Former Clifford Chance Lawyer Scores AI Funding
Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing writer
WilsonAI, a groundbreaking legal tech startup founded by former Clifford Chance lawyer Gus Neate and D.E. Shaw alumnus Alex Wang, (pictured), is a frontrunner for in-house legal operations through artificial intelligence.
The London-based company recently secured £1.3 million in pre-seed funding led by Nomad Ventures, with participation from prominent law firm partners. The development sees an AI system designed to take the drudge work out of paralegal activities and to participate in the growing £25 billion legal automation market.
The company’s flagship product – an AI paralegal powered by a Legal Large Action Model (LLAM) – represents a significant leap beyond conventional legal AI tools.
Unlike static systems, WilsonAI’s technology features capabilities that evolve through real-world application and show deep integration with existing legal team work.
Neate, who left Clifford Chance’s private equity team in April 2024 after nearly two years, emphasizes the pressing need for efficiency tools, saying “Modern legal departments are caught between rising workloads and budget constraints. Our AI paralegal handles the repetitive 30 percent of legal work that typically consumes 70 percent of junior lawyers’ time”.
Wang brings complementary expertise from D.E. Shaw’s technology development arm, having worked on enterprise AI solutions for financial institutions prior to co-founding WilsonAI.
Comparative analysis reveals key advantages over competitors:
| Feature | WilsonAI | Traditional Legal AI |
|---|---|---|
| Adaptive Learning | Continuous updates | Periodic retraining |
| Task Automation | End-to-end processes | Single-step actions |
| Integration Depth | Team collaboration | Individual use |
Early adopters report reducing contract review time by 40 percent and cutting response times for routine legal inquiries by 65 percent, according to WilsonAI’s stats.
The human-focused AI system’s current capabilities include automated NDA generation, regulatory monitoring compliance and management of precedents. There is also a client query triage system with WilsonAI.
- Linklaters’ recent AI benchmarking study shows modern models outperforming junior lawyers on standardized legal assessments.
- However, WilsonAI positions itself uniquely by focusing specifically on in-house legal team needs rather than law firm workflows.
“WilsonAI addresses the critical pain point of legal department scalability without compromising quality – a challenge we’ve seen across our portfolio companies”, said Rachel Tan of Nomad Ventures.
The investment will accelerate development of deposition preparation tools and cross-border compliance modules slated for late 2025 release.
