Heads up legal tech startups, Mishcon de Reya has today (9 January) opened a second round of applications for it technology incubator MDR LAB. Open to early stage and growth technology start-ups, applications are welcomed from companies at concept through to revenue-generating stage, as long as the product or service is applicable to the legal industry.
Last year, MDR LAB’s inaugural programme saw six companies chosen to spend 10 weeks working alongside Mishcon de Reya’s lawyers and business operations teams to develop and trial their products – giving the firm access to cutting edge technology and giving the companies access to legal and business expertise.
At a presentation at the end of the 10-week programme, which Legal IT Insider attended, the startups attested to the huge benefits brought by having such unfettered access to and input from end users.
Since the programme completed, Mishcon de Reya has continued to develop relationships with all of the 2017 participating companies, and in November announced that it invested in two of them: Everchron, developers of collaborative litigation management software; and Ping, whose product automates timekeeping for lawyers and provides data analysis for law firms.
In December, Mishcon de Reya announced that it has convened an International Advisory Board to help develop the MDR LAB programme into 2018. Members of the Board act as ambassadors for MDR LAB in key markets across the globe – with current members based in the UK, US, Canada, Asia Pacific and Israel.
Nick West (pictured), chief strategy officer and soon to be chief technology officer at Mishcon de Reya, said: “We are really excited to open applications for MDR LAB’s second year. Our first year achieved a lot; we met and worked with inspirational people and innovative companies – and we continue to work with all of the 2017 MDR LAB companies.
“Our new International Advisory Board will enable us to know more about what’s happening on the ground in some key tech hubs, and better understand how to attract the most innovative companies to come and work with us.”