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Legal tech companies combining functionalities
RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers
Published: October 11, 2019
With so many tech companies offering large and small platforms and apps into the market, it was only a matter of time before some of them started combining forces in what may be a wave of the future. Here are a couple of examples of what looks like a new wave of collaborative activity.
In one notable instance, AI email app ZERO (https://zeroapp.ai/) is joining forces with American LegalNet’s (ALN; https://www.alncorp.com/) eDockets product to allow information contained in emails to populate data into the docketing platform.
That integration is designed to meet the needs of a firm’s docketing staff, who are often taxed with bringing in widely dispersed information in order to make sure that all court papers are in the proper position in the workflow.
Needless to say, docketing in a large firm can involve numerous data points spread out over all kinds of devices and communications. It seems virtually impossible for docketing clerks, even with the best technology available, to fins every little communication.
ZERO is an add-on that analyzes data within emails and files it into the appropriate workflow solution. The company said that this saves time, particularly billable hours, and also helps reduce the errors inherent in human data entry. ZERO has mobile and desktop apps and is applicable to many other platforms, and works inside the firewall—it does not have a cloud-based application. It also works with NetDocuments and iManage.
ALN has several e-docketing products, including eDockets, Docket Direct, Forms WorkFlow, Smart Dockets, and Docket Alert. The Los Angeles-based company is sort of ancient in legal tech terms—it has been around since 1996.
Locally, an Akron software developer (who cannot yet be named) has developed a wraparound for a European enterprise architecture platform (which also cannot yet be named) that helps with GDPR/CCPA compliance, and may have substantial other applications.
Enterprise architecture technology creates a visualized representation of a computing system—in this case, color-coding the various parts of the system to give the user a picture of the entire structure. Mesh’s wraparound, called Auditdoq, acts like an app on top of that EA structure, allowing quicker input and retrieval of the information necessary to comply with audit requests from GDPR and CCPA governing bodies.
The two companies working together and merging their technologies, while remaining separate entities, can offer solutions that neither of them can offer alone. Developers out there may want to consider these kinds of joint development ventures instead of trying to develop all solutions on their own. Makes sense to me.