We’re excited to share more about our investment in Priori, a marketplace for in-house teams to select outside counsel.
Corporations in the US spend almost $70B on outside legal counsel each year. With this magnitude of spend, large corporations often engage with tens, even hundreds, of outside law firms for their various legal issues. Managing these relationships, finding new talent, and determining which firm is best for which engagement can be a complicated project.
The process today is outdated for companies of all sizes. Many large corporations run manual and time-consuming RFP (request for proposal) processes to find legal counsel, while some companies use spreadsheets to track their preferred firms, and others just call the first firm that comes to mind, regardless of firm expertise. On the other end of the spectrum, small companies need help finding the right outside counsel as well, but their issues are usually different. Small companies might not be able to afford the larger law firms and often have shorter legal engagements.
Basha Rubin and Mirra Levitt knew there could be a better way for companies to find the right legal talent. Basha and Mirra, who met during their Yale Law School days, noticed how marketplace technology was disrupting other industries like transportation (Uber), lodging (Airbnb), and even dating (Bumble). They believed the legal industry was ready for a similar disruption and joined forces to start Priori. Priori is a marketplace that connects in-house legal teams with talent from a vetted network of attorneys at firms of all sizes. The data-driven platform helps companies streamline the process of finding the best outside counsel for any given engagement, leading to 60% cost savings and 80% time savings, something both small and large companies can appreciate. The marketplace model also presents an opportunity for lawyers wanting more flexibility to find quality engagements on the platform.
At The LegalTech Fund, we’ve been impressed with Basha and Mirra’s dedication and ability to build a platform that has attracted both Fortune 50 companies and growing startups alike. Using technology to disrupt an outdated legal process, like finding the right firms for projects, is well aligned with our fund’s investment thesis. We are proud to welcome the Priori team to The LegalTech Fund family. Let us know if we can connect you to learn more!