Here come the Israeli robolawyers
So much for “my son the lawyer.”
An Israeli firm is hoping to make a killing as a pioneer in the nascent field of robolaw.
LawGeex wants to bring the legal profession into the 21st century in the same way that Uber transformed transportation — by taking it online.
“After healthcare, legal services are the second-biggest service industry in the U.S., worth some $400 billion,” says Noory Bechor, CEO and founder of LawGeex. “But nearly all of it is done offline through traditional law firms. Only 1 percent is online right now, mostly through companies like LegalZoom, which can help you create contracts.”
LawGeex represents the flip side of LegalZoom. If you’re on the receiving end of a contract – for a new job, a lease, or stock options for that new startup you’re about to launch – upload the document to the LawGeex website. Within 24 hours, you’ll have an annotated review, complete with notes on what’s missing, what’s dicey, and what’s non-standard.
The review is written in plain English and includes helpful statistics such as “94 percent of leases don’t include this clause,” so you know if you’re about to get taken for a ride.
The software only handles English contracts. “There’s not a lot of knowhow out there related to Hebrew text analysis,” Bechor admits. “For us to review a Hebrew contract, we’d have to really reinvent the wheel.”
For one-off employment contracts and leases, LawGeex is free. For other types of contracts – LawGeex handles 20 different types, from non-compete and non-disclosure agreements to the inscrutable terms of service found on nearly every website and app – you can pay $50 a pop or buy a monthly subscription.
As to the once iron law that Jewish mothers wanted their children to grow up to be lawyers and doctors — well, see page 40 for Israeli progress in robosurgeons.
Israel21c.org
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