Reinventing Professionals

I spoke with Nehal Madhani, the founder and CEO of Alt Legal, an intellectual property docketing software company. Prior to pursuing this venture, he spent four years as an associate with Kirkland & Ellis in New York. We discussed the evolution of Alt Legal from its initial mission upon which Madhani founded the company in 2013 and the power of a pivot, how the company’s customer base has expanded over the past four years, its recent collaboration with Wolters Kluwer, ways that Alt Legal’s technology applies across jurisdictions, and advice for hopeful legal tech entrepreneurs.

I spoke with Chelsey Lambert, the founder of Lex Tech Review, an online resource center for legal professionals. We discussed the genesis of Lex Tech Review, how the site selects companies about which it writes, ways that technology can suit a user’s personality, and the benefits of software reviews for solo and small firm lawyers, among other topics.

I spoke with Matt Miller, the founder & CEO of Embroker, a tech-enabled commercial insurance broker that provides insurance to legal and professional services firms. We discussed the genesis of Embroker, how it differs from a traditional insurance brokerage firm, the benefits that technology provides in the process of purchasing or managing insurance, and how this business will impact the overall market for professional services insurance.

I spoke with Rob Lancashire, the CEO of Essencient, which offers patented natural language processing technology to provide metadata that enables insight and profitable action from natural language text. We discussed the genesis of Essencient, how the technology works, its common applications, and how natural language processing is impacting the current market.

I spoke with Haresh Bhungalia and David Carns, the CEO and Executive Vice President, respectively of Casepoint, an e-discovery technology and services provider. We discussed the genesis of Casepoint and its rebranding, how it marries proprietary technology with services, the impact of artificial intelligence on e-discovery, key litigation challenges that clients are facing in the current environment, and where the e-discovery market is headed.

I spoke with Stacey McConnell, an attorney and the co-founder of the Adept Legal Talent Group, a legal placement firm. We discussed the genesis of the Adept Legal Talent Group, what makes the firm unique, the background and levels of experience the firm is seeking, its target clients, and tips that employers should consider when engaging in the talent acquisition process.

I spoke with Brian McManus, the CEO of Lighthouse eDiscovery, a provider of technology-enabled ediscovery and consulting services, which recently merged with Discovia, a company that provides complementary technology and services. We discussed the merger of Lighthouse eDiscovery with Discovia, the advantages of that combination to clients of the unified entity, ways that changes in the legal industry have increased the demand for dynamic consulting, how the association of the two companies reflects the changing nature of consolidation, and techniques for ensuring seamless cultural alignment.

I spoke with Keri Norris, the senior vice president for regulatory affairs and chief legal officer at LegalShield, a provider of pre-paid legal services. We discussed the chief legal officer’s role at LegalShield, the benefits of pre-paid legal services, the organization’s Elevate by LegalShield conference (July 6-8, 2017), and how the company is adapting to the changing legal market.

I spoke with Zach Abramowitz, the founder of ReplyAll, which he describes as a new way to create conversations online. Zach is also a speaker and writer on innovation, as well as a former stand-up comedian, producer at ESPN radio, and corporate lawyer. His columns and conversations on legal disruption appear in Above the Law, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch. We discussed the genesis of ReplyAll, how it works, the challenges associated with creating a technology start-up, how stand-up comedy fueled his work, the connection between ReplyAll and legal tech, and available opportunities for disruption in the legal field.

I spoke with Steven Sinofsky, a board partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he serves as an advisor to various companies, including as a board member of the e-discovery software provider, Everlaw. We discussed why law-related software is so attractive right now, whether a VC firm calculates the valuation of an e-discovery company differently from a prospect in any other industry, how long it takes to evaluate a company for an investment, ways that a board member supports the strategy of a portfolio company, and what the appeal of legal technology says about where the market is headed.