Legatics 
The past two years have resulted in changes to our lives and have been challenging in so many ways. We have coped with long periods physically distanced from certain loved ones while spending too much time locked in the same house as others. Even as the world opens up, the stresses of the past couple of years continue to have an impact. However, the forced change to the working habits of lawyers has not been all doom and gloom when it comes to legal tech.
As we approach the end of another year, I have been reflecting on these past couple of years and what they have meant for legal tech, legal transaction management and Legatics. I feel that there is a lot to be excited about and wanted to share some thoughts.
From discussions with law firms early on in the pandemic, it was clear that the move to remote working shifted the focus of lawyers to technology that would ensure that they could complete their deals away from the office. Technology has been necessary for lawyers and their clients to access their files from home, to communicate effectively when in-person meetings were not possible and to sign-off on documents when wet-ink and physical exchanges were not possible. Prior to 2020, phone calls tended to be the default if an in-person meeting was not possible. Now, we are far more comfortable inviting others into our homes via video conference without a second thought. Prior to 2020, there was reticence amongst lawyers to sign electronically. Now, for many practice areas, electronic signing is the norm.
The move to remote working has also catapulted legal transaction management into a category of essential legal technology as law firms and their clients see the benefits of collaborating on and closing deals in an interactive online environment. They see the benefits of greater clarity, reduced risk and being able to close deals faster and with less stress.
Legatics has seen the impact. In 2020, during a year of tighter law firm budgets, we had more than 2x the number of new customers sign up to Legatics compared to 2019. This trend has continued in 2021, as we more than doubled the number of Legatics customers compared to 2020. Adoption has also taken off during the pandemic, demonstrating that Legatics is being deployed in a meaningful way within our customers. New matter openings in 2020 were 2.5x that of 2019 and, with one month to go in 2021, the total matters opened so far in 2021 is already 6x that of 2019.
The opportunity within legal transaction management was recognised earlier this year with Legatics receiving $4.2M in Series A funding from Mobeus (now part of Gresham House). These funds are being used to accelerate our growth by doubling the team size and delivering new features and use cases for a wider range of practice areas.
We owe so much to the continued support of our users and our awesome team who have been assisting them. While COVID-19 may continue to cause disruption to our lives, hopefully legal tech, legal transaction management and Legatics can continue to build on the momentum of the past two years into 2022 and beyond!
