Jimoh Ovbiagele, a former partner of Kirkland & Ellis and current legal tech entrepreneur, has recently revealed an AI-driven software which aims to elucidate judicial thinking, backed financially by several prominent law firms. Bench IQ, the innovative software in question, successfully accumulated $2.1 million in its pre-seed funding round, with considerable support from established law firms such as Cooley, Fenwick & West, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. For further details on Bench IQ’s pre-seed funding round and the specifics of the technology, check out the complete report at Reuters.
Shifting our focus to litigation trends, Kirkland senior litigation partner Matthew Solum highlights the surge of private equity as a “more and more dominant mode of deploying capital,” which in turn, he predicts, will continue to stimulate litigation. For an in-depth look at the predictions of Kirkland’s senior litigation partner, the full report is available at Lawdragon.
In cybersecurity news, Sacramento-based law firm Mastagni Holstedt has sued Lantech LLC, their cybersecurity hire, following a ransomware attack. In light of the ransom they were forced to compensate to regain control of their data, Mastagni Holstedt seeks over $1 million in damages. For more information on the litigation circumstances, you can read the full story at the Sacramento Bee.
The period has also seen several lateral moves and changes in-house. Sarah Mirza has left Artegis Law Group and joined Squire Patton Boggs as a partner in the IP and tech practice, alongside Brian Miner, formerly of Dechert LLP, who has joined as a partner in the corporate and securities practice group in New York. Similarly, there have been numerous other lateral shifts, all of which are documented in more detail over at Bloomberg Law.