On 14 May, the international law firm Allen & Overy opened the application process for its London-based tech innovation space “Fuse”. A&O are seeking mature and start-up tech companies that have synergies with their business to work alongside them as part of “Fuse”, which is slated to open in September 2017.
A&O is starting Fuse in order to bring tech companies, lawyers, technologists and its clients together to “explore, develop and test legal, regulatory and deal-related solutions.”
Fuse will be based out of A&O’s London offices, near Liverpool Street station and pretty much in Shoreditch!
Application forms for interested parties can be downloaded online – the application process will close on 12 June. Apply now for Fuse.
Also on 14 May, independent law firm Mishcon de Reya revealed the six technology start-ups selected to participate in their technology incubator, the “MDR LAB”. The start-ups were selected following a pitch day on 25 April where 19 companies presented their products and ideas at the firm’s London headquarters.
Two of the start-ups are based in the UK, with the other four coming from Germany, the US and India.
The MDR LAB was launched in January in conjunction with innovation specialists and investors L Marks and consists of a 10-week programme (which started on 8 May) in which the six chosen companies will have access to MDR lawyers and other business experts to help them pilot and improve their products and to gain a better understanding of how legal services are provided.
SeedLegals – the automated legal platform for start-ups – have also partnered with MDR LAB to further support the participating companies.
Mishcon de Reya’s Chief Strategy Officer and Director of the MDR LAB, Nick West, said:
Mishcon de Reya has made a commitment to becoming technologically transformed and being at the forefront of technological innovation in the legal industry. MDR LAB is a key part of this commitment and we are really excited and encouraged by the calibre of our chosen participants. We look forward to welcoming them into Mishcon de Reya, and contributing to their development over the coming months.”
MDR Labs Participants
Everchron is a US-based company founded by former litigators. The company’s collaborative litigation management software puts case critical information and analysis at lawyers’ fingertips. With its intuitive search interface, dynamic key document chronologies, and automatically generated witness files, lawyers can quickly find relevant information and communicate it to team members wherever and whenever they need it. Secure, intuitive, and intelligent, Everchron is built to handle cases of all sizes, including the most complex and large scale litigations.
An exciting start-up at concept stage, Orbital Witness was founded this year to deliver actionable insights from satellite imagery for use by real estate lawyers. Its product provides customers with historical images of a site, a vast improvement on old image sources such as Google Earth. Orbital Witness can automatically scour cloud-based imagery from commercial satellite operators and space agencies, and use machine learning techniques to analyse the imagery in conjunction with existing real estate datasets to solve clients’ queries and innovate in real estate practice.
Founded in 2016, Ping is based in the US. Its product, which automates timekeeping for lawyers and provides data analysis for law firms, is at user stage. Lawyers lose up to 20% in billable time, and law firms lose critical data, as a result of lawyers manually timekeeping. Ping’s solution eliminates the need for lawyers to keep track of time. This ensures that firms capture more billable hours and can capitalise on the accurate data that it collects.
Founded in 2013, SaltDNA is based in Belfast with 17 staff. Its product is at user stage, and revenue generating. SaltDNA provides a fully enterprise-managed software solution that enables absolute privacy in mobile communications. It is easy to deploy and uses multi-layered encryption techniques to meet the highest of security standards. The SaltDNA Desktop and Mobile apps are intuitive and easy to install and use. The SaltDNA Communication Manager provides a console for tight management of users and can be configured for the management of regulatory (i.e. FINRA, HIPAA and MiFID) compliance.
Founded in 2015 and based in India with 12 staff, Surukam’s product is at user stage and the company is revenue-generating. It provides artificial intelligence powered solutions for the automation of contract management, with minimal human intervention. Designed and developed by its AI and contract experts, Surukam’s platform, CruxIQ, is based on the principle of predictive analysis, and can assist in automation of contract extraction, redlining contracts and deviation analysis.
Founded in 2015 and based in Berlin, synergist.io provides a secure cloud service to automate the negotiation of contract terms, allowing customers to draft, negotiate and sign contracts without redlines or email. synergist.io shortens deal cycles by automating contract workflow, and intelligently guides users through contract negotiations. The synergist.io team are preparing to launch the first enterprise version of their contract automation platform.
