Extract from Rhys Dipshan’s article “Startups Are Pushing to Democratize Legal Research. Will They Succeed?”
After a wave of consolidation, the legal research market is once again expanding, with several new startups challenging the established order.
These newcomers are looking to make legal research more accessible and inexpensive for attorneys, with some even offering their proprietary built case law databases to the broader legal technology market to support innovation.
While such efforts are welcomed by those striving to make case law accessible, the push to democratize legal research may only be able to go so far. For instance, some see the risk of these efforts being stifled in an industry where mergers and acquisitions have been the norm. Others, however, argue that past isn’t always prologue and believe the new crop of startups may be around for much longer than their predecessors.
More Data, More Access
While it has become easier to build primary law databases thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, for many startups making this information more accessible is just beginning.
