If you or your company run afoul of the law, the entire process, from getting a lawyer, to the lawsuit, and everything else associated with it can cause quite the headache. For lawyers, the process can be just as bad -- how do you deal with clients who don’t pay, on-boarding new clients, or even finding new ones?
As the world of law comes into the 21st century, the legal tech industry has been booming, with several Austin startups taking the lead. So let's check out some of the Austin startups changing how the legal world operates. No need to file a friend of the court motion, because we’ll keep it brief.
JustLegal (Formerly LawBooth)
Founder: Willy Ogorzaly
What They Do: JustLegal is an online marketplace for attorneys that allows them to easily find clients. For those seeking lawyers, they can book a consultation in under 60 seconds.
Why It’s Cool: Have you ever tried to find a lawyer for your lawsuit/legal ill? The process is absolutely insane!! Not only that, but JustLegal is free for clients.
Interesting Fact: The team moved from Boulder to Austin in 2016, citing the need for greater mentorship and access to incredible legal resources in Texas.
Founder/President: Thomas Allen, Cyclone Covey
What They Do: Agilelaw manages the entire deposition process for attorneys by replacing stacks of printed document exhibits with a printed tablet device.
Why It’s Cool: Who wants to flip through hundreds of documents during a deposition? With AgileLaw, you can access documents from anywhere, reducing your deposition costs by thousands!
Interesting Fact: AgileLaw has a free deposition academy where lawyers can learn how to be more effective in depositions.
Founders: James Glancy and Ross Buhrdorf
What They Do: Businesses have to do annual filings every year. When they’re missed, a company can forfeit anything from certain rights, to a businesses identity. ZenBusiness protects those important parts of a business, from monitoring legal statuses to letting you know when it’s time to renew your company's legal status.
Why It’s Cool: Hey, it’s your own personal secretary, Texas state business reminder, and compliance agent rolled into one.
Interesting Fact: One of the founders, Buhrdorf, is going back to school (according to his LinkedIn) to get a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science.
Renew Data (now part of LDiscovery)
Founder/President: Rich Cohen
What They Do: Renew Data, which merged with LDiscovery in 2014, offers e-discovery, ESI risk management services, and forensic consulting solutions. Whether you need to store a lot of evidence, or need a mass document review RenewData can do all of that for you.
Why It’s Cool: RenewData is basically an one-stop shop for any deep data, storage and discovery needs for a business.
Interesting Fact: The CEO of LDiscovery also happens to be a high school football coach.
Founders: Kiwi Camara and Kent Radford
What They Do: Finding evidence can be an absolute timesuck, leaving you little time to spend with your clients. CS Disco created a software and has a database that helps with discovering evidence relevant to a client’s case. Additionally, the firm launched a machine learning platform that will help predict what documents are needed for evidence in big commercial cases. The company is based in Houston, but it has an office in Austin.
Why It’s Cool: Only eight percent of documents are relevant in many legal cases. CS Disco allows a lawyer to find evidence seven to eight times as fast.
Interesting Fact: Founder Camara was the youngest person to start Harvard Law School, at the age of 17.
