AI for Services: Legaltech Matchmaking Event

Posted on: 14/01/2020

A chance to meet major law firms in an evening of facilitated speed networking.

AI for Services, in partnership with Early Metrics, is hosting an exclusive Legaltech Matchmaking event on Thursday 5th March in London. This session will offer innovative AI & Data start-ups the opportunity to meet leading law firms to help them solve their R&D challenges. Confirmed participants include Allen & Overy, Ashurst, DLA Piper,Linklaters, Mishcon de Reya, Slaughter and May, and Weightmans.

 

The event will take place from 17:30 – 20:30 on Thursday 5th March in Central London. Up to 20 of the most innovative companies who apply to attend will be invited to meet with established law firms for an evening of facilitated networking.

 

If you are a startup or SME interested in attending, please complete the application form by Thursday 13th February. Before submitting your application, please read the background information below and ensure you answer the questions in full. Applicants will be selected based on their level of innovation and ability to solve the partners’ challenges (available below).

Event Format

The event format has been designed to connect entrepreneurs with potential clients and collaborators through a series of rapid ‘speed dating’ style sessions, which may lead to successful commercial relationships. Digital innovator attendees will rotate around the room with strictly seven minutes within which to have a one-to-one conversation or pitch to each industry representative. There will be refreshments throughout the evening with industry, academic experts and special guests joining the event.

Challenge Statements

Allen & Overy, member of the UK’s Magic Circle of leading law firms, is looking for legaltech companies and start-ups that:

  • use legal process automation or robotic process automation to generate efficiencies within the Corporate, Banking and/or Capital Markets practice.
  • understand how best to structure large volumes of unstructured legal data and the potential and value in doing so.

 

Slaughter & May, the multinational law firm headquartered in London, is exploring how they might communicate legal information to clients in more effective and engaging ways. For example, they would be interested in using technology and data driven approaches to:

  • add richer data structures to our work to make it more interactive and connected;
  • automatically tailor our work to an individual‚Äôs needs (e.g. automatically adjusting the style / language of our work depending on whether the recipient is another lawyer)
  • track how users interact with our work (e.g. our client publications) and use that information to drive recommendations / business development leads; and
  • empower our lawyers to add visual and other design elements to legal work products whilst ensuring those elements remain ‚Äòmachine readable‚Äô for other data processing purposes (e.g. search and review)Other statements to be added soon.

 

Ashurst, the UK’s 10th largest law firm by revenue, has excellent capabilities within the innovation and legal tech space and are continuously looking to improve its offering to clients. Further to the FCA announcement requiring firms to transition away from the interest rate benchmark LIBOR before the end of 2021, they are particularly interested in evaluating end-to-end solutions that incorporate Machine Learning, Robotic Process Automation and data analytics to address this.

 

Mishcon de Reya LLP made technology a core theme of their 10-Year-Vision, which stated “to be technologically transformed, automating tasks and processes where possible, using AI and Cloud technology as key elements of practice”. They have since launched MDR Discover, becoming the first UK law firm to have its own in-house e-discovery business; launched an incubator programme for tech start-ups in the legal space, MDR LAB; and their Real Estate department has developed a suite of tools to deliver better outcomes for clients and enable its lawyers to work faster and more efficiently. For this event their focus will be on the following categories:

  • Document analysis tools ‚Äì using supervised and unsupervised ml models
  • Contract pre-screening
  • Legal process automation
  • Document automation
  • Prop-tech / Real-Estate specific tech

The list of categories is not exhaustive. They are happy to hear from early stage as well as growth technology start-ups, as long as the product or service is applicable to the legal industry.

 

DLA Piper, the multinational law firm, is interested in exploring semantic and logical reasoning capabilities of AI. Ideally this capability could interface with other AI technologies and workflows to create a full solution stack for them.

 

20 years ago it was common and accepted practice for employers and employees to settle a dispute by a non-disclosure agreement. However, following the advent of the #metoo campaign the use of non-disclosure clauses has been brought in to disrepute. Similarly, at its outset, Cambridge Analytica complied with all relevant legislation but the public sentiment was that its use of data was morally repugnant so much so that the business closed. It is also perfectly legal to sell the leasehold to residential property, but most recently, the morality of that practice, whilst legal, has been questioned. Weightmans, a leading UK law firm, is interested in exploring new products or services that can alert their clients of risks that may impact them, based less on a change in legislation and more around a change in sentiment around the morality/acceptability of what they are doing.

 

APPLY HERE before 13 February!

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