LexisNexis' aims to transform the way law is practiced and each of the accelerator participants is uniquely innovating in distinct areas of the law. Jeff Pfeifer from LexisNexis said: ‘The goal of our tech accelerator program is to identify some of the best and brightest legal tech startups, contribute to their early success, and then watch as their innovative technologies and vision transform the business and practice of law.’

Finalists

The five finalists – Visabot, TagDox, Separate.us, Ping, and JuriLytics were selected from a list of more than 40 promising startups for the interesting nature of their businesses and their innovative use of technology. Visabot is an ‘immigration robot’ powered by artificial intelligence that helps customers complete US visa applications; TagDox, a legal document analysis tool that creates tags, allowing users to identify and structure information in a variety of document types; Separate.us, a web-based application that automates legal document preparation for divorces and provides access to relevant professionals at affordable fixed rates; Ping, an automated timekeeping application that collects all of a lawyer's billable hours, capturing missed time and money which is  estimated at 20 per cent across the industry) and JuriLytics, an expert witness peer review service that lawyers can use to challenge their opponent's experts with previously unobtainable credibility and bullet-proof their own expert's work through vetting from the world's top researchers.

12-week mentoring programme

Based in the Menlo Park, CA offices of Lex Machina, the 12 week programme will leverage the content resources, deep expertise in legal, technology and startup domains, as well as the industry-leading market positions of LexisNexis and Lex Machina to guide and mentor program participants. Lex Machina CEO Josh Becker will lead the project with support from LexisNexis' chief technology officer, Jeff Reihl, chief product officer, Jamie Buckley, vice president of US product management, Jeff Pfeifer, and Lex Machina chief evangelist, Owen Byrd. In addition they will leverage the company's established relationships with Stanford University and other leading Bay Area schools, businesses, VCs and influencers to grow their companies.