Written by Tristan Koh, Utsav Rakshit | Edited by Josh Lee
Introduction
Zegal is a collaborative cloud-based legal technology platform that aims to transform the way legal services, such as document generation and legal workflow management, are delivered. Formerly Dragon Law, it has come a long way from starting off purely as an automated contract generation software. Today, the platform integrates automated contract generation seamlessly with legal workflow management in the cloud.
LawTech.Asia was given a chance to meet with Zegal Singapore’s Co-founder, Stephan Hablutzel, and view an in-depth product demo of Zegal’s latest product, Zegal 2.0.
Stephan formerly worked as a top-level executive in several MNCs. From his frequent use of legal services in the past, he and the Zegal team have used their deep understanding of common pain points in legal services to create a product that is client-centric. In particular, Zegal makes legal services far more accessible to small and medium-sized companies and eschew the traditional reservation of full-scale legal services for large corporations.
From 16-17 November 2018, LawTech.Asia co-organised the Legal Hackers APAC Summit together with SG Legal Hackers and the Singapore Academy of Law. This saw over twenty Legal Hackers chapter organizers from at least ten different countries in the Asia-Pacific region converge in Singapore to discuss the latest developments in law, technology and innovation in the APAC region.
Interview
by Emily Tan & Ong Chin
Ngee | Edited by Irene Ng
As a visiting professor at the Singapore Management University (SMU) in 2018, Professor Dov Greenbaum taught the module “Introduction to Law and Technology”. In line with his research focus on the ethical, social, economic and legal issues in emerging technologies both in hi-tech and biotech, Prof. Greenbaum also delivered a seminar on the topic of “Legal and Ethical Considerations with the Advancement of AI and Machine Learning”. As part of his collaboration with SMU’s Centre for AI and Data Governance, Prof. Greenbaum is leading SMU students on a year-long project where students work with stakeholders of emerging technologies to develop a research paper providing actionable analysis of the technology and its implications.
The list tracks the likely movers and shakers of the legal industry in 2019, and LawTech.Asia is fortunate to be named alongside luminaries such as Ms Teresa Cheng (Hong Kong Secretary of Justice) and Ms Melissa Kaye Pang (President of the Hong Kong Law Society) for this year’s edition.
LawTech.Asia has an unwavering goal – to inspire legal innovation through partnerships and thought leadership. By the nature of our work, we walk alongside and are supported by giants who stand tall in their fields. Hence, this achievement has come very much as a pleasant surprise to all of us. We have met many leaders at the forefront of legal tech in the region, all of whom would more than deserve a spot on the list.
Nevertheless, this recognition only strengthens our resolve to work even harder towards our vision of become “The Economist of legal technology in Asia”.
We dedicate this to all of LawTech.Asia’s partners. This recognition belongs to you as much as it means to us.
From all of us at LawTech.Asia, a very big thank you.
It has been a joy working with you in 2018. All of us at LawTech.Asia would like to wish you a very fruitful 2019!
Looking Back at 2018
2018 has been a tremendous year for LawTech.Asia. We produced a total of 28 articles’ worth of thought leadership, industry insights, and conversation points (not too bad for a team of volunteers!). We were appointed Media Partner for major legal tech conferences (TechLaw.Fest 2018 and LexTech 2018). We co-organised local and regional legal tech events, such as the APAC Legal Hackers Summit 2018 and the SG Legal Tech Meetup. We engaged in collaborations with overseas legal tech companies, such as Resolve Disputes Online.
With these projects, LawTech.Asia’s visibility has grown. We’ve been told that our articles – which are known for their neutrality, substance and clarity of thought – are something to look forward to. These words of encouragement mean much to us, and strengthen our resolve to do even better.
Throughout 2018, LawTech.Asia has taken big strides towards its goal: to raise awareness, interest and thought leadership on the legal tech sector in Singapore and the region.
Internally, we’ve also expanded our team – from five members to the current 14, and are in the midst of expanding further to meet our manpower and resource needs.
Looking forward to 2019
There remains much work to be done. The legal tech sector in the region continues to develop, and there are still many minds and hearts that we can – and should – be touching. In this game, we are in a constant race against man, machine, and time.
With that, our focus in 2019 is to better position ourselves as The Economist of legal technology in Asia. To that end, we will put even more effort into producing thought leadership that is relevant, regional and respected. We also aim to strengthen our network of partners, with whom we hope to build a resilient community of legal innovators. We hope to share more details on these initiatives soon.
All of these would not have been possible without your continued readership and support for LawTech.Asia. For that, you have our deepest thanks. Thank you for partnering and journeying with us in 2018, and we hope you will continue to support us this year.
From all at LawTech.Asia, here’s wishing you a very Happy New Year!
