled the implementation of such if-then logic on decentralized networks to facilitate autonomous self-executing, self-performing smart contracts, also called computerized scripts, smart code, computerized protocols or decentralized business logic. Ever since they gained popularity, it has been debated and questioned whether they are at all smart or contracts.
Source: Cointelegraph
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US legaltech provider Lexion raises $11m to boost AI-powered contract management business
Seattle-based AI-powered contract management system provider Lexion has secured an $11m Series A funding round from a group of investors led by Khosla Ventures and existing backers Madrona Venture Group and Wilson Sonsini.
The funding round brings total investment in the company to $15.2m and will see Khosla Ventures’ principal Kanu Gulati join Lexion’s board. The funds will be used to scale the business and invest in further AI and product innovation.
Gaurav Oberoi, co-founder and CEO of Lexion, said: “In-house lawyers spend far too much time on mundane tasks like checking if an active NDA exists, or manually filling out spreadsheets to track key dates and non-standard terms in their contracts. What makes Lexion special, in this rapidly growing industry, is that it’s a sophisticated AI product that’s incredibly easy to use, accurate and fast and eliminates rote work by automatically pulling these key data points from contracts.”
Source: The Global Legal Post
Image: Shutterstock
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London-based Legatics is an intuitive legal transaction management software that simplifies and automates traditional legal processes. The legaltech company just bagged £3 million growth capital investment from Mobeus to develop its platform and further build up on its strong customer acquisition. Also, Joe Krancki will join the board after the completion of this round.
Source: UKTN
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More funding details
- Lead investor: East Ventures
- Other investor: Skystar Capital
- Stage: Seed
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Legal tech and biotech patents
Patents are a true form of capital: nice to have, hard to get and looking at others will rarely make you happy. Part of this equation is the impenetrable ‘patentese’ that one must embrace while drafting and analysing patents and patent applications. Is there a shortcut?
Heralded as a revolution in the legal industry, legal tech’s advent could transform the way that practitioners deal with legal documents. Could some of these solutions ease the burden of drafting and analysing patents and patent applications, especially in the biotech arena? This chapter explores the promise of legal tech in three fields:
- small tools;
- patent landscape reports; and
- AI.
Source: IAM
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Structured data format a “great step forward” for digital contracts
The Master of the Rolls has hailed the launch of a universal structured data format for the creation of digital contracts as a “great step forward”.
The Legal Schema project was developed by Peter Hunn, founder of smart contract specialist Clause, as part of the Lawtech UK sandbox pilot.
It is “an open-source initiative that provides a common language for creating and managing legal documents as data, much like schema.org does for webpages”.
In the same way that “schemas underpin and enable web development”, the Legal Schema both supported the development of individual digital contracts and enabled them to interact with each other.
Source: Legal Futures
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Google’s Black Founders Fund backs UK lawtech start-up
A contract drafting and review business founded by former Freshfields associates is one of 30 companies to receive funding from the Google for Startups inaugural European Black Founders Fund.
Co-founder Nnamdi Emelifeonwu said the “unprecedented environment” created by the pandemic had led to “much more appetite” for Define’s software.
The business has doubled in size over the past year, with revenue “growing exponentially”.Source: Legal Futures
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Self-service solution
At a Thomson Reuters SYNERGY virtual event, legal technologist and futurist Joseph Raczynski presented a session on ‘legal platforms, APIs and the (r)evolution of whizzbang legaltech’. An API, or Application Programming Interface, is the software that enables applications to connect with each other and exchange information. As Raczynski observed, in the past five years there has been a tenfold increase in legal tech start-ups, most of which operate in the cloud and solve specific issues. But without common standards for the developers of these point solutions, interoperability between new and existing legal tech solutions is a big challenge.
Source: The Law Society Gazette
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Toufic Adlouni’s law firm began as a side hustle, and he encourages his team to dream big too
Having turned his side-hustle into a law firm, Toufic Adlouni encourages the lawyers working for him to pursue extra-curriculars of their own. The experience they gain as start-up founders helps them relate to the firm’s client-base, he says.
Adlouni is co-founder and managing director of Renno & Co, a law firm focussed on emerging technology law. The majority of Renno & Co’s clients are in cryptocurrency, but the firm also works with start-ups in virtual reality, robotics, medical technology, electric vehicles and fintech.
“If all our lawyers are starting companies, and they know how it feels to start a company, then we're going to be better at advising our clients on how they can start companies,” Adlouni says.
Source: Law Times
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How can the simplification of legal processes empower the average person seeking legal help?
Tune into another enlightening episode about all things legal and legal tech! This episode is in collaboration with the African Law and Tech Network.
Source: African Law & Tech Network
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How To Pivot Your Big Idea
Source: Barclays Eagle Labs
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Date: 26 July 2021. Time: 12:00 pm-12:30 pm AEST
The key hurdles in legal tech projects and how to jump them
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