Startup wants to build tools for lawyers to speed up legal services

If this is an example of scratching one's own itch, Justin Kan needs new hobbies. Consider how much you have to interact with lawyers in order to want to automate them.

"I’ve raised money. I’ve done a merger. I’ve been sued. And yet every time, bills would pile up and I had no clear idea what I was paying for. In Silicon Valley, we want everything to be transparent."

From the sound of the story, their competition is not the Bar, but DoNotPay (mentioned in article), which tells me they're not automating lawyering so much as mechanizing Nolo Press.

Re: Startup wants to build tools for lawyers to speed up legal services

#6

Post by thelock85 » Thu, Sep 14, 2017, 4:23 PM UTC

In a world where AI actually replaces or augments white collar professions, how does liability play out? Will the ability to sue for or defend against malfeasance depend upon an opaque box of algorithmic litigation?

Re: Startup wants to build tools for lawyers to speed up legal services

#7

Post by maxxxxx » Thu, Sep 14, 2017, 4:26 PM UTC

I hope that automating a lot of routine legal tasks will feed back into writing laws in way that makes them more consistent and easier to automate. Most people's legal needs are very similar and should be possible to automate.

Re: Startup wants to build tools for lawyers to speed up legal services

#8

Post by _e » Thu, Sep 14, 2017, 4:28 PM UTC

There is a very big difference between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer. I hope Atrium has the good lawyers on their side while the machines are initially getting trained.

Re: Startup wants to build tools for lawyers to speed up legal services

#9

Post by bradleyjg » Thu, Sep 14, 2017, 4:28 PM UTC

There's a big unanswered question in the article.

It says that the company is a law firm, that only two of the four co-founders are lawyers, and that it raised $10.5 million dollars, presumably on an equity basis.

However, law firms are not permitted to have non-lawyers as owners. It is considered unethical as it would mean decisions would be made by people that aren't obligated to follow the cannons of legal ethics or subject to bar discipline. The only U.S. jurisdiction I'm aware of that doesn't follow this rule is the District of Columbia, but Atrium is based in California.

Re: Startup wants to build tools for lawyers to speed up legal services

#10

Post by pascalxus » Thu, Sep 14, 2017, 4:31 PM UTC

I hope this leads to a reduction in legal costs, especially for start ups that have been sued for frivolous patent law suits, by patent trolls.