Legaltech and the Future of Startup Lawyering

Abstract

How are the practice and business of law likely to be impacted by the rise of “legaltech”-the wide array of emerging technologies and innovative processes that are aimed at improving the delivery of legal services? This chapter focuses on one particular type of legal practice, the representation of venturebacked technology startup companies, as a useful case study for how legaltech is already making significant inroads in this arena and, further, how these technologies have the potential to change corporate and transactional lawyering more broadly in the future. The chapter explores why startup lawyering makes for a revealing and instructive case study of legaltech’s future impact on the legal industry; assesses the current state of startup lawyering practices, including how and to what degree the status quo is already in flux due to emergent legaltech innovations; and considers the import for startup lawyers of several technological innovations that are on the horizon, including artificial intelligence, distributed ledger technologies and legal workflow solutions. The chapter concludes with predictions of how the emerging technologies discussed may alter the business models and practices of startup law firms.