Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) made over $100,000 in sales during its first week offering subscriptions to an app that helps companies comply with California’s new privacy law, and the leader of the firm’s tech subsidiary said he expects the tool will generate “millions.”

$5billion market

The cloud-based app is sold by SixFifty, a WSGR software development subsidiary launched in February, and reflects the firms’ interest in selling subscription-style legal services via online platforms. The app allows legal departments to, among other tasks, generate documents showing compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act with a few mouse at a flat price starting at $7,500. Kimball Parker, president of SixFifty, said he expects the app will generate millions in revenue as companies seek to comply with the CCPA by the January 2020 deadline. The International Association of Privacy Professionals estimates that over 500,000 companies will be required to comply. Mr Parker estimates that companies would be willing to pay about $10,000 for those services, creating a market for CCPA-related legal services at around $5 billion. He says traditional service models cannot meet this demand. “We very much adapted to the speed of a tech company, which is what law firms need to do,” said Douglas Clark, Wilson Sonsini’s managing partner. “And that’s what clients expect. They expect us to deploy innovation in practice.”

Sales-driven

SixFifty is developing automated tools designed to make legal processes efficient and affordable, and operates in tandem with attorneys from WSGR to provide companies combined automation and human expertise. SixFifty is led by Mr Parker and Lincoln Porter, chief technology officer, both veteran legal technologists. They created GDPR IQ, an automated software solution that generated GDPR compliance documents, which they says became profitable within six weeks and serviced hundreds of clients. SixFifty plans to develop and release multiple products, the first being the new privacy app. Mr Parker, who is also director of the LawX legal design lab at Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School, said at the launch “For most companies, complying with the CCPA will be a confusing and costly exercise. SixFifty’s automated tools will provide a more affordable, efficient and convenient solution to help companies on the path to compliance.” Mr Parker explained that though owned by WSGR, the provider is not run like a law firm, saying “It’s not a law firm. Our biggest department will be our sales team.”