As Siam Legal Tech Center details on their website, the ASEAN region has seen “double digit growth in all digital segments including internet penetration, social media usage and mobile connectivity”.
As a result, online legal services in the region have blossomed in this environment – with legal tech startup entrepreneurs throughout the region making significant headway in developing ground-breaking new technology-driven platforms to help facilitate legal efficiency for lawyers and greater access to legal services for consumers.
2019 a major year for legal tech innovation in Asia
Notably, LawTech.Asia chronicles in detail the rise of the Asia-Pacific region legal tech ecosystem – from the startup entrepreneurs to the organizations and professionals that support its’ development.
In 2019, for example, legal tech and legal design consultants Alpha Creates was founded in Australia — the Asia-Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association (ALITA) was launched at TechLaw.Fest in Singapore — LawTechMalaysia was founded — Legal Hackers Organizations are thriving throughout the region — Japan hosted it’s first-ever law and legal tech hackathon — while the Singapore Academy of Law published a comprehensive report on the state of innovation in law in the Asia-Pacific region.
Asia Pacific Region Legal Tech Founders in Focus
In this report, Asia Law Portal highlights one very important element in the Asia-Pacific region legal tech startup ecosystem: Legal Tech Startup Founders. Specifically, 12 legal tech startup founders from 12 different Asia-Pacific region jurisdictions – who are helping to transform legal services in those jurisdictions and whose continued forward progress in 2020 should be fascinating to watch.
Indonesia
Rieke Caroline, Founding CEO, KontrakHukum – KontrakHukum, as Indonesia Tatler reported, is “a digital platform focused on protecting the business-legal side of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Rieke Caroline explained in Tech in Asia that she founded KontrakHukum “with the aim [of making] legal services more reachable to…society at large, thus in the long run [helping make] legal services…[not something that’s] viewed as ‘exclusive’”.
Japan
Itaya Ryuhei, Founder & CEO, MNTSQ Ltd – Established in November, 2018 to develop “LegalTech as social infrastructure of the future”. It now provides law firms with legal due diligence efficiency services. In October, 2019, MNTSQ Ltd parent company PKSHA Technology Inc announced a strategic alliance with elite Japanese law firm Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu.
Australia
Sacha Kirk, Co-Founder & CMO, Lawcadia – Founded in 2015, Lawcadia “is a legal technology company that helps organisations digitally transform their legal departments – [via] leading technology and streamlined business processes to optimise how corporate and government legal teams and their law firms work together. In 2019, Lawcadia “raised $1.3 million in a pre-Series A round from a number of private investors and Artesian, a leading Australian alternative investments and venture capital firm.”
Brunei Darussalem
Queenie Chong, CEO and Co-Founder, Memori — Online legacy planning platform Memori helps customers engage certified professionals to write their wills. Chong told Biz Brunei that: “Memori was set up to democratize the legacy planning space which has traditionally been expensive and difficult to navigate”. Memori plans to scale their business in Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia, where an estimated 33 million adults are without a will. E27 reported in 2019 that Memori raised an “undisclosed amount of funding…from members of an Asian royal family”.
Thailand
Prin Mana-aporn, CEO and Co-Founder, Acaya – “Acaya is the research-focused AI startup that is specialized in legal analytics and NLP. [Acaya] aim[s] to revolutionize Thailand’s legislation and laws, making them internet-native, machine learn-able, and non-lawyer friendly”, as the company website details.
Malaysia
June Low, Founder, EasyLaw – As Digital News Asia details: “EasyLaw provides a land search service, calculation service for legal fees and real property gains tax, and digital access to a number statutes and rules of law through a website and app.” EasyLaw has received angel funding and has steadily increased its’ user base of Malaysian lawyers.
India
Dr. Arvind Singhatiya, CEO, LegalKart – A technology platform that helps lawyers manage their legal practices. The firm uses artificial intelligence to connect qualified clients to lawyers — thereby helping lawyers build and grow their practices
Philippines
Marlon Valderama, President & CEO, LexMeet — LexMeet is the Philippine’s first on-demand online legal solutions platform. LexMeet has “web and mobile applications, both IOs and Android, wherein clients can avail themselves of legal services using our online legal consultation platform”.
Korea
Jaehoon Jung, Founder & CEO, Legalinsight. A lawyer, Jung set up Legalinsight with two other colleagues in August 2017 to develop technology and software to provide easy-to-use online legal services.
Nepal
Kailash Panday, Founder, LexpertEase – Lexpertease’s vision is to make the legal service delivery process simple, effective and accessible to everyone via a network of verified lawyers.
Mongolia
Zolzaya Mundur, CEO at CodeLex – “Codelex is a developer of legaltech projects as part of the Irbis Ventures (formerly ‘M Lab’) ecosystem. Incorporated in Mongolia and Singapore, and with core team based in Ulaanbaatar, Singapore and Toyko, Codelex projects aim to streamline and add value to the practice of law and delivery of legal services.”
China
Jiang Yong, Founder, Wusong Technology – Founded in 2014, the firm “aims to create an Internet legal service platform, with a focus on empowering lawyers via online tools”. Yong told China Money Network that Wusong (which recently celebrated its’ 5th anniversary) “focus[es] on enabling lawyers in…professional knowledge, capabilities, branding and business partnerships.”
