"I am Ingrid van de Pol-Mensing. As a child, I devoured book after book and envisioned myself as a judge in a courtroom with a gavel in hand delivering a verdict. Pursuing a law degree seemed like a natural choice. In Amsterdam, I supplemented my Law studies with Tax Law, and in 2012, I started working as a lawyer and tax advisor at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. It's a fantastic firm where there's so much to learn. But what I noticed is that both myself, the people around me, and our clients were increasingly using technology, all with the aim of speeding up daily tasks. What surprised me was that my colleagues and I were still happily surrounded by stacks of paper at the office, with our markers ready to tackle piles of documents. It was definitely not 'time best spent.' Caroline and I saw a gap in the market here, based on our marker-colored experiences and driven by the prospect of adventure and the dream of turning an idea into a product and building a company around it, I took the plunge and we started Uncover! I find the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship exhilarating, especially because I can now translate the knowledge and experience from the legal profession into technology that would have greatly helped me. I see that it works, and our clients tell us how happy they are. I love thinking two steps ahead and coming up with solutions that are groundbreaking now and indispensable in five years."
"I am Caroline Zand-Korteweg, and unlike Ingrid, I started my journey after high school with a degree in Communication and Information Sciences at Utrecht University. I wanted to finish the degree, but I decided that it wasn't right for me. I've always loved telling stories, writing, and reading, and my friends and family encouraged me to study law alongside it. It turned out to be the right decision! In 2015, I started with great pleasure at JonesDay in the Corporate and Commercial Litigation department, and after a few years, I moved to Lemstra Van der Korst. I found and still find the legal profession to be a wonderful field, but like Ingrid, I was surprised by the number of hours I spent on non-substantive work every day: managing documents instead of focusing on content. As Ingrid says, there was a gap in the market, so we decided to do something about it. The past two years as an entrepreneur have taught me more than I could have ever dreamed of. We meet brilliant people, are invited to speak about legal tech all over the world, and with Uncover, we are at the forefront of innovation. Bringing a product to market with a childhood friend that lawyers actually want to use is simply amazing."
"We've seen that in recent years, legal tech has transformed from a 'boring' IT solution into a 'sexy' AI strategic issue at law firms. Legal tech is considered relevant by the lawyers themselves, and we speak to numerous firms that have made AI a focal point. Because everyone knows: AI isn't just a trend. It's new now, but in a few years, it will be integrated into every application. There are numerous AI applications for the legal sector that add value. It makes lawyers more efficient, promotes collaboration, and can even elevate advisory services to a higher level. The goal of every lawyer is to serve their clients as well as possible. We see that lawyers now realize that applying legal tech is an indispensable part of that and that if you want your practice to still exist in 5 years, you need to delve into this matter."
On the legal tech front itself, we see that there has been a lot of improvement, especially in solutions that accelerate repetitive tasks such as document analysis, fact-finding, and due diligence, facilitate document management and contract analysis, enable lawyers to find relevant case law and legislation faster and more efficiently, and offer legal services virtually. Finally, there is also improvement in solutions that make legal assistance more accessible to people who otherwise could not afford legal representation."
"Our daily activities as entrepreneurs in legal tech mainly consist of acquiring new knowledge about what AI-driven technology can do. For this, we go out a lot, we speak to the most brilliant people working on the language models coming to market, we look under the hood at the products of legal tech companies that are not available here, and we scout the market for innovative solutions that we see applications for in the legal profession. We also investigate market needs by speaking with numerous lawyers and legal professionals who are facing inefficiencies with concrete cases in mind. We plan to share our observations, knowledge, and adventures in the turbulent world of legal tech with you."
"Opportunities, opportunities, and more opportunities.
During the First Industrial Revolution, economist William Stanley Jevons observed how technology made the use of coal more efficient, leading to an increase in coal consumption! Why? Because efficient technology effectively made coal cheaper to use, leading to more possible applications and an overall increase in coal consumption.
The same goes for email. 40 years ago, we could send about 5 letters a day, and now we can easily send about 100 emails a day! More efficient delivery of valuable resources like legal advice will similarly lead to greater consumption.
As AI becomes more efficient, the demand for its services will only increase. This means that instead of replacing jobs, AI will generate more work and open up new opportunities for legal professionals."
Last year, you won the Gouden Zandloper Award for Legal Innovation. How do you look back on this?
"Winning the Gouden Zandloper Award was one big celebration for us! From the start of Uncover, our goal has been to create a solution for lawyers that is truly groundbreaking and innovative. To see that Uncover is received this way and recognized by the legal profession is a fantastic compliment."