The Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) through its Future Law Innovation Programme (FLIP) has opened applications for Asia’s first legaltech accelerator, called the Global Legal Innovation and Digital Entrepreneurship (GLIDE) accelerator programme.

Bridge

SAL flags GLIDE as Asia’s first accelerator targeting legal tech start-ups, and encourages both local and international founders of early stage start-ups to apply. FLIP is SAL’s strategic initiative to help the legal sector innovate new ways of delivering legal services in the future economy. GLIDE aims to help legaltech startups to scale and develop intrapreneurship of in-house legal capabilities by facilitating collaborative legal technology solutions. The 90-day programme will provide participating startups with mentorship tailored to their unique needs, link ups with potential clients to pilot their solutions and educational modules to fill knowledge gaps. Mentors include senior legal professionals, experienced entrepreneurs and technologists. Access to mentors and databases from within the legal industry are GLIDE’s key distinguishing factors from generic accelerators. SAL has positioned GLIDE as a global accelerator programme to attract international talent in legal technology due to limited technological talent in Singapore’s legal sector. Serene Wee, chief executive of SAL, said “GLIDE is SAL’s latest effort to drive legal tech in Singapore and strengthen innovation in the legal sector.” Ms Wee explained, “SAL wants to serve as a bridge between the tech and legal industries, to ensure that products and services are developed with the legal industry’s needs in mind, helping the sector ready for the future.”

“Less saturated”

Unlike traditional accelerators, SAL will not automatically take equity in participating start-ups. Paul Neo, SAL’s chief operating officer and the executive director of SAL Ventures, which runs FLIP, said “Participants will take part in paid learning and mentorship opportunities from SAL. Armed with these, they will be able to better pitch and position their products and services to a variety of investors that may include SAL.” Mr Neo explained, “The Asian market is bigger and less saturated, so it represents a lot of opportunity for legaltech startups from around the world.” Earlier this month, SAL signed a Memorandum of Intent with The Singapore Computer Society (SCS) and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Singapore Academy of Law (SAL) to help legal and accounting professionals develop their digital skills to cope with disruptive technological change. Applications can be accessed here.