Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast

Matt Lhoumeau never expected to build a contract lifecycle management platform. After being kicked out of his home at 17 when he came out, he built and sold a gaming website, worked for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and found himself tasked with renegotiating 500 vendor contracts at a major telecom company. That frustrating experience—hunting for contracts in file cabinets, building unwieldy spreadsheets, and missing critical deadlines—sparked the idea for Concord, the CLM that Matt founded and now heads.Ten years after founding Concord, Matt challenges conventional wisdom about contract management. "I don't believe contract management is legal tech anymore," he explains, noting that 70% of Concord's customers have no legal team at all. Operations and finance departments handle contracts using templates and outsourced counsel when needed. This shift represents a fundamental change in how businesses approach agreements.Matt reveals that simplicity has been Concord's secret sauce from day one. While competitors built complex systems requiring months-long implementations, Concord focused on creating something that "just works." Now, with the platform rebuilt from scratch to be AI-first, implementation time will shrink from months to days or even hours. Matt also notes that the integration of Model Context Protocol (MCP) represents what Matt calls "one of the most important technological changes in the next 10 years"—allowing AI systems like ChatGPT to communicate directly with Concord and other business applications.For fellow founders, Matt offers hard-earned wisdom: trust your gut. "When you build a company, you seek advice from a lot of people... and everyone has an opinion," he reflects. "I tried to please too many gods instead of doing what I thought was right for me." Finding confidence in your vision, even when surrounded by different perspectives, ultimately leads to better decisions and more fulfilling entrepreneurship.Ready to simplify contract management for your organization? Visit https://www.concord.app to discover how their AI-powered platform can transform your approach to agreements.

Ever wondered how legislative affairs professionals keep track of rapidly changing bills across multiple states? The answer increasingly involves artificial intelligence, and Paul Rava, co-founder of Roboro, is at the forefront of this transformation.In this enlightening conversation, Paul reveals how Roboro's AI-powered legislative intelligence platform is revolutionizing government affairs by shifting it from reactive to proactive. With federal gridlock pushing more critical decisions to state legislatures, staying informed has never been more challenging—or more important. Traditional methods involving manual keyword searches, printing bills, and highlighting changes simply can't keep pace with today's legislative environment.Roboro tackles this challenge by leveraging natural language processing to understand the meaning and intent behind legislative text. Rather than bombarding users with irrelevant alerts, Roboro functions as "eyes and ears at the legislature 24/7," delivering personalized, actionable insights about legislation that truly matters to specific users. The impact has been dramatic, with customers reporting 30-40% time savings and sharing stories of how real-time alerts have literally changed the direction of their workday.What distinguishes Roboro is its commitment to building trust. Paul describes how they've incorporated transparency features that explain not just what the system recommends, but why it makes those recommendations. This approach addresses concerns about AI reliability while maximizing the technology's practical value.Perhaps most compelling is Roboro's philosophy about the role of AI in legal work. As Paul memorably puts it, "We are building Iron Man suits, not Terminators." The goal isn't to replace human professionals but to augment their capabilities, allowing them to focus on relationships and strategic thinking while the technology handles information processing at scale. This approach democratizes access to legislative intelligence, giving smaller organizations the same visibility previously available only to well-resourced teams.Whether you're a legal tech founder looking for inspiration, a government affairs professional seeking efficiency, or simply curious about practical applications of AI in law, this conversation offers valuable insights into how technology is reshaping legislative advocacy for the better.

What happens when a hardworking corporate lawyer joins forces with an MIT AI researcher? A revolutionary solution to one of the legal profession's most notorious pain points: due diligence.  Connor Acle, co-founder and CEO of Marveri (https://www.marveri.com/), shares his journey from Morrison Foerster associate to legal tech entrepreneur in this illuminating conversation. After experiencing firsthand how due diligence consumed over half of transaction legal budgets while burning out junior associates, Connor saw an opportunity when ChatGPT emerged. He partnered with an MIT PhD candidate specializing in AI to create a system that fundamentally reimagines how lawyers approach data rooms.  Marveri doesn't just analyze individual documents – it builds a comprehensive understanding of an entire company's legal framework. The software transforms chaotic data rooms into organized repositories with standardized naming conventions in seconds, automatically verifies document execution by checking every required signature, and can even generate first drafts of due diligence reports. Most impressively, when tested against documents labeled by expert attorneys, Marveri's system performed as well or better than human lawyers.  The market response reveals a fascinating divide in the legal industry. While end users consistently describe Marveri as "mind-blowing" and "game-changing," law firms themselves range from complete prohibition of AI tools to enthusiastic early adoption. Forward-thinking firms recognize that AI proficiency will soon become as essential to legal practice as email and computers, giving their attorneys a competitive advantage by embracing these technologies now.  For fellow startup founders, Connor emphasizes the importance of customer relationships. Many of Marveri's most successful features came directly from user suggestions, highlighting the wealth of knowledge possessed by practicing attorneys who understand daily challenges firsthand.  Connect with Connor on LinkedIn or visit Marveri.com to discover (and get a demo of) how AI is transforming legal due diligence and empowering lawyers with the technological edge they need in today's competitive environment. And note, too, that Marveri recently raised $3.5 million from investors, including Alven, Day One Ventures, I2BF, and a syndicate of early users—a powerful vote of confidence from the very practitioners who use the platform daily.  

What happens when you combine the rigor of legal research with the power of data analytics? In this illuminating conversation with Carla Rydholm, General Manager and Head of Product at Lex Machina, we explore how legal analytics is transforming litigation strategy.Carla's unconventional journey from biology PhD to legal tech pioneer offers unique insights into how cross-disciplinary thinking drives innovation. She shares how Lex Machina evolved from a Stanford public interest project to an industry-leading analytics platform now part of LexisNexis, maintaining its original mission of bringing transparency to the law.The heart of our discussion centers on how Lex Machina converts the complexity of court records into structured, actionable data. Attorneys face countless decision points throughout litigation, from estimating case timelines to deciding whether to fight unfavorable rulings. Carla explains how comprehensive litigation data enables lawyers to ground these decisions in empirical evidence rather than just gut feeling or limited personal experience.We also tackle the evolving role of AI in legal practice. While many vendors make ambitious claims, Carla emphasizes the importance of responsible AI implementation that keeps attorneys firmly in control. Lex Machina's approach ensures their AI capabilities enhance rather than replace legal judgment, with technology serving as a trusted assistant rather than an autonomous agent.For legal tech entrepreneurs, Carla offers invaluable advice on product development: ensure your technical team gains direct exposure to users. By bridging the gap between engineers and attorneys, companies create solutions that truly address legal professionals' needs rather than just showcasing impressive technology.Ready to discover how data analytics could transform your approach to litigation strategy? Connect with Carla on LinkedIn or email her at carla.rydholm@lexisnexis.com to learn more about Lex Machina and the future of data-enabled legal practice.

Monica Zent joins us to share her journey as a seven-time founder and legal tech pioneer who has been at the forefront of innovation for nearly three decades. She discusses her evolution from creating some of the earliest ALSPs to investing in and advising the next generation of legal tech startups.• Starting as an entrepreneur in the 1990s with domain name and music industry technology companies• Founding Zentlaw 23 years ago as one of the first subscription legal services for enterprise clients• Creating early legal tech tools, including AI chatbots and collaboration platforms before they became mainstream• Investing in legal tech for the past 12 years and now partnering with venture firms to evaluate opportunities• Taking a contrarian view that legal tech is broader than commonly perceived, encompassing regulatory compliance, IP, and adjacent sectors• Advising legal tech founders to  identify real problems worth solving now• Helping law firms and legal departments navigate digital transformation with appropriate governance structures• Identifying integration opportunities between legal tech and adjacent technologies like fintech and cybersecurity• Working through Law Innovation Agency to consult with corporates, big law, and government agencies on innovationConnect with Monica Zent:• https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicazent/• https://www.monicazent.com/Subscribe to Monica's Venture Legal Newsletter:• https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7302735858552446976Discover Zentlaw and Law Innovation Agency:• https://www.lawinnovationagency.com/• https://zentlawgroup.com/

What if personal injury attorneys could say "yes" to every promising case that came through their door? That's the problem Finch Legal (https://www.finchlegal.com) is solving with a groundbreaking approach that combines human expertise with AI-powered automation.In this conversation with founders Viraj Bindra and Ben Weems, we explore how Finch Legal transforms the pre-litigation process for personal injury attorneys. After embedding themselves with law firms to understand operational pain points, these founders built a solution that handles everything from client intake to demand letter preparation, allowing attorneys to focus exclusively on what they do best.The magic behind Finch Legal's model isn't just clever AI—it's the thoughtful integration of experienced US-based paralegals working alongside AI agents that automate the most repetitive aspects of case management. This human-AI collaboration ensures clients receive empathetic service while mundane tasks like requesting medical records, opening insurance claims, and drafting documents happen efficiently in the background.What makes this conversation particularly timely is Finch Legal's recent $3.75 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital, validating their approach in an increasingly competitive legal tech landscape.For attorneys struggling with capacity constraints or legal tech entrepreneurs navigating the fundraising landscape, this episode offers both practical wisdom and inspiring vision about the future of legal practice. The founders paint a compelling picture of how thoughtful technology implementation can expand access to legal services while improving outcomes for both attorneys and clients.

Israel's innovation powerhouse isn't just transforming cybersecurity and consumer tech—it's also transforming the delivery of legal services through technological advancement. In this fascinating conversation with Idan Sivan, CTO at Fisher Law Firm and founder of the LawIT Forum, and Omri Rahum-Tweg, partner and co-head of the firm's law and technology practice, we explore how Israeli legal tech is developing at lightning speed.What makes the Israeli legal tech ecosystem special? For starters, the geographic intimacy allows startups to establish beta testing partnerships with law firms far more efficiently than in markets like the US. As Idan explains, "The market is small, the activity is small, so it's easier to gain access and to work together with law firms as a vendor." This creates a powerful advantage: Israeli legal tech companies can more often refine their products through real-world testing without the lengthy sales cycles that plague startups elsewhere.Particularly fascinating is how Fisher approaches change management across generational divides. While senior partners might not personally use every new technology, they've strategically empowered tech-savvy team members to drive implementation. This pragmatic delegation has accelerated adoption throughout the organization, allowing the firm to implement AI tools across multiple practice areas—from automated contract analysis to sophisticated due diligence capabilities that can extract substantive issues from thousands of documents.When discussing "agentic AI"—the concept of AI systems that can make decisions and complete complex workflows with minimal human intervention, both guests advocate for a balanced approach: identifying appropriate use cases while recognizing technology's current limitations. As Omri notes, "You have to be very picky and very careful and very mindful of the use cases you choose to select for this specific goal." Idan adds the crucial reminder that firms must "slow down a little bit ... you cannot talk about agentic AI and automations of legal processes if your lawyers haven't been trained for the basics."Whether you're a legal practitioner curious about technology's frontier, an investor considering the legal tech market, or simply interested in how traditional professions evolve, this episode offers valuable insights into one of legal innovation's most dynamic ecosystems. 

When you're a patent attorney facing the challenge of creating high-quality patents in half the time you once had, technology isn't just a luxury—it's survival. FX Leduc, co-founder and CEO of DeepIP (https://www.deepip.ai), joins Charlie Uniman to reveal how artificial intelligence transforms intellectual property practice from the ground up.Patent practitioners who once had 40 hours to draft applications now operate under 20-hour constraints. DeepIP addresses this pressure by providing an AI assistant that saves attorneys 20-50% of their drafting time while actually improving patent quality. Among the features that make DeepIP's approach to patent drafting unique? First, Deep IP's tech integrates directly within Microsoft Word, eliminating disruptive application switching. Second, the tech creates an iterative process where attorneys maintain complete control.The conversation takes a fascinating turn when FX explains how DeepIP handles office actions by connecting with USPTO file wrappers to analyze rejections and identify effective counterarguments. This capability becomes increasingly crucial as patent offices worldwide develop their own AI tools to generate automated rejections, creating what FX describes as an urgent need for law firms to adopt similar technologies or risk falling behind.Looking toward the future, FX highlights two key AI developments transforming the field: agentic AI, which can navigate complex workflows with semi-autonomous capabilities, and personalization, which adapts to an attorney's distinctive drafting style or client-specific requirements. These advancements represent not just efficiency gains but a fundamental shift in how patents are created and prosecuted.By addressing the unique challenges of intellectual property practice, DeepIP exemplifies how specialized legal technology can deliver genuine value. Whether you're a patent attorney, an IP professional, or a legal innovator generally, this episode offers essential insights into how AI is rapidly becoming not just an advantage but a necessity in intellectual property law.

Khalil Zlaoui and Tina Zedginidze, co-founders of CaseBlink, dive into how their AI-powered platform is revolutionizing immigration law. They discuss the challenges faced by attorneys amid rising scrutiny and case volumes. With CaseBlink's innovative tools, lawyers can streamline document handling and research, allowing them to focus on strategic case elements. They also share insights on marketing for legal tech startups, emphasizing the importance of building trust within the legal community and the value of accelerator programs for growth.

Yousuf Khan, Partner at Ridge Ventures, shares his insights on the collision of venture capital and legal tech. With a background as a former CIO, he emphasizes the importance of empathy for legal professionals in tech investment. Yousuf discusses the innovative practice of including customer introduction targets in term sheets, enhancing accountability. He also notes how AI is transforming legal outcomes, making tech adoption essential for lawyers. Founders need to connect with customers authentically to build credibility and attract investments.