The latest initiative attempting to bridge the gap between legal technology start-up businesses and the firms whose business models they seek to transform has opened its doors. Barclays Eagle Lab Notting Hill Gate, a venture by Barclays Bank supported by the Law Society, now has its first four residents.

The workplace, on the first floor of a redundant Barclays building in west London, is one of a series of 'Eagle Labs' set up by Barclays around the UK and the first one to specialise in the fast-moving lawtech field. Other partners in the venture include magic circle firms Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance, and international firm Simmons and Simmons.

Barclays revealed this week that residents now include: 

  • ayfie: developer of a system combining natural language processing and linguistics to extract insights from unstructured data without having to train algorithms with large sets of documents.
  • Ginie AI: artificial intelligence software which recommends clauses to lawyers drafting contracts. 
  • Legatics: a platform which optimises and automates legal processes, allowing for real-time visibility over deal processing.
  • Annotate: a single, secure platform that allows law firms to work together seamlessly on contracts, from first draft to final sign-off. 

Stephanie Pagni, general counsel for Barclays UK, said: 'Now that the first residents have moved into our Eagle Lab, we look forward to working with our partners to facilitate supporting their growth by providing them with an environment in which they are able to collaborate and learn fast. We believe our residents offer the prospect of exciting solutions to improve a wide range of working practices in the legal sector.'

Desk space in the workspace is available in deals from £150 a month.