Technology

3 Legal Startups I've Been Watching This October

Have you used any of these products (or competing products)?

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ranking prize ribbon rankAs October comes to a close, I’d like to continue my tradition of mentioning some of the interesting startups I’ve been watching. Although I no longer practice law, I’ve actually been pretty good at picking some winners on some of my previous lists. Just a month after appearing on my August list, Doxly raised $2.2M in seed funding; another startup that appeared on that same list was Lexicata, and Michael Chasin and his team were crushing it at the Clio Conference in September. These are not full, exhaustive write-ups of these companies; think of them, instead, as just enough to put these companies on your radar and encourage you to learn more.

So, without further ado, here are three companies I’ve been watching this October:

  1. Alt Legal. If you’ve ever filed a trademark application, you know what a mess the USPTO’s site can be from a user perspective. Not only does is it not particularly easy to use, but it regularly will shut down without saving your information and then *poof* you’re back to square one. Alt Legal has created a user friendly interface that reduces the normal time for trademark applications, which in my experience can range from 1-2 hours to a matter of minutes. After your TM is filed, Alt Legal lets you know about critical dates and information regarding your IP. Alt Legal instantly reminded me of Anaqua for small firms and solo practitioners. If you’ve got a practice that does any kind of trademark work in 2016, Alt Legal is a must.
  2. PrimaFacie. It shouldn’t come as a shock then that using the government’s online immigration portal is about as user friendly as the USPTO. While SimpleCitizen is trying to remove the need for a lawyer in immigration cases, the Betzold brothers (James, Jacob and Michael) behind PrimaFacie think it makes more sense to make the job of immigration lawyers and their paralegals easier. What they’ve created is a CRM for immigration that handles and tracks all stages. I met these Betzold brothers at the Clio Conference and was impressed, not only with their software, but with how engaged Clio’s CEO Jack Newton seemed to be with their mission.
  3. jEuegene. I don’t understand how any corporate lawyer is not using jEugene. If you’ve ever been subjected to the agony of proofreading legal documents looking for section changes or trivial inconsistencies in the definition sections (can you tell that I’ve done this kind of nonsense), then you probably realize that a robot (or a trained monkey) could probably do a better job. jEugene, another legal tech company to come out of Y Combinator hasn’t trained monkeys, but they have built valuable software that will take care of proofreading your documents, so that you can focus on the big picture items and sleep tight knowing that your documents (some of which might be publicly filed) don’t have mistakes. If I were still a practicing corporate attorney at a Biglaw practice, I would consider splurging on a jEuegene subscription so I could reduce the time spent doing busy work.

Have you used any of these products (or competing products)? If so, I’d love to hear from you and see if you think they’re adding value to your practice. Do you have another startup that belongs on my list for November? If so, shoot me an email — but make sure to read this first.

Zach Abramowitz is a former Biglaw associate and currently CEO and co-founder of ReplyAll. You can follow Zach on Twitter (@zachabramowitz) or reach him by email at zach@replyall.me.

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