Legaltech roll of honour: Difference between revisions

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As we go we are adding new ventures as we find out about them — if you would like yours featured don’t hesitate to drop us a line.
As we go we are adding new ventures as we find out about them — if you would like yours featured don’t hesitate to drop us a line.


We aim to track two dynamics:  
We aim to track a few dynamics:  
===Failures===
Those that have just run out of steam altogether — “👻 as of ~”. Since 2021, that is 42 firms out of the 270 odd on the original list — fifteen percent — have gone ''[[tetas arriba]]'' in just two years. And that was ''before'' the tech winter kicked in.


First: those that have just run out of steam altogether — “👻 as of ~”. Since 2021, that is 42 firms out of the 270 odd on the original list — fifteen percent — have gone ''[[tetas arriba]]'' in just two years. And that was ''before'' the tech winter kicked in.
===Acquisitions===
Our theory is the industry is desperate for consolidation. We will mark those who have been acquired by a bigger fish thus🦈. With the winter coming, the theory ''should'' be that getting hoovered up into a bigger operator, as an alternative to just running out of money altogether, is the smart choice. But good luck with that exit package.  


Second: those who have been acquired by a bigger fish🦈 the theory being that the [[legaltech]] sector is utterly desperate for ''any'' kind of consolidation, so being hoovered up into a bigger operator, as an alternative to just running out of money altogether, is the smart choice. But good luck with that exit package. but here is the weird thing: only eleven firms have been acquired. The needed legal consolidation is not happening. Again, maybe that will change as the tech winter sets in.
But here is the weird thing: ''only eleven firms have been acquired''. That is a consolidation rate of just two percent per annum. The needed legal consolidation is not happening.  
 
Perhaps this will change as the tech winter sets in.
 
===Dreary business ideas===
Where we see it, we have also added snarkish, superficial and no doubt thoroughly unjustified shade, in the form of emojis about the products based on their business name, website presentation and proclivity for meaningless buzzwordery.
 
Sticking “lex”, “ify” or “ly” in your business name and getting some Romanian coder you found on Upwork to mocking up some basic html workflow and claiming you have revolutionised contract management is not going to cut it.
 
You are welcome to click on the now 300 websites we have painstakingly collated. In fact, you ''should''. It is a sobering realisation of how homogenous, quotidian, and basically ''dreary'' this sector is. There are a few outliers, but broadly the applications all do more or less the same things, with few variations. At least twenty-five firms offering basically the same contract generation and document management service. ''They are not all going to survive''.
 
As we get on we are planning to build the list out to feature the types of businesses these websites represent, but for now just clicking on the links will reveal a jaw-dropping amount of homogeneity. Lots of frustrated associates at across the big law universe all seem to have had the same idea. Who would have thought that legal practitioners would be so conditioned to thinking in exactly the same way as each other?


Where we see it, we have also added snarkish, superficial and no doubt thoroughly unjustified shade, in the form of emojis about the products based on their business nsame, website presentation and proclivity for meaningless buzzwordery. You are welcome to click on the now 300 websites we have painstakingly collated. In fact, you ''should''. It is a sobering realisation of how homogenous, quotidian, and basically ''dreary'' this sector is. There are a few outliers, but broadly the applications all do more or less the same things, with few variations. At least twenty-five firms offering basically the same contract generation and document management service. ''They are not all going to survive''.


As we get on we are planning to build the list out to feature the types of businesses these websites represent, but for now just clicking on the links will reveal a jaw-dropping amount of homogeneity. Lots of frustrated associates at across the big law universe have all had the same idea.


{{sa}}
{{sa}}

Revision as of 17:45, 13 January 2023

The JC pontificates about technology
An occasional series.
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You know what we think about legaltech.

As an special service, the JC is tracking the legaltechbros he knows about.

This comes, at first, from those enusiastic people at Legal Geek and their “startup map” that they kindly created in 2021, and which is now a dynamic, although somewhat hard to follow, and not fabulously well-updated, online resource.

This gives you the current state of peak inflated expectations, but buries its own fossil record — those legaltech startups which are, for whatever reason, no longer of this earth — in a way which our one won’t. I don’t promise it is accurate, or fair, or up-to-date. If you think your business has been unfairly characterised, let me know.

As we go we are adding new ventures as we find out about them — if you would like yours featured don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

We aim to track a few dynamics:

Failures

Those that have just run out of steam altogether — “👻 as of ~”. Since 2021, that is 42 firms out of the 270 odd on the original list — fifteen percent — have gone tetas arriba in just two years. And that was before the tech winter kicked in.

Acquisitions

Our theory is the industry is desperate for consolidation. We will mark those who have been acquired by a bigger fish thus🦈. With the winter coming, the theory should be that getting hoovered up into a bigger operator, as an alternative to just running out of money altogether, is the smart choice. But good luck with that exit package.

But here is the weird thing: only eleven firms have been acquired. That is a consolidation rate of just two percent per annum. The needed legal consolidation is not happening.

Perhaps this will change as the tech winter sets in.

Dreary business ideas

Where we see it, we have also added snarkish, superficial and no doubt thoroughly unjustified shade, in the form of emojis about the products based on their business name, website presentation and proclivity for meaningless buzzwordery.

Sticking “lex”, “ify” or “ly” in your business name and getting some Romanian coder you found on Upwork to mocking up some basic html workflow and claiming you have revolutionised contract management is not going to cut it.

You are welcome to click on the now 300 websites we have painstakingly collated. In fact, you should. It is a sobering realisation of how homogenous, quotidian, and basically dreary this sector is. There are a few outliers, but broadly the applications all do more or less the same things, with few variations. At least twenty-five firms offering basically the same contract generation and document management service. They are not all going to survive.

As we get on we are planning to build the list out to feature the types of businesses these websites represent, but for now just clicking on the links will reveal a jaw-dropping amount of homogeneity. Lots of frustrated associates at across the big law universe all seem to have had the same idea. Who would have thought that legal practitioners would be so conditioned to thinking in exactly the same way as each other?


See also

So, with feeling:

The JC’s Legaltech Roll of Honour

Key

👻: Defunct as of ~
🦈: Gobbled
🏷️: Name change
🛸: AI/space-aged
🚑: Ambulance chasing
🤓: Smart contracting
🤖: Automation
🔨: Alternative legal services
₿: Blockchain
🖥️: Process management
🖊️: Digital execution
📚: Knowhow/Training/Compliance
🛒: Marketplace/Spend management
🦮: Support for lawyers
🥐: Continental
💩: Buzzword extravaganza
⚖️: Dreary branding
😬: Eeesh
🤡: Oh dear with the branding
🏌️: Join the club: homogenous product

🤷: Search me

Roll

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