AltaClaro, an e-learning company that provides legal training to law schools and law firms, has bagged $2.5m in funding. Legal tech investors Bryce Catalyst led the round, with US law firm Orrick and edtech venture capital fund, LearnStart, also participating.
Legal education is not an area where you often see legal tech investment of this type, but AltaClaro, which started back in 2017, very much has a startup mentality and is seeking to grow rapidly. It noted that the cash would help it to expand across the US, and also globally, which may mean the UK.
This is how it describes itself: ‘AltaClaro is the leading provider of experiential bootcamps for lawyers and law students.
‘Our unique learn-by-doing and feedback model helps attorneys become practice-ready at an accelerated pace, empowering participants to own their career trajectory and helping law firms to drastically reduce the costs associated with training.’
The company added that you can ‘plug in our materials and instructors, and we can have your solution up and running in minutes, or supplement our materials with your firm’s resources’. The company has enlisted a number of Big Law staff to help provide the lessons as well.
Given the steep learning curve law students face as they move from a bookish academic environment into the frenetic world of a commercial law firm where the focus is on doing the deal, such education can only help – especially if it’s feeding in first-hand experience from people who have worked at large law firms.
As to Orrick’s involvement, they started their legal tech investment programme back in 2018, saying at the time: ‘The firm intends to create a strategic relationship with each portfolio company, with Orrick typically acting as a beta customer, while making an investment in the range of $250,000. Orrick expects to be investing alongside well-known lead financial investors.’
Moreover, as part of the investment, Cary Burch, President and CEO of Bryce Catalyst, has been appointed to AltaClaro’s board of directors. He commented: ‘AltaClaro’s unique education platform for legal professionals solves the pain points that have been facing law firms for years – the need to efficiently train lawyers to advance them to the next level significantly impacts a law firm’s bottom-line.
‘We are excited to be investors and advisors for this passionate team with their vision of quickly training and empowering lawyers and assisting law firms with recruitment and retention.’
Bryce, which launched in 2020, has also invested in Reynen Court and Deal Closer, among other companies. It tends to focus on legal tech, regtech and cybersecurity.
And Abdi Shayesteh, CEO and Founder of AltaClaro, concluded: ‘We are excited about our new partnership with Bryce Catalyst, as it offers us unfettered access to investors who are seasoned operators in the legal and software industry.’
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Thank you for the coverage on Bryce Catalyst, AltaClaro