Melbourne-founded digital disputes platform Immediation has won a new client in the United States and has the UK in its sights, following a fundraise of AUD $3.6m earlier in October. With its ability to digitally replicate the courtroom or mediation suite, Immediation has the potential to resonate with common law countries globally, according to founder and managing director Laura Keily.
In a video interview with David Woolstencroft, director of Legal Practice Intelligence, Keily – who is a trial lawyer – describes how her 2017-founded company has been signed up by an undisclosed bank in the US. Immediation has also hired Greg Wildisen, who is based in the UK, as an independent non-executive director. Wildisen is the founder and director of Panoram and was formerly the international managing director of Neota Logic. You can see the rest of the team here.
Immediation uses proprietary technology to replicate all stages of the litigation process online – from the workflow before a hearing, up to when you land in the courtroom or mediation suite, with different modules to suit different needs. Having formally launched in 2019, its users already include the Federal Court of Australia, the Victoria Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), and New Zealand agencies such as the Ministry of Justice, Sport New Zealand and Domain Name Commission NZ. It also boasts a large panel of senior mediators and arbitrators to conduct online hearings.
Keily told Woolstencroft: “How do you replicate the courtroom or arbitration experience and be really effective online – our sweet spot is ensuring that experience is seamless and ultimately, we want to improve access to justice.” Speaking yesterday (2 November) to Legal IT Insider she added: “We can expand anywhere; the bulk of the platform is agnostic and the tools that we provide lawyer with are agnostic.”
Immediation had been building its platform for two years when the pandemic hit. Its latest raise, announced on 17 October, brings its total funding to AUD $10m. That funding will enable it to spend the next 12 months focused on growing in the U.S. and European markets.
Other companies that provide an online digital disputes platform include Opus 2, while Caselines (owned by Thomson Reuters) is used by courts globally.