Slides for lecture 9 of the course Introduction to Legal Technology at the University of Turku Law School, presented Feb 7, 2018. This lecture is about legal startups, containing an overview of the most central startup-related concepts in general, an up-to-date detailed presentation of all legal startups in Finland and a partially updated categorized listing of a representative selection of legal startups across the world.

1. TLS0070 Introduction to
Legal Technology
Lecture 9
Legal startups
UniversityofTurkuLawSchool2018-02-07
AnnaRonkainen @ronkaine
anna.ronkainen@trademarknow.com

2. A short startup glossary (a.k.a.bullshitbingo)

3. What is a startup?
- not just any new company
- not just any small company
- “a startup is an organization formed to search for
a repeatable and scalable business model” (Steve
Blank)
- focus on growth and scalability
- startup endeavours to become a growth company
(Eurostat/OECD definition: at least 10 employees
which grows by >20% for at least three years in a
row; this definition doesn’t consider turnover or
revenue at all!?)

4. Disruptive innovation
- theory from “The Innovator’s Dilemma” by
Clayton Christensen (1997)
- contrast to sustaining innovation: the mode of
innovation usually done by incumbents
- newcomers create a new market by offering
something that is in some
respects worse but overall a
better (and improving) match
for the customer’s needs

5. Product-related concepts
- pitch
- proof of concept (PoC)
- minimum viable product (MVP)
- traction
- pivot

6. Funding
- bootstrapping
- (bank loans etc.)
- FFF: friends, family, fools
- crowdfunding
- angel investors
- venture capital funds
- public funding (in Finland: Tekes, Finnvera etc.)
Funding rounds: pre-seed, seed, (sprout,), A, B, C,
D... rounds

7. Exit
- IPO
- buyout
- acqui-hire
- becoming a non-growth company
- bankruptcy
Oft-quoted statistic: 9 out of 10 startups fail!

8. Legal startups in Finland

10. Starting close to home:
TrademarkNow Inc. (formerly Onomatics Inc.)
- founded in 2012
- 4 co-founders
- first product launch Oct 2012, rebranded as
TrademarkNow Mar 2013
- venture funding total €6M
- ~40 employees
- offices in Helsinki, NYC (NJ), Kilkenny,
Munich

11. TrademarkNow co-founders
Mikael Kolehmainen, Co-founder and CEO
- International TM Attorney with significant trademark law domain expertise,
with a license in New York. An experienced and successful angel investor
and third-generation entrepreneur. Previous tech company experience in a
variety of roles.
Matti Kokkola, Co-founder and CTO
- Built and led successful tech teams in the US and Europe. Seasoned
technology leader with experience from building and operating business
critical big data systems.
Anna Ronkainen, Co-founder and Chief Scientist
- Artificial intelligence and law scholar doing research at the intersection of
IP law, cognition and vague norms, with over 15 years of experience in
linguistic software development including many successes in project and
product management.
Heikki Vesalainen, Co-founder and Chief Architect
- Designer of numerous successful machine-learning and artificial intelligence
solutions. A sought-after web tech guru.

12. TrademarkNow founders’ backstories
- Mikael worked as a trademark lawyer for 8
years, got the idea for and took the initiative
to founding the company starting in 2010
- Matti and Heikki founded the software
consulting company Mermit together (with
others) as sophomores back in 1999
- Anna started looking into AI & law in 1999,
working on modelling trademark similarity
since 2002

13. TrademarkNow product and business
model
- AI-based risk analysis for trademark search
and watching
- currently targeting in-house counsel and
marketing agencies (and law firms)
- annual subscription or pay-as-you-go pricing

14. TrademarkNow misc hype
- admitted into the Tekes Young Innovative
Companies programme in 2013
- Wired UK: one of 10 hottest startups in
Helsinki (Sep 2014)
- Talouselämä: one of 20 most promising
startups in Finland (Feb 2015, Feb 2016)
- customers include companies like IBM,
Google, Unilever

16. And others approximately by age,
starting with... Fondia
- company founded originally in 1988,
operating in current form since 2004
- ~130 employees, including ~80 lawyers
- 10 offices (in Finland, Sweden, Estonia)
- listed on the Helsinki stock exchange (First
North) since April 2017

17. Fondia product and business model
- ”outsource your legal department” for
companies
- traditional human-powered lawyering
supported and supplanted by tech
- services (partly) based on standardized
monthly subscription fees

18. Fondia misc hype
- FT Innovative Lawyers winner in corporate
strategy category 2013
- multiple-time Best Places to Work™ winner
in law firm category

20. Sopima
- founded in 2009
- founded by Jaan Apajalahti and Jukka Kosonen
(both with an IT background)
- development outsourced to Softability
- €1.4M in venture funding
- low revenue -> applied for bankruptcy in 2011
- Softability rescued the company from bankruptcy
in 2012
- kept quiet 2012–14 but dev work restarted, new
release in Sept 2014

22. ContractZen
- founded in 2014
- contract lifecycle management, practice
management, digital signing, company
structure management (see lecture 5)
- cooperation with PwC announced in Nov
2017

24. Contract Mill
- started in 2016
- contract automation solution (see lecture 5)

26. Sopimustieto
- started in 2015
- document template platform covering all the
most commonly used types of contracts etc.
- contract generation, signing, storage
- free for individuals, $$$ for companies

28. Doctual
- started in 2016
- contract generation/management tool
especially for startups

30. Verkkolakimies
- originally meant to be DIY prenuptial
agreement service
- started in ~2013 as a side project by Herkko
Hietanen/Turre Legal
- pivoted in 2015 to documents which
employers/companies are required to provide

32. Lakivälitys
- online marketplace for finding a lawyer
- Turku represent! Founded by 3 local law
students: Ville Kaituri, Samuli Rantanen,
Niko Markkanen
- Boost Turku accelerator alumn

34. Legal Tracker
- started in 2016
- cloud-based practice management for law
firms

36. Agens
- started in 2015
- provider of contract etc. document templates
and packaged legal services, combined with
custom legal services (hourly billing)

38. Teqmine Analytics
- founded in 2013
- machine-learning/natural-language-
processing-based solution for patent
similarity
- patent monitoring, technology scan, prior art
search, invention disclosure review
- now used e.g. by the Finnish Patent Office

40. Portyr
- started in 2017
- GDPR solution one-stop-shop

41. Legal startups in general
Data and overall structure from David Perla’s Reinvent Law presentation,
additional data from AngelList and miscellaneous sources,
individual companies listed as examples and in no particular order,
updated pretty randomly

42. (by CB Insights)

43. Lawyer matching,
B2C (consumer focus)
- Lawdingo
- Lawkick
- LawyerMatch
- Arrest SOS
- Bluetree
- Avvo
- AttorneyFee
- FairDocument
- Visuu
- Congo
- FairDocument
- Kabuk Law
- LawGives
- LawyerUp
- Virtual Law Direct
- SoftLaw
- LawTrades
- Shpoonkle
- Visuu
- Lakivälitys
- ЮРИСТиЯ
- BernieSez
- LegalUP
- Vraag de Notaris

44. Lawyer matching,
B2B (business client focus)
- Upcounsel
- DealSheet
- Priori Legal
- Plain Legal
- LawPal
- JusticeBid
- Habeas
- LawyerFair
- EasyLaw.in
- Lexoo
- Lawbooth
Targeting startups:
- Pushtostart
- Speedy Counsel
- Lawditor
- SmartUp
- deJuristen

45. Lawyer networks
Referral networks
- wireLawyer
- LegalReach
- Lawpolis
- EsqSocial
- esq.me
- RateMyBarrister
- Foxwordy

46. Virtual staffing (B2B)
- Hire an Esquire
- LegalKin
- DH
Short-term
- StandIn

47. Legal research
- Fastcase
- Tabulaw
- Casetext
- Jurify
- Push Legal
- BriefMine
- Justia.com
- DroidLaw
- Vizlegal
- xLaw

48. Legal research
Prediction and visualization (general)
- Judicata
- Ravel Law
- Tyche
- EasyDataMaps
- Knomos
- Kelsen
- Ross Intelligence
- Encompass
- MyCourtCase
- Legal Miner
- Prédictice SAS
- loom analytics
- PredictGov

49. Public document databases and data
analysis
- Matterhorn
- Intelligize
- Midatadin
- Premonition
- LexPredict
- AssistMyCase
- Brightleaf
- counselytics
- LegalRisk.io
- Legal Chrome

50. Legal research
Docket retrieval and briefs
- Chapter 11 Dockets
- Caseflex
- Docket Alarm
- RollRun

51. Litigation
e-discovery software/solutions
- Disco
- HaystackHQ
- Logikcull
- Modus eDiscovery
- EasyESI
- kCura
- Renew Data
- AccessData
- Everlaw
- Diligen
- Cicayda
- Indexed I/O
- WitnessTree
- Heureka Software
- VaultSwap
- Recommind
- Catalyst
- Zapproved
- CS Disco
- Evichat

52. Litigation
Case management and other tools
Case management
- Filevine
- Allegory
- Caselinq
- AbacusLaw
- UniCourt
Other
- eDepoze
- AssistMyCase
- Top Class Actions
Trial/jury support
- Jury Box
- VerdictAdvantage
- Litigator Technology
- Voltaire

53. Online dispute resolution
- Modria
- waytosettle
- zipCourt
- w3arb
- SwiftJudgment
- JusticeBox
- Truveli
- Arbiclaims
- VirtualCourtHouse
- Swiftcourt
- Block Notary
- Fair and Square
- ClaimCast
- Pactanda
- Cryptonomica
- BidSettle

54. Legal services platform
- RocketLawyer
- LegalZoom
- Docracy
- Clerky
- Paperlex
- Avtal24
(Agreement24)
- LawPath
- Avokaado
- Agens

55. Document automation and assembly
General
- BusinessIntegrity
- Hotdocs
- eBrevia
- Brightleaf
- Caserails
- Counselytics
- Contractually
- Sopima
- ContractZen
- Contract Mill
- Linte
- Donna
- Paprwork
- Legalix
- Agreemint
- Max Agreement
- Clausehound
- InfoTrack
- MetaJure
Specialty assembly
- Venturedocs
- Iubenda
- Snapterms
- PactSafe

56. Document automation and intelligence
- Pramata
- Seal
- Kira Systems
- Anvesa
- Legaleer
- Autto
- ThoughtRiver
- Diligen
- eBrevia
- Luminance
- Counselytics
- DocNav
- Docasaurus
- Dragonfile
- Wizdocs
- Legal Robot
- Beagle
- RAVN (iManage)
- Leverton
- LawGeex

57. Document language review
- jEugene
- Xref

58. Job and resumé/CV sites
- inlaw.me
- Resumé Launchpad
- MyLegalCoverage
- Plum Law Jobs

59. Subject matter solutions
Divorce
- Wevorce
- Legal Passage
- coparently
- ParentWare
- amicable
- DivorceSecure
- It’s Over Easy
Mergers & acquisitions
- Legal Simplicity
Immigration
- Clearpath
- LexSpot
- AdviseHub
- VisaEase
- SimpleCitizen
- Ithaca
- Cultura Analytics

60. Subject matter solutions
Banktruptcy
- Pay My Trustee
- NextChapter
Construction
- ClaimKit
End of life
- Planned Departure
- Sikker Arv
Youth
- Teen Legal Helpline
LGBT rights
- JusticeTrans
Privacy
- signatu
- Portyr

61. Subject matter solutions:
Intellectual property: Patents
- LexMachina
- Clear Access IP
- IP Street
- ipInstruments
- Patentory
- AI Patents
- Juristat
- What A Future!!
- Gracular
- Teqmine Analytics
- TurboPatent
- IPToolworks
- Legal Chrome
- Practice Insight
- Nventi
- Patdek Software
- PatentServ
- Patent Vector
- Legit Patents
- ClearstoneIP
- Patnav
- Obvious
- Cognizance IP
- Anticipat

62. Subject matter solutions:
Intellectual property
Trademarks
- LegalForce/Trademarkia
- TrademarkDirect
- Markify
- TrademarkNow
- TM TKO
- umark
- TrademarkVision
IP Marketplace
- IP Nexus
IP asset identification
- Traklight
Counterfeit detection
- Counterfeit. Technology
DRM
- Ghost
Enforcement
- Kopira

63. Law practice management software
- Prosperoware
- Lawyerfy
- Align Matters
- MyCase
- Recordlogix
- FirmZen
- ERM Legal Solutions
- LeanLaw
- Zola Suite
- CaseManager
- LINK
- Peppermint
- Clio
- LegalTrek
- Lexicata
- Attorney’s Back Office
- HoudiniEsq
- Legal Tracker
- CSI Helsinki
- LawVu
- Mitratech
- sharedo
- Tikit
- Law Canvas
- Page Vault

64. Law firm middle office
Document mgmt
- LucanDOCS
- experdocs
- Concis.ly
Knowledge mgmt
- matterBase
- Sysero
Marketing
- Lawfty
- One400
- ClearView Social
- AK Consulting
Communications
- Blackletter
- RION Corp.
- Advocado
- Privatim
- Lextend
- Legaler

65. Legal information, advice, Q&A, forms
- Legify
- corporize.com
- PlainSite
- Legalate
- lawful.ly
- Pastelaw
- Peppercorn
- Oblo
- Captain Contrat
- LegalInc
- Law Mixer
- Legaliboo
- Atebion
- LegalZen
- Qontra

66. Signatures (e-, audio/video, mobile)
- Shake
- Tapdox
- ContractCloud
- inkdit
- Irksol
- Stampery
- eSign Genie
- Notarize

67. Blockchain
- Integra Ledger

68. Billing: Tracking & managing legal
expenses; time and entry
- SimpleLegal
- Viewabill
- Last50
- Sky Analytics
- Rocket Matter
- Clocktimizer
- iTimeKeep
- JuxtaLegal
- Legalshine

69. Misc practice tools
E-filing
- ClixLEX
SaaS info mgmt
- Lynx workflow
Criminal record
- Legal Crunch
Free legal
- Lawdeal
- Positive Impact
Lawsuit crowdfunding
- CrowdLaw
- Casefunder
Legal argument collab
- Mootus
Legal writing collab
- Lexiqual
- DraftLaw

70. Misc practice tools
Service delivery
automation
- Planet X Law

71. Litigation finance
- Mighty Group
- LexShares

72. Legal education tools/apps
- The Law School App
- Lawyer Up
- Quimbee
- MyCourthouse
- ApexCLE
- Hotshot

73. NewLaw law firms etc.
- Riverview Law
- Co-operative Legal
Services
- Fondia
- Quicklegal
- Legal Hero

74. And then some:
- http://techindex.law.stanford.edu
- https://angel.co/companies?
markets[]=Legal&markets[]=Legal+Tech
- for more information, use AngelList or just
search for the company on Google

75. Questions?

76. LECTURE 10 on Feb 14
12–14 C2109!!!11!!