The Baltic region has been a hotbed for legal tech innovation in recent years, with a number of startups and established companies developing new tools and services to help firms and lawyers work more efficiently. Estonia, in particular, has emerged as a leader in the space, thanks to its strong startup ecosystem and supportive government policies. In fact, Estonia is home to a rich startup scene. According to Invest in Estonia, “Estonia has a world-class track record in building unicorns. So far, Estonia has been the birthplace of 10 unicorns: Skype in 2005, Playtech in 2007, Wise in 2015, Bolt in 2018, Pipedrive in 2020, Zego, ID.me and Gelato in 2021, Veriff and Glia in 2022. That’s 7.7 unicorns per million capita. And it makes Estonia the leader in unicorns per capita in Europe. According to the 2020’s report by Atomico, Estonia is playing a major role in the building of $1B+ companies.”
Estonia’s success in the legal tech space can be attributed to a combination of factors. Firstly, Estonia is globally recognized for its e-residency program, which allows foreign entrepreneurs and businesses to open companies in the country without having to physically move there. This has enabled startups from across the world to access Estonian talent and resources, enabling the legal tech scene to gain more momentum.
In addition, Estonia has a strong focus on technology and innovation. The government has implemented supportive policies such as tax exemptions for startups, access to venture capital funding, and various other incentives. This is why Estonia is often referred to as “the Silicon Valley of Europe”.
Finally, Estonia has a highly educated and skilled workforce. Estonia’s government focused on creating an education system that would support the high-tech, high-skill, high-wage economy it wanted to build. This has enabled the development of the tech sector, and within that, legal tech, which has been further helped by Estonia’s talented and dynamic workforce.
As a result, Estonia is now home to several leading legal tech solutions that will be discussed below:
1. LEGID – On-demand Legal Services Platform
2. Avokaado – Contract Lifecycle Management Platform
3. Pactum – AI-based Negotiation System
4. Extendlaw – Legal Research and Knowledge Management Platform
5. HUGO.legal – Digital Platform for Automating Law Firm Tasks
6. Flagito – Air Passenger Compensation Platform.
These are original solutions that are helping to shape the legal tech space and revolutionizing the way legal services are provided. By harnessing the power of technology, these solutions offer increased efficiency, accuracy, affordability and scalability for lawyers and firms.
1. LEGID
At LEGID, we believe that everyone should have access to quality legal services at an affordable price. That’s why we’ve built an AI-powered marketplace platform that offers on-demand legal services from a network of carefully curated lawyers. Our platform is designed to make it easy for users to find the right lawyer for their specific needs, and our prices are transparent so that users know exactly what they’re getting. From business formation to contract review, our platform offers a wide range of legal services that can be accessed 24/7 from anywhere in the world.
2. Avokaado
Avokaado is an all-in-one contract lifecycle management platform that helps legal and business teams manage, create and collaborate on documents from one single platform at every stage of the document lifecycle: clause-based contract automation, drafting based on smart templates, workflow management with digital signing and electronic storing. In other words, it can be considered a “Google Docs for legal documents”.
3. Pactum
Pactum is an AI-based system that helps global companies to automatically offer personalized, commercial negotiations on a massive scale. The system adds value and saves time for both the Pactum client and their negotiation partner by aligning their values to determine win-win agreements via an easy-to-use chat interface that implements best-practice negotiation strategies. The company is based in Mountain View with engineering and operations in Estonia. Pactum is backed by founders of Skype and TransferWise and built by luminaries from Skype, Starship Technologies, and the Government of Estonia’s e-Residency program.
4. Extendlaw
ExtendLaw turns your web browser into a hyper-augmented legal research and knowledge management tool for Estonian and EU law. Users can easily find and bookmark key legal provisions, add contextual notes and thoughts, perform advanced searches, and more. The platform also includes a powerful collaboration tool that makes it easy for users to share their research with colleagues and clients.
5. HUGO.legal
HUGO.legal is a digital platform that helps lawyers and law firms work more efficiently by automating repetitive tasks and providing easy access to relevant legal information. The platform includes a number of features, such as a virtual assistant, a document management system, a client portal, and a knowledge base.
6. Flagito
Flagito is a company that helps passengers claim compensation of up to 600€ for canceled, delayed, or overbooked flights that have happened in the last 5 years. Flagito makes the claim process much easier and faster, and their objective is to raise awareness of air passenger travel rights for disrupted flights. If an airline company tries to avoid paying compensation, Flagito will dispute the case and fight for the passenger’s rights. Flagito provides risk-free services, where customers don’t have to pay anything if the claim is unsuccessful.
Estonia has emerged as a leading jurisdiction for legal tech startups, thanks to its strong startup ecosystem, supportive government policies, and commitment to digital transformation. It remains to be seen how these companies will continue to shape the way legal services are delivered both in Estonia and around the world. But one thing is certain: with Estonia’s booming legal tech industry, access to quality legal services at an affordable price is within reach for everyone.