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ABA TECHSHOW Startup Alley Part 1
RICHARD WEINER
Technology for Lawyers
Published: January 31, 2020
So what’s new in legal technology? Lots. Particularly in the application of AI to the legal process, something that was almost unheard of even 3-4 years ago.
The ABA’s TECHSHOW is returning to Chicago in February, and, for the fourth time, is featuring a handful of legal technology startups in an area of the show cleverly called “Startup Alley.” Cause lawyers are clever.
Anyway, here are some interesting up-and-coming legal tech startups that are displaying there. This is Part I; Part II next week.
ECFX (https://www.goecfx.com/) is a platform that covers all electronic filing needs for every court in the US. It has a single dashboard interface that automatically adapts to whatever court the filing is going to; it automatically downloads court files and notices the appropriate attorneys; it integrates with the firms practice management platforms, and it even automatically bills clients for e-filing costs.
Intaker (https://intaker.co/), one of a variety of new client, AI-powered interfaces on or coming to the market. Intaker sits on the firm website and pre-qualifies potential clients by matching incoming queries to what business the law firm does. It then determines how (and if) to contact the potential client. It also tracks every incoming query.
Simply Convert (https://simplyconvert.com/) is another AI-based client qualification and conversion (as in converting potential clients into actual clients) program. It uses an automated chatbot conversant in at east 50 areas of the law. It claims to know everything about all of those areas of the law, if I’m reading this right. Do you know everything about 50 areas of the law? No, you do not.
Joseph (https://joseflegal.com/). But if you don’t want someone else trying to speak for you through their artificial intelligence platform, you can simply create your own chatbot with Joseph. Yes, you can.
Discovery Genie (https://www.discoverygenie.com/) basically does the job of a team of paralegals for cases where discovery is under 35,000 pages. It reviews, produces, organizes and indexes emails, attachments and efiles and automates Bates numbers and PDF conversions. The company claims that the platform can reduce time spent on these tasks up to 90 percent, job killing paralegal and IT departments in one fell swoop. Good on them.