Deals don’t stall because people are lazy; they stall because the right people can’t see the right risks at the right time. We sit down with Rick van Esch, CEO and co‑founder of Emma Legal (https://www.emma.legal), to unpack how AI-driven playbooks, structured data rooms, and permissioned collaboration can turn due diligence from a slog into a strategic advantage.

Rick traces his path from capital markets to enterprise AI, then to building an AI legal due diligence platform that connects directly to leading data room providers. We break down how Emma structures messy uploads against due diligence request lists to reveal gaps early, and how its red flag engine highlights the clauses that matter—change of control, renewals, reserve matters, drag-along and tag-along rights—color-coded for fast triage. Instead of static PDFs, firms can export classic reports or share interactive dashboards that pair AI highlights with attorney commentary, letting clients and counterparties engage without compromising work product.

We also explore vendor due diligence on the sell side, where prepping the “asset” before market speeds timelines and builds trust. Rick’s car-sensor analogy lands: keep constant indicators on contracts and corporate housekeeping, then share that clarity with buyers. The same insights power post-close integration, acting as a single source of truth for renewal calendars, consents, and obligations—where real deal value is made or lost. Along the way, we talk network effects from inviting PE counsel and bankers into permissioned views, and why this kind of collaboration reduces friction while preserving security.

For founders, Rick shares unvarnished advice: legal sales cycles demand perseverance, credibility matters, and fundraising can be a strategic signal when selling to enterprise buyers. Product–market–founder fit keeps you moving when timelines slip.

If you care about legal technology, M&A due diligence, and building tools lawyers actually use, this conversation offers clear takeaways and practical detail you can put to work on your next deal.

Subscribe, share with a colleague who lives in data rooms, and leave a review with the one feature that would save your team the most time.

Charlie Uniman, your podcast host, and Pat Utz, CEO and co-founder of Abstract (https://www.abstract.us/), explore how Abstract turns legislative and regulatory noise into real-time, client-specific strategy, and why deterministic workflows beat agentic dreams for now. Pat shares candid lessons on funding, traction, hiring, and building a product that actually moves the needle.

• origins in AI research and mission to make government transparent
• proactive monitoring of bills, regulations, executive orders, and local agendas
• real-time enrichment with client context to flag risks and opportunities
• strategy layer and workflows that move from alert to outreach
• planned expansion into judicial opinions to shape case law awareness
• enterprise focus with long-term goal of a consumer version
• founder advice on VC vs bootstrapping, traction before funding, and hiring fit

If you're interested in legal tech startups and enjoyed this podcast, please consider joining the free Legal Tech Startup Focus community by going to www.legaltech startupfocus.com and signing up

What if your legal stack worked like a true operating system—one place for documents, deadlines, tasks, client messages, and billing—and then used that context to power AI that actually helps? We sit down with Michael Anderson, Chief Product Officer at Filevine (https://www.filevine.com), to explore how “owning” matter operations unlocks real gains in speed, accuracy, and collaboration without sacrificing control.

Michael pulls back the curtain on Filevine’s “operating intelligence” approach: capture the full lifecycle of a matter inside a single pane of glass, then use context engineering to ground AI in the right facts, timelines, and permissions. We dig into the practical wins of “chat with your matter,” where lawyers ask questions in plain language and get reliable answers drawn from the file itself—everything from quick retrievals to strategy brainstorming, all without bouncing between apps. We also dive deep into a game-changing feature for litigators: live deposition intelligence that streams the transcript to an LLM, flags inconsistencies in real time, tracks stated goals, and suggests follow-up questions. Because it sees the entire case file, it can cross-check testimony against exhibits and prior statements, then deliver a certified transcript and artifacts back into the matter record.

Beyond the courtroom, we talk collaboration: client portals, guest access for outside counsel, and matter-centric messaging that reduces email and keeps context intact. The bigger vision is clear. Lawyers want a GPT-like experience across their own work product, not just the open web. The keys are permissioning that respects ethical walls and human-centered design that elevates expert judgment. When the legal OS becomes the intelligence layer, teams can move faster, make better decisions, and spend more time at the top of their license.

If you’re ready to see how context-rich, permissioned AI can transform your practice—from depositions to daily workflows—hit play. And if you enjoy the show, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help others find us.

What if missing a payment by one cent could cost a company its billion-dollar patent? This eye-opening conversation with Mads Vibor Jørgensen, CEO and co-founder of PatentRenewal.com (https://www.patentrenewal.com), reveals the hidden complexities of global intellectual property management and how specialized technology is transforming this critical but overlooked field.

Most people assume patent renewals work like domain names – just enter your credit card information and you're done. The reality couldn't be more different. As Mads explains, companies seeking global protection must complete separate renewals annually in up to 240 jurisdictions, each with unique processes, laws, and payment requirements. One small error can result in losing valuable intellectual property rights worth millions or even billions.

Through his experience leading a global organization for young engineers and scientists, Mads discovered that the world's brightest minds were being bogged down by bureaucracy rather than focusing on solving important problems. This insight led him to create PatentRenewal.com, which combines specialized legal technology with sophisticated financial systems to navigate the labyrinthine world of global patent renewals.

The financial complexity is staggering – payments must be in exact local currencies with precisely formatted information. In Japan, renewals require physical letters using the Japanese imperial calendar system. These peculiarities make standard payment solutions inadequate and create opportunities for hidden fees, particularly in currency exchange where providers might charge 2-5% on transactions across a $150-200 billion market.

What's particularly fascinating is PatentRenewal.com's thoughtful technology approach. Rather than rushing to implement a wholly generative AI system, PatentRenewal.com (i) built a more hybridized system that features an expert system-first set of tools that optimize for reliability and (ii) combined those tools with a parallel generative AI system to perform follow-on auditing functions. This hybrid model offers valuable insights for anyone building mission-critical legal technology.

Whether you're a legal tech entrepreneur, IP professional, or innovator protecting your ideas, this episode offers valuable insights into building global solutions, market education challenges, and the critical importance of hiring exceptional talent.

Subscribe now to the Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast (https://legaltechstartupfocuspodcast.buzzsprout.com) to hear more conversations with pioneers transforming the intersection of law and technology.

Matt Lhoumeau never expected to build a contract lifecycle management platform. After being kicked out of his home at 17 when he came out, he built and sold a gaming website, worked for French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and found himself tasked with renegotiating 500 vendor contracts at a major telecom company. That frustrating experience—hunting for contracts in file cabinets, building unwieldy spreadsheets, and missing critical deadlines—sparked the idea for Concord, the CLM that Matt founded and now heads.

Ten years after founding Concord, Matt challenges conventional wisdom about contract management. "I don't believe contract management is legal tech anymore," he explains, noting that 70% of Concord's customers have no legal team at all. Operations and finance departments handle contracts using templates and outsourced counsel when needed. This shift represents a fundamental change in how businesses approach agreements.

Matt reveals that simplicity has been Concord's secret sauce from day one. While competitors built complex systems requiring months-long implementations, Concord focused on creating something that "just works." Now, with the platform rebuilt from scratch to be AI-first, implementation time will shrink from months to days or even hours. Matt also notes that the integration of Model Context Protocol (MCP) represents what Matt calls "one of the most important technological changes in the next 10 years"—allowing AI systems like ChatGPT to communicate directly with Concord and other business applications.

For fellow founders, Matt offers hard-earned wisdom: trust your gut. "When you build a company, you seek advice from a lot of people... and everyone has an opinion," he reflects. "I tried to please too many gods instead of doing what I thought was right for me." Finding confidence in your vision, even when surrounded by different perspectives, ultimately leads to better decisions and more fulfilling entrepreneurship.

Ready to simplify contract management for your organization? Visit https://www.concord.app to discover how their AI-powered platform can transform your approach to agreements.

Ever wondered how legislative affairs professionals keep track of rapidly changing bills across multiple states? The answer increasingly involves artificial intelligence, and Paul Rava, co-founder of Roboro, is at the forefront of this transformation.

In this enlightening conversation, Paul reveals how Roboro's AI-powered legislative intelligence platform is revolutionizing government affairs by shifting it from reactive to proactive. With federal gridlock pushing more critical decisions to state legislatures, staying informed has never been more challenging—or more important. Traditional methods involving manual keyword searches, printing bills, and highlighting changes simply can't keep pace with today's legislative environment.

Roboro tackles this challenge by leveraging natural language processing to understand the meaning and intent behind legislative text. Rather than bombarding users with irrelevant alerts, Roboro functions as "eyes and ears at the legislature 24/7," delivering personalized, actionable insights about legislation that truly matters to specific users. The impact has been dramatic, with customers reporting 30-40% time savings and sharing stories of how real-time alerts have literally changed the direction of their workday.

What distinguishes Roboro is its commitment to building trust. Paul describes how they've incorporated transparency features that explain not just what the system recommends, but why it makes those recommendations. This approach addresses concerns about AI reliability while maximizing the technology's practical value.

Perhaps most compelling is Roboro's philosophy about the role of AI in legal work. As Paul memorably puts it, "We are building Iron Man suits, not Terminators." The goal isn't to replace human professionals but to augment their capabilities, allowing them to focus on relationships and strategic thinking while the technology handles information processing at scale. This approach democratizes access to legislative intelligence, giving smaller organizations the same visibility previously available only to well-resourced teams.

Whether you're a legal tech founder looking for inspiration, a government affairs professional seeking efficiency, or simply curious about practical applications of AI in law, this conversation offers valuable insights into how technology is reshaping legislative advocacy for the better.

What happens when a hardworking corporate lawyer joins forces with an MIT AI researcher? A revolutionary solution to one of the legal profession's most notorious pain points: due diligence.

Connor Acle, co-founder and CEO of Marveri (https://www.marveri.com/), shares his journey from Morrison Foerster associate to legal tech entrepreneur in this illuminating conversation. After experiencing firsthand how due diligence consumed over half of transaction legal budgets while burning out junior associates, Connor saw an opportunity when ChatGPT emerged. He partnered with an MIT PhD candidate specializing in AI to create a system that fundamentally reimagines how lawyers approach data rooms.

Marveri doesn't just analyze individual documents – it builds a comprehensive understanding of an entire company's legal framework. The software transforms chaotic data rooms into organized repositories with standardized naming conventions in seconds, automatically verifies document execution by checking every required signature, and can even generate first drafts of due diligence reports. Most impressively, when tested against documents labeled by expert attorneys, Marveri's system performed as well or better than human lawyers.

The market response reveals a fascinating divide in the legal industry. While end users consistently describe Marveri as "mind-blowing" and "game-changing," law firms themselves range from complete prohibition of AI tools to enthusiastic early adoption. Forward-thinking firms recognize that AI proficiency will soon become as essential to legal practice as email and computers, giving their attorneys a competitive advantage by embracing these technologies now.

For fellow startup founders, Connor emphasizes the importance of customer relationships. Many of Marveri's most successful features came directly from user suggestions, highlighting the wealth of knowledge possessed by practicing attorneys who understand daily challenges firsthand.

Connect with Connor on LinkedIn or visit Marveri.com to discover (and get a demo of) how AI is transforming legal due diligence and empowering lawyers with the technological edge they need in today's competitive environment.

And note, too, that Marveri recently raised $3.5 million from investors, including Alven, Day One Ventures, I2BF, and a syndicate of early users—a powerful vote of confidence from the very practitioners who use the platform daily.

What happens when you combine the rigor of legal research with the power of data analytics? In this illuminating conversation with Carla Rydholm, General Manager and Head of Product at Lex Machina, we explore how legal analytics is transforming litigation strategy.

Carla's unconventional journey from biology PhD to legal tech pioneer offers unique insights into how cross-disciplinary thinking drives innovation. She shares how Lex Machina evolved from a Stanford public interest project to an industry-leading analytics platform now part of LexisNexis, maintaining its original mission of bringing transparency to the law.

The heart of our discussion centers on how Lex Machina converts the complexity of court records into structured, actionable data. Attorneys face countless decision points throughout litigation, from estimating case timelines to deciding whether to fight unfavorable rulings. Carla explains how comprehensive litigation data enables lawyers to ground these decisions in empirical evidence rather than just gut feeling or limited personal experience.

We also tackle the evolving role of AI in legal practice. While many vendors make ambitious claims, Carla emphasizes the importance of responsible AI implementation that keeps attorneys firmly in control. Lex Machina's approach ensures their AI capabilities enhance rather than replace legal judgment, with technology serving as a trusted assistant rather than an autonomous agent.

For legal tech entrepreneurs, Carla offers invaluable advice on product development: ensure your technical team gains direct exposure to users. By bridging the gap between engineers and attorneys, companies create solutions that truly address legal professionals' needs rather than just showcasing impressive technology.

Ready to discover how data analytics could transform your approach to litigation strategy? Connect with Carla on LinkedIn or email her at carla.rydholm@lexisnexis.com to learn more about Lex Machina and the future of data-enabled legal practice.