A Case For Great: Casetext Wins alt.legal Innovation Awards

Who won the prize for overall best startup?

alt.legal-WinnerThe second annual Above The Law Academy for Private Practice (APP) kicked off Thursday in Philadelphia with a “pre-conference” at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After a lively first session, “Media Training and Storytelling,” the agenda turned to a “Shark Tank”-style startup competition: “The alt.legal Innovation Awards Company Showcase.”

Sixty-six applicants applied to participate, and 15 startups were selected to present a three-minute pitch (either in person or via the internet). The audience was enthusiastic as each team tried to talk faster than the clock, all with their own unique approaches.

The panel of judges included Joe Borstein (Thomson Reuters & ATL alt.legal columnist), Mary Juetten (CEO & Founder of Traklight ), Nicole “Niki” Black (Legal Technology Evangelist at MyCase), and Monica Bay (ATL columnist & Stanford CodeX Fellow). They chose the winners in each category and then voted for the overall winner.

The contestants were:

Education
Hotshot (WINNER)
Intelligent Editing

Practice Management
Apperio
Zola Suite (WINNER)

Litigation
Allegory Law (WINNER)
Casetext

Sponsored

Transactional
Apttus
Kira
eBrevia (WINNER)

Intellectual Property
Alt Legal (WINNER)
Cognate

Marketplace
UpCounsel
1Law (WINNER)

In-House
ComplianceHR
Justly (WINNER)

Overall winner: Casetext

Sponsored

Ironically, Casetext did not win its category, but won the overall “best” startup.

Casetext helps users with legal research. Most recently, it introduced “CARA,” an automated research assistant. “Securely upload any brief or memo, and CARA searches the universe of federal and state law to find relevant cases you or opposing counsel may have missed. Once you find a case, you can read it in full—and see how it’s been cited—so you’ll have all the information you need to win,” the company says on its website.

(Hmm, when is some company going to give us a hunky male name for one of these wonderful helpers — Siri, Alexa, Cortana, et al.?)

Congratulations to the winners and to all the participants!


Monica BayMonica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX: The Stanford Center for Legal Informatics and a columnist for Above The Law. She also writes for Bloomberg BNA’s Big Law Business and is an analyst and consultant. A member of the California Bar, she frequently can be found at Yankee Stadium. Email: monicabay1@gmail.com. Twitter: @MonicaBay.

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