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Legal Tech Startups That You Should Know About

Matt Pollins

Matt Pollins

legal tech startups
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    The legal industry is enormous. According to data cited by Statista, American law is now a $350 billion dollar per year industry—and the growth has been more over the last five years than has been the national economy as a whole. In a hyper competitive environment, many law firms and legal departments are falling behind.

    A significant problem is that their technology practices are simply out-of-date. Over the past decade, legal tech startups have brought major changes—truly disrupting the traditionally conservative legal industry. In this article, you will find an overview of the top legal tech startups that you should know about in 2022.

    Lupl: A Game Changer in Open Industry Platform and Legal Collaboration

    Founded in 2019, Lupl has become one of the top tech startups in the industry. Lupl is an open industry collaboration platform that was created to serve the unique needs of law firms, legal organizations, and corporate legal departments. The original idea came together after many hundreds of hours of conversations with experienced professionals from all parts of the legal industry. From big-law firms and corporate legal departments to small boutique firms and specialized non-profit organizations, attorneys and other legal professionals consistently expressed the same stresses, frustrations, and workflow disruptions. Lupl is a legal tech startup focused on resolving these problems. Here is what you should know about how Lupl works and the benefits that it provides:

    • A Collaborative Workplace: As an open industry platform of legal, Lupl provides an intuitive and easy-to-navigate shared work space for legal projects. The shared collaborative workspace is designed to ensure that workflow is optimized. Reduce the “friction” involved with getting everyone on the same page in a complex, collaborative legal project. As an example, Lupl allows you to easily share the full range of legal documents with your co-collaborators. Simplifying potentially “clunky” tasks like document sharing can save a lot of time and frustration.
    • Reliable Data Security: With legal tech, cybersecurity matters. Lawyers and law firms have a unique professional responsibility to protect the confidentiality of their client’s information. Lupl is a fully secure collaborative platform that allows you to share information and communicate with collaborators without worrying about data breaches. Sensitive documents will be fully protected on the platform. Lupl is fully sector-secure and compliant with System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2. You do not have to sacrifice data security to have a seamless and easy-to-use collaborative platform.
    • Seamless Integration: As an attorney or other working legal professional in 2022, you undoubtedly have some tech-based tools and platforms that you like. You probably also have others that you find frustrating and are ready to replace. Lupl was designed after countless hours of discussions with actual lawyers and legal professionals. We fully understand that lawyers and law firms do not want to start from scratch. Our open industry collaborative legal platform was built for easy integration with existing tools. Lupl supports most of the most popular third party applications, such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, iManage, Net Documents, SharePoint, OneDrive, Zoom, and DocuSign. Keep using what you already like—let Lupl make things easier.
    • Forward-Focused: Ultimately, the goal of Lupl is to facilitate workflow. Attorneys should be freed up to focus on doing what they do best—practice the law. When too much time gets spent on case management, work coordination, and administrative tasks, it can slow things down. It can also lead to feelings of burnout for attorneys. Our collaborative legal work platform helps to keep things moving forward. Lupl is beautifully simple, easy-to-learn, and allows legal professionals to track, manage, and complete projects efficiently.

    Are you ready to see what Lupl can do for your firm or department? You do not have to make a big commitment to get started. You can begin working with Lupl for free, no credit card or commitment is required. You can also request an in-depth demo from one of the knowledgeable members of our team. We would be more than happy to sit down with you and your partners, show you how the collaboration platform works, and answer any questions you have about our products or services.

    Other Legal Tech Startups to Know About in 2022

    Broadly defined, the term legal tech refers to the specialized forms of software and other technology designed to help attorneys, law firms, and legal organizations deliver services to their clients. There is strong demand for improved efficiency and optimization in law. Tech startups provide a potential solution. Last year, the Connecticut-based technological research and consulting firm Gartner predicted that legal tech spending would increase by nearly 200% by 2025. With so much innovation coming to the industry, there are many legal tech startups worth watching, including:

    • Relativity: One of the more well-known and well-established legal tech startups, Relativity offers software for legal and compliance work focused largely on e-discovery. It helps parties manage and navigate the large volumes of data that are often produced during e-discovery.
    • LawGeex: A Tel Aviv, Israel based software technology company, LawGeex provides automation services for firms, organizations, and legal departments that are dealing with contracts.
    • Luminance: Luminance is one of the market leaders for artificial intelligence (AI) in legal process automation. The legal tech start-up company offers solutions for firms and organizations that can benefit from automation of certain legal work.
    • CrowdJustice: For organizations engaged in certain types of legal projects, funding can be an issue. CrowdJustice is a regulatory-compliant crowdfunding platform for the legal industry. It allows for the public and private funding of certain legal actions.
    • ContractPodAi: With headquarters in London, ContractPodAi is a cloud-based platform for contract management. It enables parties to better optimize the lifecycle of an agreement.
    • Yonder: An Austin, TX based startup company founded in 2017, Yonder helps businesses and organizations protect their brand identity and increase its value through social intelligence and effective optimization.
    • TIQ: An automated time-tracking app designed for lawyers and law firms, TIQ was created to alleviate some of the administrative burden that comes with documenting work.
    • Libryo: Libryo is a legal tech platform that makes it easier for legal professionals to cross-check laws and regulatory requirements. It is especially useful for attorneys, compliance managers, and risk sustainability professionals.
    • eEvidence: eEvidence is a legal tech startup that allows parties to register emails. It offers a number of different benefits law firms, legal organizations, legal professionals in certain circumstances.

    Request Your Free Demonstration With Lupl Today

    At Lupl, we work with large law firms, legal organizations, legal departments, GCs, small firms, and solo practitioners. Our tech startup is changing the game in legal collaboration. Optimize workflow: Save time and money on your complex collaborative legal projects. If you have any questions about our legal collaboration platform or our services more generally, we are more than happy to get you answers. Contact us today to learn more. You can get started today for free.

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      # Lupl Workstream Design Principles: A Practical Guide to Legal Project Management for Lawyers Legal project management works when your setup is simple, ownership is clear, and statuses are unambiguous. This guide shows how to turn existing processes and checklists into a lean, reliable Workstream. Lupl is the legal project management platform for law firms, making it easy and intuitive to apply these principles. It also supports moving your work from Excel, Word tables, or if you are transitioning from Microsoft Planner, Smartsheet, or Monday. You will learn what belongs in a Workstream, a Task, or a Step, and which columns to use. If you want practical project management for lawyers, start here. **Excerpt:** Legal project management works when ownership, dates, and statuses are clear. This guide shows lawyers how to turn checklists into Lupl Workstreams with the right columns, Tasks, and Steps. Use it to standardize project management for lawyers, reduce follow ups, and move matters to done. --- ## How to organize your work with Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps are three different types of objects in Lupl. They form a simple hierarchy. Workstreams contain Tasks. Tasks may contain optional Steps. This hierarchy aligns with standard project management. In project management, you break work into projects, deliverables, and subtasks. Lupl adapts this for lawyers by using Workstreams, Tasks, and Steps. This makes it easier to map legal processes to a structure that teams can track and manage. * **Workstream.** Use when you have many similar or related items to track over time. Think of the Workstream as the table. * Examples: closing checklist, court deadlines, pretrial preparation, regulatory obligations, due diligence, local counsel management. * **Task.** A high level unit of legal work. A key deliverable with an owner and a due date. Tasks are the rows. * Examples: File motion. Prepare Shareholder Agreement. Submit Q3 report. * **Step.** An optional short checklist inside a single Task. Steps roll up to the parent Task. * Examples: Draft. QC. Partner review. E file. Serve. ### Quick test * If it can be overdue by itself, make it a Task. * If it only helps complete a Task, make it a Step. * If you need different columns or owners, create a separate Workstream. --- ## Do you need to track everything in Lupl Not every detail needs to be tracked in a project management system. The principle is to capture what drives accountability and progress. In Lupl, that means focusing on deliverables, not every micro action. * Use the level of detail you would bring to a weekly team meeting agenda. * Position Tasks as key deliverables. Treat Steps as optional micro tasks to show progress. * Example: You need client instructions. Do not add a Task for "Email client to request a call." Just make the call. If the client approves a key deliverable on the call, mark that item Approved in Lupl so the team has visibility. --- ## Start with the Core 5 columns Columns are the backbone of a Workstream. They define what information is tracked for each Task. In project management terms, these are your core metadata fields. They keep everyone aligned without overcomplicating the table. Keep the table narrow. You can add later. These five work across most legal project management use cases. 1. **Title.** Start with a verb. Example: File answer to complaint. 2. **Status.** Five to seven clear choices. Example: Not started, In progress, For review, For approval, Done. 3. **Assignee.** One named owner per row. If you add multiple assignees for collaboration, still name a primary owner. 4. **Due date.** One date per row. 5. **Type or Category.** Show different kinds of work in one table. Example: Filing, Discovery, Signature, Approval. **Priority.** Add only if you actively triage by priority each week. If added, keep it simple: High, Medium, Low. --- ## Add up to three Helper columns Lupl includes a set of pre made columns you can use out of the box. These allow you to customize Workstreams around different phases or stages of a matter. They also let you map how you already track transactional work, litigation, or other processes. Helper columns are optional fields that add context. In task management, these are similar to tags or attributes you use to sort and filter work. The key is to only add what you will update and use. Pick only what you will use. Stop when you reach three. * Party or Counterparty * Jurisdiction or Court * Phase * Approver * Approval, status or yes or no * Signature status * Risk, RAG * Amount or Number * External ID or Client ID * Document or Link * Docket number * Client entity **Guidance** * For Task Workstreams, prefer Approver, Approval, Risk. The rest are more common in Custom Workstreams. * Aim for eight columns or fewer in your main table. Put detail in the Task description, attachments, or Steps. --- ## Simple rules that keep your table clean Consistency is critical in project management. A cluttered or inconsistent table slows teams down. These rules ensure your Workstream remains usable and clear. * Only add a column people will update during the matter. If it never changes, set a default at the Workstream level or set a default value in the column. * Only add a column you will sort or filter on. If you will not use it to find or group work, leave it out. * If a value changes inside one Task, use Steps. Steps show progress without widening the table. * Keep columns short and structured. Use Description for brief context or instructions. Use Task comments for discussion and decisions. Link to work product in your DMS as the source of truth. * One accountable owner per Task and one due date. You can add collaborators, but always name a primary owner who moves the Task. If different people or dates apply to different parts, split into separate Tasks or capture the handoff as Steps. * Add automations after you lock the design. Finalize columns and status definitions first. Then add simple reminders and escalations that read those fields. --- ## Status hygiene that everyone understands Status is the single most important column in project management. It tells the team where the work stands. Too many options cause confusion. Too few cause misalignment. In Lupl, keep it simple and consistent. * Five to seven statuses are enough. * Use one review gate, For review or For approval. Use both only if your process needs two gates. * One terminal status, Done. This is the end state of the Task. Use Archived only if you report on it or need it for retention workflows. --- ## When to split into multiple Workstreams In project management, it is best practice to separate workstreams when workflows, owners, or audiences diverge. Lupl makes this easy by letting you create multiple Workstreams for one matter. Create a new Workstream if any of the following are true. * You need a different set of columns for a chunk of work. * Ownership or cadence is different, for example daily docketing vs monthly reporting. * The audience or confidentiality needs are different. **Signal** * If half your rows leave several columns blank, you are mixing processes. Split the table. --- ## Decision tree, three quick questions Use this quick framework to decide where an item belongs. This is the same principle used in task management software, adapted for legal workflows. 1. Is this a list of similar items over time, or a discrete phase of the matter * Yes. Create a Workstream. 2. Can it be overdue by itself, and does it need an owner * Yes. Create a Task. 3. Is it a step to finish a Task and not tracked on its own * Yes. Create a Step. --- ## Common mistakes to avoid Many project management failures come from overdesigning or misusing the structure. Avoid these mistakes to keep your Workstreams lean and effective. * Wide tables with many optional columns. Keep it to eight or fewer. * Two columns for the same idea, for example Status and Phase that overlap. Merge or define clearly. * More than one approval gate when one would do. It slows work and confuses owners. * Mixing unrelated processes in one table, for example signatures and invoice approvals. --- ## Build your first Workstream Building a Workstream is like setting up a project board. Keep it light, pilot it, then refine. Lupl is designed to let you do this quickly without heavy admin work. 1. Write the Workstream purpose in one sentence. 2. Add the Core 5 columns. 3. Add at most three Helpers you will use. 4. Define clear Status meanings in plain words. 5. Set defaults for any value that repeats on most rows, for example Jurisdiction. 6. Add two light automations, a due soon reminder and an overdue nudge. 7. Pilot for one week and adjust. --- ## Where this fits in legal project management Use these principles to standardize project management for lawyers across matters. Keep structures consistent. Reuse column sets and status definitions. Your team will find work faster, reduce follow ups, and close loops on time. --- ### On page SEO helpers * Suggested title tag. Lupl Workstream Design Principles, Practical Legal Project Management for Lawyers * Suggested meta description. Learn how to design lean Lupl Workstreams for legal project management. Get clear rules for Tasks, Steps, statuses, and columns to run matters with confidence. * Suggested URL slug. legal-project-management-for-lawyers-workstream-design

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