Lightning Law Technologies, a Seattle based startup creating software for remote testimony and legal proceedings, successfully secured a $1 million seed funding round. This capital infusion will be used by the company to expedite the development of its digital platform.
Founded by Seattle trial attorney Alisa Brodkowitz, the company is building a comprehensive platform designed for remote testimony, mediations, and various legal proceedings. Its stated objective is to “facilitate online justice.” The company explains its formation: “The company was founded to perfect remote testimony and solve the problems encountered by attorneys, mediators, parties, judges, and jurors mediating and litigating remotely in real time.”
The funding round was spearheaded by Darryl Finkton of the End Poverty Make Trillions Fund. This fund, which is the venture capital division of an organization dedicated to eliminating poverty in the United States by advocating for universal basic income, focuses its investments on entrepreneurs from marginalized or underrepresented backgrounds who address critical community challenges.
Lightning Law asserts its platform “brings together end to end solutions for online dispute resolution that create efficient workflows, decreasing the cost of legal services and increasing access to justice.”
Ms. Brodkowitz, who serves as counsel to the firm Schroeter Goldmark Bender specializing in representing plane crash victims, indicated on the Lightning Law website that her frustration with the limited tools available for conducting remote depositions or presenting witnesses remotely at trial motivated her to found the company. She further noted that by focusing on innovation in remote testimony, she realized she could help enhance access to justice and empower court reporters.
The founder is joined by two cofounders: Scott Graff, a software engineer, and Dineen Squillante, a stenographer.
Research previously published on Human&Legal, based on data compiled by Kristen Sonday, cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of legal technology startup Paladin, highlighted a decline in the number of women founders in legal technology, decreasing from 66 in 2018 to 57 at the time the report was issued.
