LawHawk is a New Zealand-based startup that provides a managed HotDocs automation service specifically aimed at lawyers. Here is what you need to know.
How do you describe your company?
LawHawk provides a managed HotDocs document automation service specifically aimed at lawyers and the more complex automation they need to provide better service than clients can obtain somewhere else. We automate customers’ own documents for them at agreed fixed fees, using our legal backgrounds to minimise up-front customer time as there is less need to explain requirements. If desired, we can then make templates available via our secure site, so Word documents can be created in minutes via a web browser with no IT to install and maintain.
When were you founded?
June 2016.
Who are your founders?
Gene Turner, previously a partner with Buddle Findlay and ranked by IFLR as a leading lawyer in corporate and banking work.
Who are you managers/senior execs?
Allen Li, most recently an expert in derivatives negotiation with a global bank, based in London.
What is your growth strategy?
Initially focussed on New Zealand, we are seeking opportunities in other Commonwealth jurisdictions.
Have you received investment?
We are self-funded to date.
Who are your target clients?
Law firms, corporate legal departments and procurement teams that want the benefits of automation within days or weeks, without having to install or maintain their own systems, do their own coding, or spend a lot of time providing detailed instructions.
What are your key challenges?
Raising awareness amongst lawyers of just how much work can be automated, quickly and at low cost, and the opportunities that presents to do more interesting and profitable work. We can automate very complex banking and corporate documents (including sets of documents) for fixed fees that could be lower than firms charge clients per transaction.
And your key market opportunities/developments?
What Larry Bridgesmith refers to as recombinant technology – where so many of powerful new technologies are being designed in a way that they can work together and further reinforce each other. Each technology is independently powerful in its own right, but when they work together, the effects could be exponential. In our case, document automation can be part of overall workflow solutions, and integrated into other systems so that most information can be automatically pulled from those systems rather than re-typed by people. Blockchain or technology assisted review could be further added on top.
In October Secured Signing and LawHawk joined forces: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1710/S00318/secured-signing-and-lawhawk-join-forces.htm
Tell us something about you that we probably didn’t know.
While we are based in New Zealand – with a cost structure to match – our automation processing is done in Dublin using HotDocs Cloud Services on Microsoft Azure. And if we don’t deliver what we say we will, you don’t have to pay, so there is no risk in giving it a go!