While international relations are looking increasingly dicey on the political front these days, legal tech is trending in the opposite direction. Each week, more companies are stepping up and creating an ever more integrated, truly global industry.
Take, for example, the field of AI legal assistants, which has expanded from two in early 2023 to nearly 80 now. I was recently parsing through the list on LTH and was pleasantly surprised to see that the AI legal assistants listed currently operate in 39 languages and span essentially the entire globe.
My search was prompted by outreach from a legal tech provider I was unfamiliar with (I always love it when that happens and I get to learn about new companies). The provider was Kwame AI, a Ghanaian-founded startup that built Eskwai, an AI legal assistant that enables legal professionals to get reliable answers and insights based on African case law and legislation.
This week, the startup launched the ability for law firms and legal departments to create central accounts to access the legal assistant through Eskwai Firm Plans. It also landed its first client, N. Dowuona & Company, a top law firm in Ghana with a strong presence across Africa.
The news excited me not just because I love all things international, but because it made me feel like we’re truly making strides in the democratization of the law through technology.
Kwame AI wasn’t the only company fueling that sentiment. Several other legal tech companies have issued announcements in the past week that display a dedication to globally expanding their services.
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vLex expands to new geographies: Already a global leader in the legal research and AI space, vLex has expanded the total number of geographies its Vincent AI platform covers to 17 with the additions of Hong Kong, Italy, Peru, and Ecuador.
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Legora and vLex enter partnerships with FromCounsel: UK knowledge service FromCounsel entered into partnerships with two different providers this week to make its content more widely available. AI platform Legora (formerly Leya) has partnered with FromCounsel to integrate Legora’s GenAI with FromCounsel’s content to expand legal knowledge in the UK. Meanwhile, vLex will integrate FromCounsel into Vincent AI.
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Oddr scores UK win: U.S.-based invoice-to-cash management platform Oddr announced that Mishcon de Reya, one of the platform’s earliest UK law firm adopters, will be rolling out Oddr to transform its billing and collections operations.
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UnitedLex strengthens European presence: Technology and legal services company UnitedLex announced the broadening of its European footprint with the hires of VP of IP Services and Solutions Thanasi Marinides and VP of Business Development, Legal Solutions Nicholas Robinson Cronjager, both in London.
Most organizations no longer operate within national boundaries. It’s only logical that their technology and access to the law should be similarly unconstrained.
While the world may still have plenty of border issues, legal tech increasingly doesn’t. If this week’s news is any indication, the push for a truly global legal ecosystem is gaining momentum—and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
What I’m Watching:
A fusion of talents: Growth advisory firm Baretz + Brunelle announced it has acquired legal tech and innovation accelerator LexFusion. LexFusion founders Joe Borstein, Casey Flaherty, and Paul Stroka have joined B+B as partners.
The investments continue: AI-powered patent workflow platform Patlytics announced it has closed a $14 million Series A funding round led by Next47. This brings the company’s total funding to date to $21 million, all raised within a nine-month period.
Legal spend purchase: Global claims management provider Sedgwick has entered into an agreement to acquire the legal spend management division of Bottomline. Sedgwick will leverage the technology infrastructure to help clients control litigation costs.
AInfo gov: EDiscovery and information governance provider Cloudficient has introduced Expireon AI Studio, adding AI functionality to its flagship information governance platform. The new offering is designed to help mitigate eDiscovery review challenges and streamline data categorization.
The sounds of silence: 1,000 musical artists in the UK have banded together to issue a “silent album” that contains no actual songs, entitled “Is This What We Want?” Why? To protest the UK government’s decision to go ahead with plans to change copyright law, allowing models to train on artists' content, in order to attract more AI companies.
Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment of my weekly Tuesday column on recent developments in legal tech and AI that have caught my attention. You can find the previous column here. If you have news or stories that you’d like to see featured in a future column, please contact me at press@legaltechnologyhub.com. If you’d like to get this column and other industry analysis in your inbox every week, sign up for a free LTH Insights Newsletter here.
