The February issue of “Legaltech News” just went live online, and I see that Editor-in-Chief Erin Harrison and her team are among those of us infected with startup fever. The cover story, “Shark Bait,” by Mike Susong, highlights the legal tech startups that will be presented next week at Legaltech New York 2016.  The CodeX Pavilion at the Exhibit Hall will offer demonstrations of startups, and on Thursday, Feb. 3, CodeX will deliver two “Legal Disruption Lightning Rounds” (a.k.a. Legal Innovation Lightning Rounds), moderated by CodeX Executive Director Roland Vogl, and featuring  Casetext, Legal Robot, Lit IQ, Arbiclaims, ClearstoneIP, Concord, SmartContract, Jurispect, and QNC GMBH. (Morning: 10:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Afternoon: 12:15 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

“Based on one funding site, AngelList, 28 legal technology startups popped up in 2015 alone, and a recent Forbes article notes ‘hundreds of legal startups are popping up all over the U.S. and Europe,'” wrote Susong. “To mimic the drama and suspense captured by ABC’s hit show and entrepreneurial battleground know as ‘Shark Tank,’ these demonstrations are subject to the questions and whims of a panel of industry giants, potential investors and respected academics.”

Judges: Ralph Baxter, former chairman/CEO of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, now an advisor for Thomson Reuters Legal, Stanford Law, Harvard Law and Georgetown Law; Joseph Borstein, global director, Pangea3 and columnist for Above The Law; and moi.

“At CodeX, we feel that much innovation in our space is driven by creative and hardworking ‘lawntrepreneurs,'” observed  Vogl, noting that over the last few years, “a tremendous amount of promising tech companies have been started,” offering new tools that help the legal profession across the board. All of the presenters “show how new technologies or technology-enabled processes can help legal professionals enhance their work and create better work product for their clients,” he said.

See also:
• “Legaltech NY Kicks Off Tuesday: Geta a CodeX Discount”
• “The Circuit: Legaltech New York 2016” on Above The Law.

Monica Bay retired last year from her 17-year post as Editor-in-Chief of ALM’s Law Technology News. She is a Fellow at CodeX and a columnist at Above The Law. She also is a freelance journalist for Bloomberg BNA Big Law Business and a special consultant to The Cowen Group. Twitter: @MonicaBay. Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu.