Legatics

A London company whose software helps legal teams manage deals from start to closing.

About Legatics

Legatics makes software that helps lawyers run big deals. When two companies do a deal, such as a bank lending money to a business, there are dozens of documents to collect, sign and check. Lawyers have often tracked this in long lists and Word files. Legatics replaces those with a web-based platform where everyone on the deal can upload documents, see a checklist and watch the status update. The company says it was designed by lawyers, for lawyers, and aims to make deals clearer, less risky and faster to close.

Legatics was founded in 2015 by Anthony Seale, who had been an associate (a junior lawyer) at the law firm Clifford Chance and had also worked in-house at a company called Aerograft. Artificial Lawyer reported that he started the business after finding deal processes far too cumbersome and believing there had to be a better way. He has said that to change how lawyers work you need a lawyer with deal experience. Legatics is based in London, and a 2018 interview described a team of 28 people, mostly in London. It was part of the first group of companies in law firm Allen & Overy's Fuse innovation space and has worked from Barclays Eagle Labs.

We found no formal mission statement. The closest are Seale's own words, who said that the mission is personal to him and that legal deals can be slow, inefficient and leave clients in the dark, so the answer is a centralised online platform. Earlier coverage describes a team passionate about changing how lawyers work.

The platform can read a loan schedule and generate a checklist of conditions that must be met before a deal completes (a conditions precedent checklist), update that list as things happen, and produce the final set of deal documents in a firm's own house style. Legatics says it is used on deals in over 70 countries. Law firms named as customers include A&O Shearman, Linklaters, White & Case, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hogan Lovells and King & Wood Mallesons (company and press statements).

A current job advert describes Legatics as a London scale-up with hybrid working. It says it values putting users at the centre of design, diversity and inclusion (hiring on talent, drive and emotional intelligence) and integrity and trust, and describes a friendly, supportive culture with regular socials. Benefits it lists include 25 days of holiday, an early finish on the last Friday of each month, private medical cover and a learning budget. These are the company's own claims. Roles we saw were sales, customer-facing and engineering jobs for experienced people. We found no graduate or apprenticeship scheme, so ask via its careers page.

What they do

• {'desc': 'Web-based software where law firms and clients track documents, checklists and progress on a deal.', 'title': 'Deal management platform'}
• {'desc': 'Reads a loan schedule and builds a checklist of conditions to meet before a deal completes.', 'title': 'Checklist automation'}
• {'desc': 'Helps teams organise signatures and produce the final set of deal documents.', 'title': 'Closing coordination'}

Key facts

• Founded 2015 by Anthony Seale, a former Clifford Chance associate
• Based in London; hybrid working (company advert)
• Used on deals in over 70 countries (company claim)
• Part of the first cohort at Allen & Overy's Fuse space (Artificial Lawyer, 2018)
• Lists 25 days holiday and an early finish on the last Friday of each month (own claim)

Website: www.legatics.com