Updated to include Jeff  Pfeifer, who was accidentally left out! 

This is the fourth of our new series, “Almost-Raw Press Releases,” of probable interest to the CodeX community. The press releases are edited for length, over- and under-hyping, and to add links and images. I always remove “solution” and “revolutionary,” which are banned because they are so over-used that they are meaningless. —Monica Bay.

LexisNexis Announces First Five Legal Tech Accelerator Participants
Visabot, TagDox, Separate.us, Ping and JuriLytics chosen after rigorous evaluation of 40+ applicants.

Breaking News: LexisNexis/Lex Machina Launch Accelerator 4
Josh Becker

 

Menlo Park, Calif., March 31, 2017. LexisNexis today announced the first five participants in its new Silicon Valley legal tech accelerator program, which was created to give startups a leg up in the rapidly expanding legal tech industry.

In line with LexisNexis’ vision to transform the way law is practiced, each of the accelerator participants is uniquely innovating in distinct areas of the law.

 

After a thorough evalution process, the five finalists – Visabot, TagDox, Separate.us, Ping, and JuriLytics – were selected from a list of 40+ promising startups for the interesting nature of their businesses and their innovative use of technology.

Almost-Raw Press Release: Lex Machina's 5 Legal Tech Accelerator Participants 4

The program will be led by Lex Machina CEO Josh Becker with support from LexisNexis’ Chief Technology Officer Jeff Reihl; Chief Product Officer Jamie Buckley; Vice President of U.S. Product Management, Jeff Pfeifer; and Lex Machina Chief Evangelist, Owen Byrd.

 

 

The five charter members of the LexisNexis legal tech accelerator program are:

Visabot: An “immigration robot” powered by artificial intelligence that helps customers complete U.S. visa applications, including locating relevant open data about an applicant, guiding applicants in the process of gathering supporting documents, ensuring forms are filled out accurately, and drafting appropriate language to tell the applicant’s story. (CEO: Artem Goldman.)

Almost-Raw Press Release: Lex Machina's 5 Legal Tech Accelerator Participants 2

 

 

TagDox: A legal document analysis tool that creates tags, allowing users to identify and structure information in a variety of document types, improving both the speed and the quality of the document review process; “tag results” can transform documents into easily readable summaries, checklists, database feeds or approval overviews. (Founder & CEO: Eli Luzac.)

Startup Snapshot: Sandro Tuzzo 1
Sandro Tuzzo

 

Separate.us: A web-based application that automates legal document preparation for divorces and provides access to relevant professionals at affordable fixed rates, deploying a business model that targets both B2B and B2C customers. (Founder and CIO: Sandro Tuzzo. See also, Startup Snapshot: Sandro Tuzzo.)

 

Ping (aka p.i.n.g.) An automated timekeeping application that collects all of a lawyer’s billable hours, capturing missed time and money (an estimated 20 percent across the industry), and operating entirely in the background in concert with standard legal billing software. (Co-founder, CEO: Ryan Alshak).

Almost-Raw Press Release: Lex Machina's 5 Legal Tech Accelerator Participants
David Faigman

 

JuriLytics: An expert witness peer review service that attorneys can use to challenge their opponent’s experts with previously unobtainable credibility and bullet-proof their own expert’s work through vetting from the world’s top researchers (in any field of expertise). (Co-Founder, CEO: David Faigman.)

 

 

 

THE CURRICULUM

During the 12-week curriculum, the participants will gain knowledge and expertise in topics including technology and product development; running an agile product development organization; building a strong company culture; selling to legal departments and law firms; leveraging legal data; and best practices in customer success, marketing and fundraising. In addition, they will have access to a collection of enriched legal data and tools and technologies from LexisNexis, and will be able to leverage the company’s established relationships with Stanford University and other leading Bay Area schools, businesses, VCs and influencers to grow their companies.

Almost-Raw Press Release: Lex Machina's 5 Legal Tech Accelerator Participants 1

MIRIAM RIVERA QUOTE

“The LexisNexis legal tech accelerator is a promising initiative,” said Miriam Rivera, Managing Partner at Ulu Ventures and an advisor at the Venture Capital Director’s College, a part of The Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. “As a legal tech investor and former Deputy GC of Google responsible for expanding the use of legal technology throughout the department, I am convinced the LexisNexis tech accelerator will not only foster innovation but also encourage new companies to thrive with sound business practices.”

For more information, or to apply to the tech accelerator program, email Alex Oh (aoh@lexmachina.com).

Original press release here.

 

Monica Bay is a Fellow at CodeX and a freelance journalist. She is a member of the California bar. Email: mbay@codex.stanford.edu. Twitter: @MonicaBay.

Cover image: Clipart.com