Leader
We have at IHL Towers something of a reputation for being sceptical of the claims to fresh thinking surrounding much of New Law Land. One exception, though, has been Axiom, the pioneering outfit that pushed lawyering into the mainstream. Sure, Axiom’s message could be obscured by strangulated attempts to ape Silicon Valley speak, an odd trait given the straight-talking style of founder Mark Harris. But its growth rates and reputation for quality never made you doubt that the outfit was a cut well above most New Law lightweights.
As such, the long-trailed float of Axiom always seemed a moment of truth and one far more likely to propel the rapidly-expanding business into the mainstream than expose its shortcomings. So, as Thomas Alan reports in this issue, it is a surprise that the chatter among industry observers is so downbeat. Marrying Axiom’s core flexible lawyering platform with a set of managed legal services designed to replicate the contract-heavy lives of in-house teams rather than the practice lines of law firms looked like a winning combination. Developed, such a market would be huge – well over $100bn-plus globally. So splitting its businesses up, as Axiom announced pre-float, is confounding. And the last time I spoke to a senior Axiom hand (last year), all the radical talk was about automating contracts and revolutionising the business of law via tech, exactly the parts being split off.
