On this episode of The Geek in Review, hosts Marlene Gebauer and Greg Lambert interview Thomas Suh, Founder and CEO, and Ken Block, Senior Account Executive of LegalMation. The company provides AI-powered tools to help litigators automate repetitive tasks and work more efficiently. The conversation focuses on LegalMation's products, overcoming resistance to adopting new legal tech, and predictions for the future evolution of legal service delivery.
Suh provides background on founding LegalMation about seven years ago to help streamline the "scut work" litigation associates spend time on. The flagship product automates drafting responses to lawsuits, discovery requests, demand letters, and more by leveraging a firm's historical data. LegalMation initially built an automation tool internally at a law firm before deciding to spin it off into a standalone legal tech company. The product found an early champion in the form of a corporate legal department interested in licensing it. Today, LegalMation serves large corporate legal departments, law firms, and insurance companies.
Suh and Block discuss common roadblocks to adopting new legal technology like lack of trust and skepticism. Suh notes the importance of identifying the right use cases where efficiency gains matter most. For high-stakes litigation, efficiency may be less of a concern than for high-volume routine matters. Corporate legal departments are often early adopters because they are focused on efficiency and supplementing personnel. Law firms still incentivized by billable hours may be warier of efficiency gains.
For the YouTube Viewers, Block demonstrates LegalMation's Response Creator tool for automating drafting of responses to complaints and discovery requests. The AI leverages a firm's historical data to maintain proper tone and style while speeding up document preparation significantly. Lawyers can still review and edit the AI-generated drafts before finalizing. Suh explains that because the AI relies solely on a firm's data, it maintains consistency rather than attempting to generate random creative language.
Looking ahead, Suh predicts that the litigation process will become more modular, with different firms or providers specializing in discrete phases rather than handling a case end-to-end. Block emphasizes that younger lawyers expect to leverage more technology and are unwilling to slog through repetitive manual tasks, which will force law firms to adapt. Technology stacks and automation will become selling points for recruiting top young talent.
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Transcript
After-Hours with NRF's Zack Barnes
Justice Technology Association's Maya Markovich and Yousef Kassim
ALM's Bill Carter - It's All About the Data
Trellis' Nicole Clark on State Trial Court Docket Analytics
Nikki Shaver and Jeroen Plink on the Launching of the Legaltech Hub
Adam Pascarella's "Reversed in Part" - 15 Stories of Non-Traditional Careers After Law School
Phil Flora on What Law Firms are doing in the Battle for Talent
Anne Klinefelter on The Right to Be Forgotten in the Age of Internet Surveillance Capitalism
M.C. Sungaila and The Portia Project Podcast
Live From New York... It's LegalWeek!
Sarah Sutherland on How Data and the Law Interact
InnoLaw's Lucy Bassli on the Sexiness of Contracts
Sang Lee: Talent Management That Enables People to Be True to Themselves
All Information… All Inspirations
Ama Romaine and Wayne Harris on The Initiative: Advancing the Blue and Black Partnership
Maker5's Sanjay Kamlani on the Who, What, and How of Legal Innovation
Factor's Ed Sohn and Michael Callier on Leading through New Law
Axiom's David Pierce on Talent Recruitment and Flexible Working-Models Amid Shifting Industry Expectations
Gabe Teninbaum on Productizing Legal Work / Lindsie Rank on Can I Publish This?
Litera's Ashley Miller on Data and the Single Source of Truth
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