Nate's News from The LegalTech Fund (August)

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Nate's News

From The LegalTech Fund

If you haven’t already, check out our briefing on trends impacting the world of law. In this report, we cover how remote legal needs are driving tech, trends in legal access through innovation, and changing data protections.

⏲ The Times They Are a-Changin'

Workload is ⬆️: over half of law firms anticipate high workloads, due to spikes in certain case types (unemployment, family, immigration) and court reopenings. 60% of in-house lawyers have had workloads increase and “feel buried in low-value work.”
Firms believe that competition from ALSPs, increased use of alternative fee arrangements, and more technology implementation will be permanent.
⛅ Law firms are also turning to tech for future preparedness; 77% of firms are investing in cloud-based software in case further social distancing is required.
91% of legal administrators believe COVID-related workplace changes are here to stay (up from 69% a few months ago).
Large firms are increasingly adopting innovation initiatives, yet less than 25% of the AMLaw 200 have executives to run these efforts.

🙌 Please send this newsletter to your friend, your legal counsel, or both!

💡 Innovation Creates More Varied Legal Services

New models for legal services
- 🌎 360 Business Law, a distributed law firm with attorneys in sixty countries, is launching an American subsidiary that provides subscription-based pricing for legal services.
- UK-based Small Claims Portal, which offers tools for self-represented litigants, is now providing barristers to handle small claims cases for a flat rate of £999.
- Deloitte Legal is helping launch Free Legal Answers UK, which matches individuals with pro bono legal support.
- The Australian government launched a platform to help divorcing couples split their assets and determine co-parenting arrangements.
- 🤖 36 states are using chatbots to help individuals receive information about COVID-19, unemployment benefits, SNAP, and other government needs.
Two recent reports highlight ongoing challenges
- A new ABA report reports that over two hundred counties in the US have less than two lawyers serving those living there and over 40% of counties have less than one lawyer per one thousand individuals.
- ⚖ A recent report highlights privacy and due process issues in courts using Zoom, such as breakout rooms being administered by IT professions and the risk that outside parties record Zoom cases.

💻 AI and the Risks to Privacy

Companies such as Casetext and Ross Intelligence are leveraging GPT-3, a newly-released language model that allows software to create realistic text, in their legal software.
🛑 EU’s largest court struck down Privacy Shield, a law allowing American companies to transfer EU users’ data to the US, due to concerns about surveilling European users.

💰 In the Money

Acquisitions
- Access Group acquired DPS Software, a practice management software tool, after purchasing Eclipse Legal Systems in June.
- Anexsys, an eDiscovery platform, has been acquired by Xact Data Discovery to expand product offerings.
- ASG has acquired extendedReach, a case management software, to merge with its KaleidaCare platform.
- Clarivate and CPA Global, two major IP service providers, have merged, with the new entity valued at $6.8B.
- Jack Henry & Associates has acquired Vertex, a data analytics platform for tax compliance, for $3M.
- Mitratech, an enterprise legal and compliance technology platform, has acquired Tracker Corp. to expand its risk management offerings.
- Infotrak acquired a majority stake in LawToolBox, which provides legal calendaring and deadline management software.
Funding
- AgentSync, a compliance as a service platform, has raised a $4.4M Seed round.
- Ayfie, a document analysis technology company, offered its shares publicly via Norway’s Merkur Market and is currently valued at $25M.
- Clarilis, an automated contract drafting platform, raised £6M in Series B funding.
- ComplyAdvantage, an anti-money laundering compliance platform, raised $50M in Series C funding.
- Hummingbird, an anti-money laundering compliance platform, raised $8.2M in Series A funding.
- Irys, a platform for local government service requests, raised $1.2M in Seed funding.
- Lawyered, a lawyer search platform, raised an undisclosed bridge round.
- PandaDoc, a document automation and eSignature platform, raised $30M.
- Quantexa, a platform leveraging big data to fight financial crime, raised a $64.7M Series C funding.
- TermScout, an AI-powered contract review platform, raised $1.6M in Seed funding.
- Willful, a digital estate planning platform, has raised $800K in Seed funding.
Accelerators
- The Duke Law Tech Lab, Slaughter and May’s Collaborate incubator, and Legal Tech Hub Vienna accelerator have announced their programs’ cohorts.

👂 Listen

Litera’s Haley Altman discusses her career transition from law firm partner to legaltech founder to technology executive. (16 min)
Maura Grossman discusses eDiscovery software’s role in battling COVID-19. (20 min)
Michigan Chief Justice Bridget Mary McCormack speaks about how COVID-19 is pushing courts to modernize. (42 min)
Deloitte’s Mark Ross chats about the firm’s newly-launched Legal Business Services practice in the US. (40 min)

📖 What Else I'm Reading

Low-code software tools will change how startups operate.
The pandemic has completely overturned the business of fashion.
ProPublica and The New York Times chart how people will migrate as global warming progresses.

Finally, thank you to Bonsal Capital for featuring The LegalTech Fund in their article about the new face of venture capital.

About Nate

I am an investor at The LegalTech Fund and I enjoy seeing how the law affects everyone, from people fighting a parking ticket to companies completing a merger. Nate's News is my own digest that I use to stay on top of meaningful stories in the world of law.