Australia’s first ever legal tech incubator, created by Lander & Rogers back in 2019, has announced its 2022 cohort, which includes companies from the US and UK.
This year there will be five businesses taking part in the firm’s LawTech Hub programme, which lasts six months. Some readers may recognise at least two of them: US-based DraftWise and also SettleIndex from the UK, which this site has covered before. It’s also the first time the Hub has had an ESG startup join, see NetNada.
The 2022 Cohort:
– Melbourne-based BotL, a student-led startup that aims to innovate the way Australian law schools prepare law students for the future of legal practice. BotL’s approach to the hands-on learning of legal technology places students at the heart of technological disruption in law.
– DraftWise, headquartered in New York, helps transactional attorneys use their firm’s best language to draft and negotiate complex agreements directly inside Microsoft Word. DraftWise is a group of product-driven, user-focused entrepreneurs with backgrounds in software engineering, machine learning, banking and finance law, and platform security.
– Brisbane-based Halisok specialises in machine learning to extract unstructured data that is locked in PDFs, jpgs, Word documents, emails, audio and more.
– Sydney’s NetNada is AI-based software that integrates into a business utilising available data to analyse emissions within the organisation’s footprint, then supplies a solution for the business to reduce emissions while driving ROI and stakeholder engagement.
– SettleIndex from London is a decision and risk analysis platform for litigation that informs strategy and enables lawyers and clients to work better together. SettleIndex enables lawyers to create financial models for disputes, to visualise case outcomes, track case progress through KPIs and collect and analyse structured data on litigation.
The participants will be able to pilot their projects and gain access to the networks, experience, and expertise of Lander & Rogers, the firm said. Although perhaps not as well-known as the largest law firms Down Under, Lander has pioneered legal tech programmes in Australia.
Genevieve Collins, Chief Executive Partner of Lander & Rogers, said: ‘The entire firm is excited to welcome five new residents to this year’s LawTech Hub program. Disruption in the legal industry is at its prime and I’m incredibly proud that we’ve been nurturing the world’s most promising entrepreneurs since launching the LawTech Hub in 2019.
‘This year is especially exciting as we align one of our key firm strategies to the hub – our commitment to the environment. Lander & Rogers is on track to be carbon neutral by this June and at the forefront of carbon accounting in Australia’s legal industry.
‘An incoming LawTech Hub startup is using artificial intelligence to help businesses reduce their carbon emissions and we’re excited to pilot it at Lander & Rogers. We’re also looking forward to welcoming an education platform to the cohort, as education in legal tech is vital to the industry and new lawyers.’
Artificial Lawyer has to say this is great to see. As ever, incubators help the startups to better understand the real-world needs of the lawyers and their clients, thus leading to better products. In turn, the lawyers at the firm get hands-on experience with the startups, helping them to feel more familiar with new approaches to handling some of their, or their clients’, legal needs.
The fact that this incubator is attracting startups from the US and UK is also testament to Australia’s position as a vibrant legal tech market.
I love to see initiatives like this. Incubators are doing a lot of great work to help the legal tech space not just grow, but thrive. Australia is certainly a vibrant and developing legal tech market!