Saughter and May

IS YOUR PRODUCT CAPABLE OF RESHAPING OR REDEFINING LEGAL SERVICES?

We are currently undertaking our fourth cohort and applications are closed.

Slaughter and May Collaborate is our legal tech programme.

Collaborate is open to innovators and entrepreneurs with products relevant to the legal sector. We want to collaborate with the brightest minds in this space – helping to develop, test and expand legal tech products.

Collaborate offers successful cohort members the opportunity to thoroughly test and develop their product, seek detailed feedback, and form meaningful network connections. The programme also offers access to our people, our clients and our peer firms, as well as the opportunity to pitch for financial investment via Slaughter and May Ventures, our investment platform.

We are currently undertaking our fourth cohort and applications are closed.

Awarded Band 2 in LawTech Incubators & Accelerators

Chambers NewLaw Guide 2024

Our current cohort

Associo

Associo is a collaborative analysis and forecasting tool which harnesses AI to assist lawyers to evaluate arguments, predict outcomes and verify statements more efficiently and reliably.

Atria AI

Atria AI offers a generative AI assistant with modules tailored for specific legal tasks such as chronology building, impact assessment, report generation, data extraction and regulatory monitoring.

LegalFly

LegalFly is a generative AI assistant for legal teams, used to streamline tasks like contract review, drafting, and discovery. By creating a customised AI model, LegalFly is able to reflect each firm’s unique style.

Notarist

Notarist uses AI to analyse emails and meeting notes, categorising tasks and tracking task progress. The AI interprets and prioritises follow-up tasks, locates bottlenecks and deadlines, and ensures seamless task and project management.

Visual Contracts

Visual Contracts' 'Canva for Contracts' is an AI-driven platform that helps business and legal professionals to create understandable contracts, using AI suggestions on visual elements, plain legal language and effective document structure to make legally sound and user-friendly contracts.

Virtual Pricing Director

Virtual Pricing Director is a pricing and profitability tool that helps create pricing proposals and engagement letters, using templates, AI and structured logic.

eligibility

Collaborate is open to any and all types of legal tech solutions, however, for our fourth cohort, we are particularly interested in working with legal tech products with a generative AI focus.

There is no minimum size/shape/age/financial position for acceptance into our Collaborate programme, and applications are open to legal tech businesses at varying stages of maturity. We do however ask that you have at least a Minimum Viable Product that we can work with you on.

Consideration will be given to the strength, uniqueness and promise of product and the diversity of the team involved. If you think that you could benefit from the programme then we would love to hear from you.

Applications are now closed.

PROGRAMME BENEFITS

We want to help you develop, test, and expand your legal tech product. If you are accepted into our programme you will receive access to the right people and resources to help your product grow.

Benefits of the 12-week programme include:

Access to our Clients

Access to our clients and their in-house legal and legal operations teams, via our established Client Innovation Network, including over 70 of our client organisations from a broad range of industry sectors and continues to grow. We are keen to bring legal tech to our clients (both in-house and when working on their matters) and understand the valuable role in-house teams can play in helping to shape new technologies.

Dedicated Mentors

Each cohort member will receive guidance and support from dedicated mentors in our Legal Tech & Innovation Teams, whilst members of our fee-earning community and business services teams will also provide support and guidance throughout the programme. We also have our Collaborate Alumni Network on hand to give you first-hand advice about how to get the most from the programme.

Bespoke Training & Resources

As each product is different, our dedicated mentors will design a bespoke programme to meet each cohort members’ specific needs. Choose from a range of practical sessions with our Pitching, Marketing and Branding experts, get to know the legal media with our specialist Communications team, or sit down with our InfoSec and Privacy teams to explore the requirements of a typical law firm infrastructure.

Access to our Lawyers

Opportunities to discuss product development and use cases with fee-earners from across our firm and participation in demos, testing and feedback sessions. Cohort members will develop a clearer understanding as to where our lawyers (and our clients!) would benefit from new tech in their day-to-day lives, and how this can be practically achieved.

Networking Opportunities

Collaborate offers a range of networking opportunities with our staff, lawyers, industry contacts and clients.

Pitching for Funding

Successful cohort members will be given the opportunity to pitch to Slaughter and May partners for equity investment through our dedicated investment platform, Slaughter and May Ventures. *

Accelerated Tech Development

One of the biggest difficulties startups often encounter is a lack of product iteration through feedback cycles. The programme will provide you with ample opportunity to receive feedback through our dedicated mentors and access to our firm’s people. You will also receive opinions from our Advisory and Client Networks which will help provide differing perspectives and points of view to accelerate iteration cycles.

Opportunity to Pilot

Where we feel your product fits our firm needs, you may be offered the opportunity to pilot with us at the end of the programme. This opportunity will allow us to fully on-board your product within our business, providing real-time feedback and advice from our lawyers and business services experts.**

* Whilst a pitching opportunity will be offered to all successful applicants, it is not a requirement of participation and is optional. Similarly, the firm will make no commitment as to the number of partners who might attend a pitch or as to the outcome of any pitch.

** Whilst there is the opportunity to continue to work together beyond the end of the programme in the form of a live pilot, this will be at our discretion and is not guaranteed.

For more information on the programme see our FAQs or contact the team.

OUR COLLABORATE NETWORKS

We believe that legal tech provides the most benefit when providers, private practice and in-house teams all work together to find solutions that can integrate into existing processes and relationships. Cohort members are given access to our clients and their in-house legal teams, as well as industry experts, to ensure that legal tech tools on the market meet the needs of the legal industry as a whole.

CLIENT INNOVATION NETWORK

Our clients are key to Collaborate! We acknowledge the importance of listening to clients when helping develop new legal tech, and understand the valuable role in-house teams can play in shaping new technologies. We want to understand the pain points in-house teams are facing and how these can be addressed through tech tools.

We also want to give our cohort members the opportunity to engage in discussions directly with in-house legal teams. Cohort members will have access to our clients and their in-house legal teams via our established Client Innovation Network, featuring over 70 of our client organisations from a broad range of industry sectors.

ADVISORY NETWORK

Our Advisory Network brings valuable insight and experience into the programme, and features representatives from our best friend and relationship firms; Gilbert + Tobin, Hengeler Mueller, Uría Menéndez and Bredin Prat, as well as representatives from Slaughter and May, and new for 2024 Alex Baker, founder of The Legal Tech Collective. The Network provides international advice and guidance for our cohort members.

ALUMNI NETWORK

Beyond the end of the programme, successful cohort members will also benefit from our Collaborate Alumni Network, enabling past and present cohort members to share experiences and receive feedback and support from likeminded peers.