Freelance for Law wins ABA Techshow 2021's Startup Alley competition
Freelance for Law, an online platform that connects law firms with legal professionals who can handle a variety of tasks, won the Startup Alley pitch competition at the ABA Techshow 2021 on Monday morning.
The fifth annual event was the kickoff of the first all-virtual Techshow, which runs through Friday and is being hosted in a remote fashion because of COVID-19.
Brian Bedard, CEO and co-founder of Freelance for Law.
Freelance for Law provides law firms and legal practitioners with access to on-demand talent who can assist with short- and long-term projects.
This enables firms and legal departments to save on the expenses involved with hiring full-time attorneys and support staff, according to a video that Freelance for Law produced for the pitch competition.
The platform also provides each user with a built-in practice management suite. Since its launch in August 2020, Freelance for Law has grown to feature a community of more than 1,000 legal professionals from across the country, said CEO and co-founder Brian Bedard during the startup competition.
Follow along with the ABA Journal’s coverage of the ABA Techshow 2021 here.
“Our mission is to give law firms of any size access to the talent they need to effectively scale their practice,” Bedard said.
In a phone interview later on Monday, Bedard said Freelance for Law’s inclusion on its platform of paralegals, legal assistants and law clerks, among other support staff, has helped differentiate it from competitors.
He also said the COVID-19 pandemic has likely sparked interest in Freelance for Law’s offerings and helped the company get off to a fast start.
“I would assume that is a big reason why people are looking for alternative forms of employment online,” Bedard told the ABA Journal. “In my opinion, moving forward, you are not going to be limited to one law firm for employment. We are seeing people can get connected to two, three, four law firms to handle their legal practice.”
Freelance for Law’s other co-founder is Tanya Taylor.
Freelance for Law bested 14 other startups that participated in the competition, including several companies that focus on contract review and management.
44th Street Technologies, which offers a case analysis software for lawyers, took second place. Della, an AI-powered contract analysis and review tool, took third place.
