Episode 56 of the Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast -- A conversation with Jackie Schafer, founder and CEO of Clearbrief
Nov 24, 2023
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Jackie Schafer, founder of Clearbrief, discusses the challenges faced by women founders in the legal tech industry, the importance of confidently presenting products, marketing to law firm decision-makers, and the implications of AI on billing practices. The podcast explores her journey from lawyer to tech CEO and the transformative impact of Clearbrief's AI tools on legal practices.
Women founders face challenges in securing venture capital despite offering high-quality products.
AI tools in legal practice require effective training and supervision to address ethical considerations raised by bar associations.
Legal tech startups like ClearBrief are revolutionizing legal drafting with features that cater to various users within law firms.
Deep dives
Overview of ClearBrief and its Founder
Jackie Schafer, the founder and CEO of ClearBrief, discusses her legal background as a litigator and how it inspired her to start the company in 2020. Despite challenges during the pandemic, they managed to raise funds and launch their product, which is now used by numerous paying customers in law firms, courts, government agencies, and in-house legal teams both nationally and internationally.
Innovative Features and Awards of ClearBrief
ClearBrief stands out in the legal tech space with its innovative features like a Microsoft Word add-in that simplifies the citation process for litigators. Their product suggests specific evidence pages from uploaded files, generates hyperlinks for citations, and includes partnership integrations with leading companies like Clio and Fastcase. ClearBrief's focus on efficient legal drafting led to the recognition of winning startup of the year in 2022 and litigation product of the year in 2023.
Implications of AI in Legal Practice
Jackie delves into the evolving role of AI in legal practice, highlighting the importance of training and supervising AI tools effectively. She mentions ethical considerations raised by bar associations regarding billing practices with AI and emphasizes the need for lawyers to leverage AI efficiently to enhance productivity while maintaining ethical standards.
Challenges and Success Strategies for Women Founders in Legal Tech
As a female founder in the legal tech industry, Jackie shares insights on overcoming challenges in securing venture capital investments. She emphasizes the importance of persistence, customer research, and developing conviction in one's product. Additionally, she advocates for addressing gender biases in funding by showcasing the value and impact of female-led startups to investors.
Adapting to Changing Legal Landscape and Embracing Efficiency
In discussing ClearBrief's adoption within legal firms, Jackie explores the shift away from traditional billing practices and towards efficient legal technologies. By offering features that cater to various users within law firms, ClearBrief addresses the need for enhanced productivity and competitiveness in the legal market. Jackie underscores the significance of preparing for the transition to AI-driven legal workflows while maintaining focus on quality and strategic analysis in legal practice.
In this podcast episode, Jackie shares her personal journey from working as a lawyer to founding Clearbrief, an AI-powered litigation analysis tool that integrates with Microsoft Word to assist with research, citations, and document management.
Jackie and Charlie discuss the challenges women founders face in getting venture capital attention and support, even when their offerings are high quality. Jackie spoke about the importance of women legal tech startup leaders speaking confidently about their product and its market prospects (especially when, as was the case with Jackie’s own early product development efforts, the assessment of product prospects is based on feedback arising out of literally hundreds of customer interviews).
Charlie and Jackie also talk about the difficulties of marketing a product to senior law firm decision-makers (who, after all, control budgets) based not only on the product’s firm-wide and enterprise-wide benefits but also on the product’s prospects for improving the quality of life for junior lawyers and paralegals.
Charlie and Jackie cover the implications of AI on the legal profession, including AI’s potential impact on billing practices as technology continues to drive efficiency.
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