Latest News

Digital contract management platform Contractbook has raised €3.5m from a syndicate led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI Fund, together with Nordic VC-fund byFounders and a group of key angel investors. The investment is significant not just because of Google’s participation in a legal tech funding round – we understand this is a first – but because Gradient invests in and connects startups with Google’s resources, innovation and technical leadership in AI. This is the first time a Google backed VC has invested in Denmark.

iManage training partner iTrain Legal will today (19 November) unveil a new legal chatbot service that provides end-users with answers at the point of need.

Zylpha has formally launched an integration between its legal document bundling software and the iManage 9 platform. Of particular note is the Pay As You Bundle functionality, enabling users to pay only for what they use. A traditional enterprise integration is also available for organisations with high user counts.

Former Zapproved eDiscovery distinguished fellow Brad Harris has joined Hanzo as vice president of product, tasked with expanding the company’s product vision and developing data management solutions for its impressive array of corporate legal and compliance departments.

Legal engineering company SYKE has appointed Lewis Bretts to the role of chief strategy officer (CSO). Formerly a practising commercial barrister, Bretts has been consulting for SYKE since January 2019.

As we first revealed in the October Orange Rag, OnePlace’s founder Tim Smith has largely exited the client lifecycle management business following its acquisition by Intapp, as Intapp formally rebrands its entire business around the OnePlace name.

UK top 50 law firm Stephenson Harwood has selected Litera as a core transaction management platform. The win announcement notably makes no reference to Transact or Doxly, the transaction management platforms that Litera has acquired and absorbed in the UK and US respectively as it pieces together a one-stop-shop productivity suite.

This week I’m one of many speaking at the European Legal Tech Association in Madrid, which will bring together almost 300 delegates and sponsors from across the Continent and beyond to discuss innovation and transformation in the sector. Come find me if you’re there.

Email management provider ZERØ has hired time entry guru David Robinson from Intapp as its new vice president of product. This is an interesting hire not least because Robinson will be responsible for spearheading new time capture initiatives and expanding the existing ZERØ product.

Eversheds Sutherland’s former IT director Andrew McManus has begun a new role at private equity house Bridgepoint after five and a half years at the international law firm. We spoke to him about the new role.

Alternative legal services provider Integreon in October announced a new partnership with Seal Software, in what will start as a LIBOR repapering offering but is expected to expand far beyond that.  We spoke to Integreon’s CEO Bob Rowe and Integreon’s senior VP of contracts, compliance and commercial services, Jeff Catanzaro about their plans.

Transatlantic law firm Womble Bond Dickinson has rolled out a new knowledge management application using the iManage RAVN search engine to unlock greater insights into its people, financial centric data, and associated relationships.

In a figure that will prompt further questions over how…

I was recently on a panel to discuss the death of the billable hour and thought I’d share (with his permission!) a behind-the-scenes conversation with Hans Albers, general counsel and head of legal operations at Juniper Networks, who is also president of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Automated legal timekeeping provider Ping has raised a $13.2 million Series A investment round led by Upfront Ventures. 

Last week I was honoured to open David Cowen’s London Summit on Legal Innovation and Disruption (SOLID) among fellow speakers such as BT’s head of legal vendor management Neil Willson; Accenture’s deputy general counsel Christina Demetriades; John Lewis Partnership’s director of legal  Hannah Hullah; and American Express’s director and counsel for legal services Emer Kelly, to name a few. Here are the highlights.

Germany-headquartered decision automation software provider BRYTER today (12 November) announces a $6m late-seed funding round led by leading global venture capital firm Accel, with participation from Notion Capital.

Ashurst has announced the first cohort of businesses for FinTech Legal Labs, a three-day accelerator programme designed to provide FinTech businesses with legal support and access to investors and leading financial institutions, plus ongoing activities.

Late but worth the wait, see here all the stories from the latest Orange Rag, which is packed as usual with news and commentary.

Cyber security provider Darktrace and legal online marketplace Lexoo have been ranked at number 12 and 25 respectively in Deloitte’s UK Fast 50, which is a list of the 50 fastest-growing technology companies in the UK based on revenue growth over the last four years.

Ashurst has today (8 November) formally launched a new flexible resourcing platform – Ashurst Advance Reach – working in collaboration with law companies Cognia Law and Elevate.

North-East London law firm Thirsk Winton has upgraded and migrated its privately hosted iManage Work email and document management solution to the iManage Cloud with the help of Ascertus Limited, migrating nearly one million documents.

Anthony Barrett has joined Enable Business Solutions to head up their sales in the UK. Formely at LexisNexis,  Barrett is a well-known figure in the UK legal market and over the past 12 years has also held roles at nQueue Billback, Phoenix Business Solutions, Hubbard One and TimeKM.