Real Lawyers Blog – Who Are Alternative Legal Service Providers Today?
Rather than label ALSP’s being the alternative, why not call a law firm an alternative legal service provider also.
On one side you have any argunbaly more expensive, inefficient and tech deficient model run by law firms.
On the other side we have companies driven by delivering services as efficiently and cost effectively as possible by leveraging innovation and technology in a fashion not hamstrung by the way it’s been done.
It was Justin Kan, who has raised over $65 million from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, for his legal services company, Atrium, who said something to the effect, that when he found an industry model based on being inefficient, he wanted in.
Legal Tech News – Axiom to Go Public, Applying for IPO and Spinning Off Two Businesses
The alternative legal services provider has spun off two business arms ahead of listing: data analytics arm Knowable and legal solutions platform Axiom Managed Solutions.
The company currently employs over 2000 people globally, and in 2017 reported revenue of $300 million, according to CEO Elena Donio.
Ashurst recruited Axiom‘s services in 2016 as part of a drive to offer further regulatory advice to the law firm’s banking clients, in what was the legal services provider’s first official law firm partnership.
The application comes amid a raft of alternative legal service business movement in the market and an increasing interest in law firms floating.
Earlier this month Big 4 accountant EY signed a deal to begin using Slaughter and May-backed artificial intelligence company Luminance across its global legal network.
Legal Business – New Law champion Axiom announces IPO plans in trailblazing move for global legal market
The prospects of a public offering for the US-based trailblazer – regarded by many as the most prominent New Law brand in the world – is a symbolic development for the legal industry, potentially providing a bellwether for the fast-growing alt law market.
The company was founded in 2000, originally on the model of offering high calibre legal ‘locums’, growing to reported revenue of $360m in the 2017/18 financial year. The company has more than 2,000 employees across three continents.
It is the latest in a long line of New Law firms to seek external investment, though the US-bred Axiom had long been expected to float rather than seek a trade buyer. An IPO would follow competitor UnitedLex securing a $500m war chest after private equity house CVC Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in the business in September, and on a smaller scale, Lawyers On Demand’s sale to Bowmark Capital in May.
The benefits of floating traditional law firms have long been debated, but New Law businesses such as Axiom have typically been seen as more compelling investments, particularly as technology and automation turn more of institutional legal services into scalable process.
Axiom also spun off two of its companies today, Knowable and Axiom Managed Solutions, which provide enterprise contracts intelligence and solutions for complex legal work respectively.
Staffing Industry Analysts – Axiom, fourth-largest B2B human cloud platform, looks to IPO
Axiom ranks as the fourth-largest business-to-business human cloud platform with 2017 gross spend of $250 million, according to Staffing Industry Analysts’ report “The Gig Economy and Human Cloud Landscape: 2018 Update.”
The company is based in Walnut Creek, Calif., and was founded in 2000. It has raised $28 million in venture funding, according to Crunchbase.
Global Legal Post – Five firms dominate startup legal spending
The startups analysed spend their legal dollars on a wide array of services, including funding, IP, and HR issues. The average startup in the study spends $77,150 on legal fees per year, while the median startup spends $38,990 per year. Kruze excluded most companies involved in active litigation from their analysis. The study said companies in fundraising mode typically spend $5,000 to $10,000 on Seed round legal costs and $50,000 to $65,000 on Series A legal costs. Across industries, health-care startups appeared to have the highest legal bills, followed by companies that develop hardware.
Global Legal Post – Eversheds takes innovation steps
The global co-heads of innovation are UK-based Andrew McManus and US-based Anusia E. Gillespie. Mr McManus brings to the role his deep experience in technology and years of experience at Eversheds Sutherland, while Ms Gillespie offers her experience in the practice and business of law and a fresh and unique perspective from her recent work at Harvard Law School Executive Education. Mr McManus has been with Eversheds Sutherland for over four years, previously leading the technology function as IT director. Ms Gillespie is a more recent recruit. At Harvard, she worked with industry leaders and Harvard faculty to research, design and launch business of law programs for practicing lawyers from around the world.
Corporate Counsel – How Elevate’s General Counsel Convinced Founder to Look Inward and Cut Outside Legal Costs
Elevate Services Inc. is in the business of helping legal departments leverage tech to streamline transactions and reduce costs.
Brown was receptive, in part, because he had been frustrated with outside counsel expenses that routinely exceeded his budget, saying, for instance, that he was getting invoices that were supposed to be fixed at $250,000 but had snowballed to $400,000.
“It makes me look like I’m not able to manage a budget,” Brown said. “The last thing I need is to look stupid.”
He added he’d brought his concerns to a partner at one of the outside firms in question, but the partner was primarily interested in whether Brown was satisfied with the legal work—not about going over budget.
“The legal work was great,” Brown said, adding the partner had missed his point. “They [outside counsel] don’t work in a systemized way so they don’t keep control of their costs.”