2019 Legal Technology – Year in Review

December 10, 2019
|In Year in Review
|By Dennis Dimka

From Uptime Legal’s CEO

What a year 2019 has been for legal technology.

In this year, more than any other, we’ve seen an unprecedented level of investment, growth and innovation, both here at Uptime Legal and among our peers in the legal technology industry.

New products. New investments. New partnerships. In 2019 we had the honor of observing and participating in some of the most exciting developments the legal tech landscape has perhaps ever seen. And we’re seeing more and more law firms truly embrace technology to solve their problems, streamline their practice and grow their business.

Investments & Acquisitions

We’ve seen a record-setting level of investments and acquisitions within the legal technology space.

In 2019, BigHand, a company that makes dictation software, acquired PayneGroup, a firm that provides software and professional services to the legal industry.

Alt Legal, a company that develops IP docketing software, acquired Marktend, a developer of trademark docketing software.

Litera, a corporate document management company, acquired Workshare, another document management software company.

And that’s just a few of the notable M&A transactions we’ve seen in the legal technology space this year. Also in 2019, we saw an incredible level of legal technology investments:

Practice management company Litify raised $50M in it’s first (Series A) round of funding. And the widely-reported Clio raised $250M in funding, marking the largest private equity investment in Canada’s history.

And finally, while not an acquisition or investment, LexisNexis and LEAP joined forces by launching a new joint venture to deliver world-class legal software to law firms.

2019 has been quite a year for legal technology investments, partnerships and consolidation.

Duty of Tech Competence

Another theme of 2019 has been more and more local and national governments requiring technical competence of their attorneys. Lawyers have always had ethical obligations to its clients. For more and more countries and US states, having a basic working knowledge and baseline capability with technology has become a requirement to serve your clients, and fulfill your obligations as a lawyer.

And we couldn’t agree more.

Related:

Uptime Rising

2019 was also a pivotal year for Uptime Legal. In 2019 Uptime was recognized among America’s fastest-growing private companies for the sixth consecutive year. No other company in legal technology has achieved a place on the Inc. 5000 list for this many years in a row, a true testament not only to Uptime’s growth capability, but to our long-term committment to lawyers and law firms.

Uptime Legal Named to Inc. 5000 List for Sixth Consecutive Year

Uptime Legal’s growth, in revenue, profit, clients and employees, continued it’s trajectory into 2019.

LexWorkplace: The Next Generation of Legal Document Management

In 2019, Uptime Legal announced development of LexWorkplace, our upcoming, cloud-based Document Management System for law firms.

The legal document management space has long been under-served, leaving law firms with dated, premise-based document management software, and document management software made for the masses (not made for law firms).

LexWorkplace is the first new Document Management application developed specifically to meet the needs of lawyers and law firms in more than two decades, and the first ever that is completely compatible with both Windows and Mac OS.

Developed with second generation cloud tools, LexWorkplace has the distinct advantage of advanced software capabilities, without the limitations and compromises of legacy cloud products. With years of experience working with lawyers and law firms, Uptime’s development team has designed a comprehensive document and email management system that meets the unique needs of legal professionals.

Announcing Development of LexWorkplace™, the Next Generation of Legal Document Management

Closing Remarks

2019 has been a transformative year for the legal technology industry, and for Uptime Legal in particular.

In truth, the successes of Uptime Legal have ultimately been because of, and for our clients. Law firms that sense that there’s a better way to manage their technology. Law firms that understand they can leverage technology to meaningfully improve their practice. Entrepreneurial law firms that aim to grow their practice and serve their own clients.

We’re honored to be part of each of clients’ journey, and resolve to remain the trusted partner that we’ve been to hundreds of law firms for over a decade.

We hope everyone had a great 2019, and look forward to a successful 2020.

Onward and Upward.