Legal Tech Trends Newsletter: #39
McKinsey's gloomy outlook for legal, GenAI in Legal Benchmarking Report, the rise of Voice, and much more!
Happy Friday, and welcome to the 39th edition of Legal Tech Trends!đ
We've been busy helping clients across GenAI education, strategic tech guidance, and helping lawyers use market-leading products for targeted use cases.
In this edition, youâll find a fun podcast episode where I share some of my favourite daily AI use cases, and details of an upcoming webinar with Factor on April 9th.
đ Curious Chart
McKinsey recently published an interesting report titled âSuperagency in the Workplace: Empowering People to Unlock AIâs Full Potentialâ, and one particular chart caught my eye.
In a survey of over 3,000 McKinsey employees, those in Legal, Risk, and Compliance had the least optimistic outlook on GenAI. It was the only category where fewer than 50% of employees had a positive outlook. đŹ
Does this suggest that people in these roles resist change or fear GenAI? Possibly - but I suspect the explanation partially lies in how the survey question was framed.
After reviewing the response options and given the responsibilities of the department, it seems likely that many in Legal, Risk, and Compliance naturally align with the "Gloomerâ response option: âAbove all else, gen AI needs to be closely monitored and controlled.â - Which probably classifies them as having a negative outlook here.
Regardless of survey design or interpretations, it's a good reminder that hesitation toward AI may exist within legal departments and that mindset shouldnât be overlooked when introducing new AI initiatives.
Data Source: The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier, McKinsey, June 14, 2023; McKinsey US employee survey, OctâNov 2024 (n = 3,002)
Economic potential of functions was determined by grouping corporate use cases listed in the McKinsey report The economic potential of generative AI.
You can view the full report on a nice interactive webpage here: LINK
GenAI in Legal Benchmarking Report 2025
My friends at Factor have just launched their GenAI in Legal Benchmarking Report, featuring insights from 120 in-house counsel and legal leaders. The report explores insights on AI access versus utilisation, build vs. buy strategies, and critical factors for successful AI adoption. LINK
Iâll join them for a webinar panel on April 9th to discuss the key findings, broader market trends, and data on what actually works for GenAI in legal. You can register for the event here: LINK
AI
đŁď¸ Lexis Nexis launches voice assistant in ProtĂŠgĂŠ
The new voice assistant for ProtĂŠgĂŠ aims to simplify AI interaction by letting users speak instead of typing prompts. They have also introduced expanded prompt suggestions and advanced reasoning capabilities for more complex tasks, highlighting their focus on making AI more effortless. LINK
Sidenote: I now interact with ChatGPT and my laptop predominantly through voice commands and expect this mode of interaction to become far more common in the coming months.
đ¤ Verbit launches Legal Visor for real-time deposition insights
Following the voice theme, Verbit has launched an AI-powered platform for litigators that provides real-time insights during depositions and legal proceedings. Developed in collaboration with Fisher Phillips and Smith, Gambrell & Russell, it uses domain-specific AI models to enhance transcription accuracy, flag inconsistencies against case documents, and generate actionable insights, among other features. Pricing starts at a few hundred dollars per user. LINK
đŤ Ask iManage AI Assistant releases new Actions for users
iManage dominates the enterprise document management system (DMS) category (80% of the Am Law 100 & 40% of Fortune 100 according to stats we shared last March!), so theyâre always a player to watch. I recently had a walkthrough of their 'Ask iManage' feature, which directly integrates GenAI into iManage user workflows, allowing quick document overviews & summaries, text extraction, and analysis.
Following a successful rollout to test users, they began onboarding US customers last year, with APAC customers going live earlier this year. Now the rollout is rapidly expanding to the UK, Europe, and Canada â covering over 80% of their eligible cloud customers. LINK
Sidenote: Existing vendor relationships, security, and integrations are all key factors weighed by buyers when assessing AI products, so iManage is naturally positioned as a strong player in an already hyper competitive AI market.
On an related note, this is an interesting post on âWhy vertical AI should fear the systems of record below them and not the AI around them.â LINK
đ Autologyx rolls out new GenAI capabilities
Best known for its workflow automation and process orchestration capabilities, Autologyx has now rolled out new GenAI capabilities to its existing platform. Theyâre taking a model-agnostic approach to enable customers to embed AI into workflows via native connectors. LINK
Ben and I touch on legal workflows in our podcast, which is linked further down.
Sidenote: While many GenAI-native companies are now seeking to specialise in legal workflows, it's interesting to see traditional workflow providers embracing GenAI from the opposite direction!
đ¤ Shoosmiths offers ÂŁ1 million bonus pot to encourage AI use among staff
If staff reach one million Copilot prompts, theyâll unlock the bonus pot! LINK
đŤ Clifford Chance extends partnership with Wexler AI
Following a successful six-month pilot, Clifford Chance has formalised a commercial partnership with Wexler AI, focusing on fact extraction, chronology creation, and inconsistency mapping for dispute resolution. LINK
đ Litera Rolls Out âMissing Linkâ GenAI Capabilities
Litera has expanded its GenAI capabilities with Litera One, directly integrating drafting, knowledge management, and document review into Word and Outlook. LINK
đ¤AAA partners with Dioptra
Pre-execution contract review startup Dioptra is partnering with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) to help lawyers integrate effective arbitration clauses into commercial agreements. Dioptra users can access AAAâs clause library directly within their contract review workflows. LINK
Podcast - Automates #21
đď¸ I always enjoy chatting with Ben Wightwick, and we recently caught up on the Automates podcast to chat all things AI. Few things excite me more than exploring how AI has infused all areas of my daily life, including using AI to capture and query insights from 30,000+ highlights I've curated from books, podcasts, and articles. (This use case was only possible in my dreams several years ago, and now itâs a reality!)
We also cover the rapid pace of change, how to stay on top of it, and whether the legaltech market is blurring into 'everything, everywhere, all at once'? LINK
Acquisitions & Raises
đ¸ Cleary Gottlieb acquires Springbok AI
Springbok AI is best known for SpringLaw, its LLM-agnostic platform, which enables users to create custom AI workflows. Springbokâs team of 10 data scientists will form Clearyâs new AI Acceleration team, working with clients and internal teams to build tailored AI solutions. LINK
đ¤ Clio acquires ShareDo, expands enterprise reach
The acquisition expands its reach to larger law firms and enhances its enterprise offerings. ShareDoâs customers include DLA Piper, DWF, and Linklaters, primarily serving the UK market, allowing Clio to broaden its international footprint and introduce ShareDo to US customers. LINK
đľ Rev buys SmartDepo to power testimony analysis
Rev has acquired SmartDepo, an AI-driven testimony analysis startup founded in 2023. SmartDepo specialises in deposition summaries featuring precise page-line citations, hyperlinked tables of contents, and key admissions analysis. Both companies serve law firms and court reporting agencies. LINK
đ¤ Norm Ai raises $48m
The companyâs AI-driven platform transforms complex regulatory requirements, legal obligations, and corporate policies into actionable systems embedded directly into business workflows, helping large enterprises streamline compliance. This latest funding brings the total funding to $87 million over the past 18 months. LINK
đ° DeepIP raises $15M to modernise patent filings
The French-US patent startup, founded in 2024, has raised $15 million to help streamline patent drafting. Fully embedded in Microsoft Word, DeepIPâs AI learns and replicates the unique writing styles of practitioners and their clients, aiming to enhance the patent application process. LINK
Adjacent Interests
đ Googleâs Future of AI: Perspectives for Startups LINK
đźď¸ News and Views on branding tech and innovation by law firms
Soukias Jones released their latest Brandtech update, with an overview of legal AI product naming approaches, and a summary of how the UK Top 100 firms are positioning innovation and technology. LINK
đď¸ Vibe-coding is insanely fun. Check out Europeâs fastest-growing startup and build your own web app in minutes with natural language prompts here LINK
(If you build something that makes you smile, please let me know!)
Thatâs a wrap! Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed it, take a second to forward this email to a colleague who might also appreciate it.
Have a great Friday!
About me.
Iâm the founder of TITANS, a LegalTech and AI consultancy for leading law firms and new law companies. We help some of the largest legal service providers shape their AI strategies, expedite vendor evaluation, and accelerate user adoption.Legal Tech Trends is my fun outlet to share my hype-free positive take on LegalTech and AI market developments, informed by my 10+ years technology consulting with leading corporates and legal service providers.
Connect with me on LinkedIn for more LegalTech market insights Here đ