Innovative Legal Self-Service Platforms: A collaboration with Worcester Polytechnic Institute

In today's digital world, the call for self-service options, especially in the legal field, is getting louder and louder. Due to this growing demand, the SKW Innovation Lab teamed up with a student team from the prestigious Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts, USA, to take a closer look at the needs and challenges in the field of legal tech applications.

The dedicated team from WPI conducted thorough research on German start-ups and established companies to analyze their needs and usage behavior regarding legal tools and technologies. Thanks to regular meetings between the Lab and WPI, we were able to evaluate the research results step by step, and sharpen the terms of reference.

Some of the most important findings from the study:

• Feedback culture: There is a growing desire for feedback opportunities in relation to legal services.
• Needs of start-ups: These companies are particularly looking for knowledge management tools to meet the legal requirements of being an entrepreneur.
• Challenges for established companies: They often struggle with the effective communication of legal issues between legal and business departments and fear that the use of legal tech will require additional manpower.
• Interest from start-ups: Legal self-services are particularly attractive for start-ups, as they often lack the necessary in-house legal expertise. They find data protection and intellectual property particularly challenging.
• Market trends: The latest legal tech solutions focus primarily on contract management.

The highlight of our project was certainly the final presentation by the WPI team. We had the opportunity to see their in-depth research results as well as the demo of their newly developed legal self-service platform - including a privacy notice generator. For those interested in the final presentation, it is available at this link.

This collaboration with a dynamic team of non-lawyers has brought us fresh perspectives and valuable insights into the world of legal tech. With such innovative approaches, we strive to make our services even more customized and current. Many thanks to the WPI team, and we eagerly look forward to the next joint project in spring 2024!