Legaltech Matchmaking
Join us in London for the chance to meet top UK law firms in an afternoon of facilitated speed networking.
Overview
Innovate UK AI for Services, in partnership with TiPS and Scale X, is hosting an exclusive LegalTech Matchmaking event on Thursday 30 January 2025. This session will offer innovative tech start-ups the opportunity to meet leading legal firms to help them solve R&D challenges.
Confirmed participants include A&O Shearman, Ashurst, Bird & Bird, Linklaters, Murgitroyd, Thorntons Solicitors, VWV and Weightmans.
About the event
The event will take place on Thursday 30 January 2025 in Central London.
Up to 16 of the most innovative companies who submit applications will be invited to meet with the established legal firms for an afternoon of facilitated networking.
If you are a startup or SME interested in attending, please register your interest in attending on this page. Before submitting your application, please read the law firm challenge statements and ensure you answer the application questions in full. Applicants will be selected based on their level of innovation and ability to solve the set challenges.
The deadline for submitting your application is Friday 10 January 2025.
Challenge Statements
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Formed by the merger of Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling, wants to enhance its pricing capabilities and competitiveness by using technology to analyse and optimise its data. The firm is seeking solutions that can use natural language processing, machine learning and data visualisation to extract, categorise, compare and benchmark data from time records, matter data and fee arrangements across jurisdictions, to generate reliable and transparent pricing proposals for clients.
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Law firms are immense repositories of knowledge. Lawyers, knowledge and client marketing teams are generating unstructured advice or content on an ongoing basis. However, despite multiple attempts over a number of years, it has been repeatedly proven that categorising and tagging of content at the point of creation is never a priority and doesn’t happen successfully in the majority of cases. As a result, vast amounts of IP remain unused.
Ashurst is exploring how AI can help solve this problem. They are specifically interested in the categorisation and structure at the point of data creation to then enable onward reuse. How can AI turn ‘work’ into ‘knowledge’?
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Is committed to pioneering advancements in the legal sector, particularly within the Intellectual Property (IP) realm. As a forward-thinking law firm, they recognize the transformative potential of legal technology in enhancing service delivery and client outcomes. The firm is actively seeking collaborations with innovative legaltech companies and start-ups that specialise in leveraging cutting-edge technologies to revolutionise IP practice.
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Linklaters prides itself in being at the forefront of innovation and legaltech, actively using and experimenting with a variety of AI technologies, as well as developing their own AI tools. They are interested in exploring new and creative solutions that incorporate and leverage Generative AI, natural language processing, computer vision and agentic capabilities to assist with the classification of large volumes of legal documents, autonomously tagging said documents with metadata and highlighting sensitive information for redaction.
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The international practice of intellectual property attorneys, is interested in the use of AI and data technologies to automate monitoring of granted and granting patents, and to streamline trademark examination for registration purposes. The firm is also looking at how these new technologies can help identify fraudulent behaviour and phishing-style attacks on businesses, including AI-powered scams.
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A leading Scottish full-service law firm and innovative firm of the year in 2024, are constantly looking to drive efficiency and quality of the experiences of its clients and people. Thorntons have a vast array of billing arrangements with clients and are looking for solutions that leverage the power of AI and other technologies to effectively price, bill and recover fees.
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VWV has developed an award winning innovation programme, focussed on adoption of AI, and developing our own in-house AI products. They are interested both in exploring new and creative solutions that incorporate and leverage LLMs to support faster drafting and analysis of legal documents and in using technology to more efficiently view and manage contracts.
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20 odd years ago it was common and accepted practice for employers and employees to settle a dispute by a non-disclosure agreement. However, following the advent of the #metoo campaign the use of non-disclosure clauses has been brought into disrepute. Similarly, at its outset, Cambridge Analytica complied with all relevant legislation but the public sentiment was that its use of data was morally repugnant so much so that the business closed. It is also perfectly legal to sell the leasehold to residential property, but most recently, the morality of that practice, whilst legal, has been questioned. Weightmans, a leading UK law firm, is interested in exploring new products or services that can alert their clients of risks that may impact them, based less on a change in legislation and more around a change in sentiment around the morality/acceptability of what they are doing.