Mishcon de Reya has today announced that MDR LAB - its programme for tech start-ups in the legal space, run in conjunction with innovation specialists and investors L Marks - will return in 2018. It has also revealed that it has made investments in two of the 2017 programme's participating companies.
In May, six companies were chosen to spend ten weeks working alongside lawyers and business operations teams to develop and trial their products – giving the firm access to cutting edge technology and giving the companies access to legal and business expertise. Open to early stage and growth technology start-ups, applications were welcomed from companies at concept through to revenue-generating stage, as long as the product or service was applicable to the legal industry.
Since the programme completed, Mishcon de Reya has continued to develop relationships with all of the participating companies and has today announced that it has made a financial investment in two of them: Everchron, developers of collaborative litigation management software; and Ping, whose product automates timekeeping for lawyers and provides data analysis for law firms.
Mishcon de Reya has also signed an enterprise-wide licence with Everchron, enabling the firm's litigators to use the software to better manage litigation documents from the outset of a case, and to collaborate on documents with external parties such as clients, barristers and co-counsel. Everchron will join the suite of products already deployed by Mishcon de Reya to enable its litigators to work better and faster and deliver the best outcomes for clients.
The Firm has also agreed commercial terms on a further co-development project with Ping.
Nick West, Chief Strategy Officer at Mishcon de Reya, said: "We had a fantastic first year of MDR LAB. The programme achieved a lot. We met and worked with some great people and some innovative companies and are thrilled to announce these first two investments. We're excited to continue to work with all of our 2017 cohort and to see what MDR LAB 2018 brings!"
Kourosh Zamanizadeh, Co-Founder of Ping, said: "We've had many conversations with top law firms around the world who are interested in technology, but few have committed to driving innovation within legal in the way that Mishcon de Reya has. Our time in MDR LAB helped shape our product and better understand how Ping can help firms adapt to shifts that are occurring in the industry. We are very excited about our continued partnership together."
Ofer Bleiweiss, Founder and CEO of Everchron, said: "MDR LAB was an invaluable opportunity for us to work closely with lawyers at the top of their game. We are delighted to now have Mishcon as both investor and customer. We look forward to building on our partnership and doing big things together in the UK and beyond.”
It is expected that applications for MDR LAB 2018 will open in January.
For more information, visit www.lab.mdr.london
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