Just over a month from now, the CBA, in partnership with LegalX, will host its first-ever legal innovation pitch competition candidates vying for a two-week residency with LegalX at MaRS District in Toronto, and access to investors with deep pockets.
Out of a total 31 submissions, our team of virtual judges narrowed the field to five candidates, who will appear before a second judging panel at the CBA Legal Conference in Ottawa in August. The candidates will get seven minutes to make their pitch to the judges and a live audience, and spend another five minutes in a Q&A with the judges, and then wait to hear their fates.
The shortlisted submissions came from: Beagle, Blue J Legal, Loom Analytics, Rangefindr and Knomos.
The virtual judges were legal futurist and author Mitch Kowalski; investor Randall Howard, general partner of Verdexus; Monica Goyal, founder of My Legal Briefcase; Carla Swansburg, Director, Professional Development, Pricing & Knowledge Services at Blakes; and Karim Benyekhlef, director of the Cyberjustice Lab at Université de Montréal.
Audience members will also get a chance to participate via a worldwide Twitter conversation, and also through voting for the Peoples’ Choice award, which will be announced just before the winner.
The LegalX residency for the winners includes desk space for two team members, LegalX mentorship and most importantly, access to investors. All five of the finalists will get a chance to network with potential investors at The Pitch, and a guaranteed interview with the Chinese Angels Mentor Program. If selected by CAMP (and pending due diligence), they will receive an equity investment of no less than $200,000.
Tickets to The Pitch, which will be held Friday, Aug. 12, are included in the full conference registration fee. They’re also available as a separate item on the CBA Legal Conference website.
The cutting edge of legal technology innovation will be on display this summer at the CLC in Ottawa. Don’t miss it.