Chatting with Alejandra Figueiras, the co-founder and CEO of The Future Lawyer, at the 2018 Legal Geek Conference.

Kevin O’Keefe: You are starting, The Future Lawyer. What is it?

Alejandra Figueiras: Well, what I want it to be, it’s big. I want this company to be a sustainable brand that can have several streams, because I understand that now all this legal tech is very specific – contract review, document review, chatbots, etc. So I wanted to have a big brand to incorporate several solutions. At the beginning I want to develop a solution based on artificial intelligence technology, to give legal advice to real people. I see that as I was saying in my talk, I feel that lawyers have become very farm human beings for real people – they’re expensive, you have to get an appointment. I am developing solutions for real people at a very reasonable price, and use technology with a deep legal knowledge inside. It is not a chat bot. There is a very complex legal character underlying the platform and very advanced technology. People will see a very friendly interface, and fairly easy to use a tool for their real problems.Continue Reading Alejandra Figueiras, Founder and CEO of The Future Lawyer, on the Importance of Passion and Conviction

Chatting with Noah Waisberg, the co-founder of Kira Systems, at the 2018 Legal Geek Conference.

Kevin O’Keefe: I’m talking with Noah Waisberg, founder of Kira Systems. Co-founder or founder?

Noah Waisberg: Co-founder.

Kevin O’Keefe: Okay. What does Kira do?

Noah Waisberg: Kira helps lawyers find data and contracts faster and more accurate. One of the big things that a junior corporate lawyer does, for example, is due diligence, and that involves reading through contracts and looking for the same things over and over again. Our clients, which are basically a majority of the 30 biggest firms in the world, plus a bunch of others, do that work in 20 to 60, sometimes even 90 percent less time using Kira and they do it with the same or greater accuracy.Continue Reading Noah Waisberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Kira Systems, on His Belief That “If We Built it, They Would Come”

Talking with Alma Asay, the founder of Allegory Law and the CIO of Integreon, at the 2018 Legal Geek Conference.

Kevin O’Keefe: I’m at the Legal Geeks conference. Who am I talking with?

Alma Asay: Alma Asay.

Kevin O’Keefe: And what do you do?

Alma Asay: I was the founder of Allegory, a litigation management platform, after many years of practicing law. I’m now the Chief Innovation Officer at Integreon after they acquired my business.

Kevin O’Keefe: What made you be crazy enough to say, “Okay, I’m practicing law, and I’m going to go out and start a company?”

Alma Asay: I was very naive. I thought I was just leaving to develop a software– work with some engineers, build out a software that didn’t exist and everyone needed, and obviously once it was built, everyone would use it, right? I had no idea I was an entrepreneur. I had no idea I was building a startup. I just kind of dove in headfirst.Continue Reading Alma Asay, Founder of Allegory Law and CIO of Integreon, on Learning to Accept that “Mistakes Are A Good Thing”

Talking with Catherine Krow, the CEO and founder of Digitory Legal, at the 2018 Legal Geek Conference.

Kevin O’Keefe: I’m here at Legal Geek and I’m talking with Catherine Krow of Digitory Legal. What is Digitory Legal?

Catherine Krow: Digitory Legal is a cost prediction and management platform for complex litigation. We transform and analyze billing data and use that data to create predictive pricing models and then customers can leverage our platform to manage costs over the life of a matter.

Kevin O’Keefe: So it’s looking at the data from history?

Catherine Krow: Historical data, yes.

Kevin O’Keefe: And you’re sitting there as an outside company and you have to get that data from somewhere, or you’re a licensing solution to the firms so they can do it on their own, or you’re getting a pool of data from multiple firms?

Catherine Krow: We’re getting a pool of data that we can use from the firm, and then we will do the analytics for them and give it back to them in a way that actually tells them what happened, and they can use to cost out cases for their next engagements.Continue Reading Catherine Krow, Founder and CEO of Digitory Legal: “Starting Your Own Company is Not for the Faint of Heart”

Talking with Casey Kuhlman, the CEO of Monax, an agreement management platform, at the 2018 Legal Geek Conference.

Kevin O’Keefe: I’m here with Casey Kuhlman. You’re the founder of– what’s the name of the company?

Casey Kuhlman: Monax.

Kevin O’Keefe: Monax. What does Monax do?

Casey Kuhlman: We’re a user interface and integration provider over a soon-to-be-launched blockchain ecosystem called the Agreements Network.

Kevin O’Keefe: And that’s a mouthful. When I go to conferences and people are talking about blockchain, it gives me a headache after a while but I try to understand it. Describe that to a person if you’re sitting in a pub, saying this is what we’re going to be able to do with this solution, For a lawyer that’s really unfamiliar with the concept.Continue Reading Casey Kuhlman, CEO of Monax, on His Incredible Journey to Founding a Legal Tech Startup

Talking with Garth Watson, the co-founder of Libryo, an online legal compliance software, at the 2018 Legal Geek Conference.

Kevin O’Keefe: You’re the founder of Libryo. What is Libryo?

Garth Watson: Libryo is an online platform typically used by global companies that have diverse operations and they use it to know the specific regulations that they face at each of those distinct operations.

Kevin O’Keefe: How’d you get started doing that?

Garth Watson: That’s a good question. It’s a series of opportunities, really. I co-founded a consultancy that helps companies with management systems and legal compliance, and together with my co-founder and CEO of Libryo Peter Flynn, we developed a web based system which we call the Libryo MVP.Continue Reading Garth Watson, Co-Founder of Libryo, on the Exhilaration of Launching a Legal Tech Startup

Talking with Tom Boyle, co-founder of TrustBooks, trust accounting software for small law firms, at Clio Cloud Conference 2018.

Kevin O’Keefe: Who am I talking with?

Tom Boyle: Tom Boyle here, one of the co-founders of TrustBooks.

Kevin O’Keefe: What does TrustBooks do?

Tom Boyle: We’re helping attorneys easily manage their trust account, while staying in compliance with their state bar.

Kevin O’Keefe: When did this all start yet?

Tom Boyle: Really, the conception was my conception. I’m a CPA and had a CPA practice, and was working almost exclusively with law firms and one of the very first questions you get when you go into pitch your service to a law firm, and you’re an accountant, is to say, do you know, trust accounting? So I had to come back with a real strong “absolutely.” Which led to becoming an expert like that. And I was using the products that exist that most small law firms use: Quickbooks, Excel. I was actually using both, to try and get a complete picture for the trust account, and just thought there’s gotta be something better. This is a pain point. These products aren’t built for trust accounting. And so that was the start, that was the conception of TrustBooks.Continue Reading Tom Boyle, Co-Founder of TrustBooks, on Always “Being On” as an Entrepreneur

Speaking with Keith Lee, founder of LawyerSmack, a private online community for lawyers, at Clio Cloud Conference 2018.

Kevin O’Keefe: Who am I talking with?

Keith Lee: I am Keith Lee

Kevin O’Keefe: As far as we know.

Keith Lee: Yes, I have the badge. So it’s official.

Kevin O’Keefe: Keith, what do you do now? I mean, you’ve been a lawyer, maybe you’re still a lawyer, lawyer?

Keith Lee: Lawyer-ish. I have lawyer-like qualities still at this point.

Kevin O’Keefe: And you started something called LawyerSmack?

Keith Lee: Yeah, so years ago, I started Associates Mind blogging years ago. I wrote for Above The Law for a number of years. We know a bunch of the old same old jerk lawyers from back in the day, but about two years ago I started LawyerSmack, which is a private lawyer community.Continue Reading Keith Lee, Founder of LawyerSmack, on the Value of Building Community in the Legal Industry