Seattle, March 23, 2021 – Clearbrief, the AI platform designed for winning legal advocacy, announces today a $1.2M seed round. Clearbrief is a real-time solution and revolution for lawyers evaluating their own written work and that of competitors. Using Clearbrief’s simple tools, lawyers can prepare winning arguments faster and communicate with judges better - all resulting in a stronger reputation with both clients and courts.
The round includes early investment from Sequoia, Madrona Venture Group, and industry heavyweights such as Mark Britton (Founder, Avvo), Bryan Garner (Author, Black’s Law Dictionary), Bill Neukom (GC, Microsoft), Beth Birnbaum (former VP Product, GrubHub), Barney Harford (Board Director, United), Jim Shaughnessy (GC, Workday), Kelly Wright (Founding Leader, Tableau), Avid Larizadeh Duggan (GP, Google Ventures), and Jon Runyan (GC, Okta). Notable advisors include Judge Karen Ashby (ret. judge on CO Court of Appeals), Jason Barnwell (Microsoft Legal Operations), and Anne Jude Hunt (VP of Product at Realtor.com).
Clearbrief contains a powerful algorithm that can identify how well a writer’s sentence is supported by the source document, which can be used both in drafting your own briefs and to evaluate the other side’s arguments. It provides legal writers the precision of having another lawyer review their materials at a fraction of the time, cost, and possibility for human error, saving attorneys and their staff hours of non-billable time for every legal filing. Clearbrief also reimagines the filing process, allowing judges to experience a brief seamlessly alongside the supporting evidence. With the recent New York State ruling requiring hyperlinking in all commercial court documents, Clearbrief arrives at the perfect time.
Founded by Jacqueline Schafer in 2020, Clearbrief was created by litigators, for litigators. Schafer began her career as a litigator in New York at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison, and later served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Washington and Alaska Attorney General’s Offices, where she specialized in appellate practice and complex litigation. “Clearbrief is a revolution for lawyers trying to win cases,” said Mark Britton, the founder of Avvo and Board member at Clio, who has been described as the person who most disrupted law during the last decade. “This is a tireless 24-hour angel on your shoulder telling you whether you or your competitor messed up.”
While Clearbrief’s current focus is on the legal industry, the platform is built with all professional writing in mind. “Knowledge workers from insurance professionals to compliance managers need to provide evidence of their decisions. Clearbrief helps them locate and link to the documents supporting their conclusions, bringing transparency to organizational decision making,” Schafer said. “There’s never been a greater need to understand the evidence behind the arguments made in court, as well as in all the writing we do both personally and professionally.”
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