New virtual format planned to help legal market start-ups advance their businesses

July 30, 2020 — Raleigh, NC – LexisNexis today announced that it is accepting applications for the fifth cohort of the LexisNexis Legal Tech Accelerator. The program is designed to give start-ups a leg-up in the rapidly expanding legal tech industry. The Accelerator leverages LexisNexis expertise in legal, technology and start-up domains, and industry-leading market position to advise and incubate program participants.

The Accelerator will run September through November 2020.  For the first time, the program will be a fully virtual experience due to restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will again be led by Owen Byrd, Lex Machina Chief Evangelist & General Counsel and Jeff Pfeifer, LexisNexis North America Chief Product Officer.  Josh Becker, Lex Machina Chairman and other LexisNexis leaders will actively participate in learning sessions throughout the virtual program. 

“After four successful programs with 26 startup participants, we will be executing in a new format this year,” said Jeff Pfeifer. “While fully virtual, we will deliver an exciting curriculum for this cohort.  Participants have commented on the value each company receives in the program sessions and from the networking with other legal tech startups.  Each year, we are increasingly impressed by the depth and quality of applicants to our program.”

“Joining the LexisNexis Legal Tech Accelerator was powerful - it changed our trajectory,” said Sonja Ebron, CEO and Co-founder Courtroom5. “As part of the 2019 cohort, we deepened our knowledge of legal tech marketing, product development and business operations. Frequent networking opportunities helped us connect with potential mentors and investors. Most importantly, we formed valuable friendships with other founders building innovative legal tech startups.”

As part of the planned three-month program, Accelerator companies will participate in a rigorous curriculum designed especially for early-stage companies in the legal market:

  • Mentorship: Weekly sessions with LexisNexis executives on growing legal tech companies, and ad hoc discussions with other LexisNexis executives about technology, user experience & design, product development, product marketing and other topics
  • Education: One-hour strategy sessions on a variety of topics, including marketing and selling to legal departments; running an agile product development organization; leveraging legal data; best practices in customer service, employee management, marketing and funding
  • Connections: Leverage relationships with Stanford and other Bay-Area schools, businesses, VCs and other influencers

“Lex Machina successfully traveled the legal tech startup journey, from public interest project at Stanford Law School, to venture-backed Silicon Valley company, to acquisition by LexisNexis and leadership of the legal analytics market” noted Owen Byrd. “The Accelerator program directly draws from our experience with product development, fundraising, early sales and marketing, and all the other challenges of launching a company in the legal tech market.”

Launch of the LexisNexis Legal Tech Accelerator complements an ongoing partnership with the Duke Law Tech Lab. LexisNexis and the Duke Center on Law & Tech have collaborated over the past year to develop complementary programs that catalyze new legal tech companies and enhance access to legal services.  Several companies have now participated in both programs and we are excited to share content and speakers that are beneficial to each group’s participants.  

For more information, or to apply to the LexisNexis Legal Tech Accelerator program, interested parties can find more here.  The deadline for applications is August 14, 2020.  

About LexisNexis® Legal & Professional
LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that help customers increase productivity, improve decision-making and outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis® and Nexis® services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 10,600 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina
Lex Machina’s award-winning Legal Analytics® platform is a new category of legal technology that fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. Delivered as Software-as a-Service, Lex Machina provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, parties, and more, mined from millions of pages of legal information. 

Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading information provider and a pioneer in delivering trusted legal content and insights through innovative research and productivity solutions, supporting the needs of legal professionals at every step of their workflow. By harnessing the power of Big Data, LexisNexis provides legal professionals with essential information and insights derived from an unmatched collection of legal and news content—fueling productivity, confidence, and better outcomes.