Legal tech onboarding platform Reynen Court — which as of June 2022 had 25 major global law firms as customers and over 150 software vendors under contract — is letting people go on a massive scale. According to sources, the company terminated contracts with almost 90% of its staff in November.
And that’s not all. Reynen Court President Christian Lang announced his departure in early January. And the company started offering a year’s free access to its content to individual employees — part of enhancing its value proposition.
These moves could be a clear indicator that legal tech is facing the same crises as the broader tech market, particularly as Reynen Court is a well-established stakeholder, raising over USD 24 million in venture financing since its 2017 launch.
Although company sources have stated the business won’t be terminated, clients have been warned about possible service disruption.
It isn’t just Reynen Court: Contractbook, Filevine, Lawgeex, Onit, and Relativity have all recently made announcements about necessary cutbacks.
But could Reynen Court’s large-scale layoffs be less about the current tech crisis and more about its fundamental business model?
The company, an early market leader, provided vendor and consulting services for firms wanting to use legal tech tools. These services flourished when both legal tech providers and law firms needed an intermediary to help choose and implement the right products. But users and providers have since become more experienced. What we see now is more direct collaboration between the two, without involving the middleman.