Courtsdesk Picked For UK Government Scheme
29 Jun 2020 | 10.32 am
Courtsdesk Picked For UK Government Scheme
£70k funding for Enda Leahy’s courts report business
29 Jun 2020 | 10.32 am
Share
Dublin-based legaltech company Courtsdesk has been chosen for a UK government innovation fund trying to make public interest journalism more financially sustainable. The company’s project, to build a national data feed of information from across the criminal courts of England and Wales for news outlets, was selected and grant funded by the ‘Future of News Pilot Fund’ (FNF) and was showcased last week in London. Following its selection by the fund, the company has reached a data-sharing agreement with HM Courts and Tribunals Service to facilitate a pilot of the service. Courtsdesk’s work on creating a digital news feed of legal data was one of 20 projects selected out of almost 200 applicants for funding by the FNF Fund, a £2m innovation grant fund. The Irish venture was one of four recipients picked for the highest grant funding available of £70,000. Courtsdesk was founded in 2013 by former Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday journalist and editor Enda Leahy (pictured), and software engineer Alan Larkin. The business provides a portal to easily access court case material from all of the courts, which is integrated with company data and other information. Courtsdesk’s clients include most national newspapers and the biggest law firms. According to its most recent account filings, the business booked a loss of €420,000 in 2017, bringing accumulated losses to c.€790,000. The 2017 balance sheet for Courtsdesk shows that the company has largely been funded with convertible loan notes worth c.€600,000. Enterprise Ireland has also invested €155,000. The UK funding for Courtsdesk will go towards building a service that would supply listings and outcomes of all criminal court cases in the Magistrates’ Court of England and Wales to news outlets, totalling some 1.5 million prosecutions per year. In recent weeks, the two largest regional newspaper groups in the UK, Newsquest and Reach PLC, have signed up to trial the platform when it goes live later this year. Talks on collaboration with other media outlets including the BBC and UK national newspapers are also underway. “Our platform will help news organisations radically improve the amount and the usefulness of information available to them from the courts,” said Enda Leahy. “It will also help improve the commercial sustainability of court reporting, a vital type of journalism which has seen precious little technological innovation for decades.”

Courtsdesk Picked For UK Government Scheme

Dublin's Courtsdesk is on a mission to take the pain out of getting legal data
As part of our weekly Startup Spotlight series, we profile the legal tech company. November 22nd 20185 min read
FORMER JOURNALIST ENDA Leahy knows a thing or two about the challenges of making sense of what’s going on in the courts. One thing that always struck him during his media career, which included a stint as deputy editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday, was the difficulty of navigating information within the local justice system. “If you look at the landscape for legal data, what you see is a focus historically on precedent, so that’s judgements at the end of cases in the superior courts,” he says. “But actually if you just want to know what’s going on in the legal system, it’s very difficult to find that information.”
Courtsdesk, which Leahy co-founded with Alan Larkin in 2016, is attempting to fix that problem by scouring and collecting all publicly available data from the courts and the Companies Registration Office and making it easily viewable and searchable. “What we’ve done is go and data mine every scrap of information that we can find and then index it ourselves and rebuild those databases externally,” Leahy says. Enda Leahy and Alan Larkin
Source: Courtsdesk
The Dublin-based startup applies data analytics to order the information in a coherent way. For example, users can browse the links one company has with another or any legal cases it is involved in. The startup targets the product at newsrooms, law firms and businesses that need to stay on top of legal affairs. “Then you have corporate entities that have a lot of litigation, so you can think about companies like supermarkets that have a lot of litigation,” Leahy says. “We can help with ‘dashboarding’ that, tracking that, giving them insight into how they’re managing all their court cases.”
Leahy says that Courtsdesk has created the first national database of circuit court activity in the country. Under the existing system, databases are managed regionally by each local circuit court, creating yet another fragmented picture that can be difficult to navigate. “We’ve got a great relationship with the court service, who themselves have got a whole bunch of innovation programmes going on,” Leahy says. UK expansion
Now that Courtsdesk has got a handle on the disparate systems for court data in Ireland, its founders believe it is ready to take on bigger markets. Source: RollingNews.ie
“When we started looking at other jurisdictions then you’re into multiplying that challenge, so we’re working a lot with the UK,” Leahy says. The startup has had talks with the UK’s courts services and the Ministry of Justice about opening up their data. It plans to launch early next year and has already been laying the groundwork for expansion in the UK, having participated in an accelerator run by Techstars and Barclays in London. The accelerator has a strong fintech focus and linked Courtsdesk with advisors and connections in the financial services sector in the City. “We have partners already with Barclays on exploring how legal data might be useful to a bank,” he says. “Obviously they have a huge legal footprint, lots and lots of court cases and lots of areas where legal understanding of what’s going on in the courts might be of relevance. “The UK is obviously a huge market, and every Irish company needs to get off the island of Ireland as soon as they can if they’re going to be a global company.”
While Courtsdesk generally charges a subscription fee to users, it is developing its business model at the same time as its products. Related Read
Leahy says the startup has a “number of big commercial agreements under way for that product”. “Then, of course, there’s the court-reporting piece. We’re trying to improve how court reporters do their job and to, in fact, have reporters in courtrooms ourselves. That’s the next stage of our business, actually being a newswire with reporters.”
Funding
Courtsdesk previously raised €100,000 from Techstars and recently picked up a gong at the European Commission’s StartUp Europe Awards in the legal category. “We’re gearing up for a series A next year when we go into the UK,” Leahy says. Courtsdesk remains a small team, of five, but Leahy expects it to grow significantly after the funding round and push into the UK with hires in engineering and sales and marketing. Source: Courtsdesk
Leahy is confident that Courtsdesk has a unique product for the markets it is targeting. “In the US there are a couple of companies that do similar stuff. They don’t really operate in Europe though, so we view ourselves as the first European version of this,” Leahy says. “We’re young and hungry and nimble. This is what we do and we think we’re the first to do this in Europe. But a bit of competition never hurt anybody.”

Dublin's Courtsdesk is on a mission to take the pain out of getting legal data

Martin Cass, vice president at Barclays Bank Ireland. Image: Barclays Bank
Barclay’s Bank Ireland  announce launch of this year’s Barclay’s Accelerator programme, with a laser focus on fintech companies. Irish fintech companies are welcome to apply to the Barclay’s Accelerator, powered by start-up venture capital outfit Techstars, this week in Dublin. The Barclays Accelerator is an intensive 13 week programme which aims to support 10 early stage companies from all over the globe. Courtsdesk – a success story
A record number of applications from Ireland were recorded last year, with Courtsdesk making it to the final 10 successful participants. This year applications are expected to increase once again, particularly following Courtsdesk’s success. The company is a news and data service designed to simplify access to Irish courts, and following its placing in the programme, it went on to build a world-class advisory board, raised seed capital and set up an office in Barclay’s London innovation site, Rise. Barclays ‘keen to see more Irish entries’
Vice-president at Barclays Bank Ireland, Martin Cass, said: “An increasing number of technology start-ups are flourishing in Ireland and we’re keen to see more successful Irish entries emerge from our Accelerator programme and benefit from the significant support on offer. “This year we hope to attract start-ups working on payments, big data management, machine learning and artificial intelligence and other ground-breaking technologies.”
He continued: “This is a superb opportunity for Irish technology start-ups with a focus on financial services to benefit from access to investment to progress their business, as well as receiving exposure to the global capabilities of Barclays and Techstars.”
Multiple opportunities for fintech start-ups
The 10 companies chosen to participate will receive investment of up to $120,000, access to technology, mentorship from industry experts and the benefits of Barclays and Techstars’ extensive professional networks. The chosen companies will also be based at the Rise venue in London for the programme’s duration. Barclays, along with Techstars’ managing director, Chris Adelsbach and programme manager, Madeleine Blythe, will be hosting a series of one-on-one meetings with prospective programme applicants in Dublin this week on Wednesday 20 and Thursday 21 September. Applications to the programme close on 12 November 2017. More information for prospective applicants can be found here .

Barclays Bank Ireland invites fintech start-ups to join accelerator programme

Independent.ie
 
'This year, Barclays Bank Ireland is expecting higher levels of applications from Ireland and is optimistic given the success of last year's Irish entrant Courtsdesk.' Fearghal O'Connor
Independent.ie
Early stage Irish fintech companies are preparing to compete for places on a lucrative international startup accelerator programme. http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/fintech-firms-fight-it-out-for-barclays-programme-places-36138955.html
Early stage Irish fintech companies are preparing to compete for places on a lucrative international startup accelerator programme. Barclays Bank Ireland is to host a series of one-on-one meetings in Dublin this week with prospective applicants to the Barclays Accelerator - one of the major programmes of its type in Europe, which is held in conjunction with one of the world's most prominent startup venture capital firms Techstars. The 10 successful applicants from around the world will take part in an intensive 13-week programme. Last year's programme attracted a record number of applicants from Ireland, with one of those making it to the final 10 successful participants. This year, Barclays Bank Ireland is expecting higher levels of applications from Ireland and is optimistic given the success of last year's Irish entrant Courtsdesk. "An increasing number of technology startups are flourishing in Ireland and we're keen to see more successful Irish entries emerge from our Accelerator programme and benefit from the significant support on offer. We hope to attract startups working on payments, big data management, machine learning and artificial intelligence and other ground-breaking technologies," said Martin Cass, vice president, Barclays Bank Ireland. "This is a superb opportunity for Irish technology startups with a focus on financial services to benefit from access to investment to progress their business, as well as receiving exposure to the global capabilities of Barclays and Techstars." In a first for Ireland, Dublin startup, Courtsdesk, was awarded a place on the programme last year. Its news and data service which simplifies online access to the Irish courts, was a graduate of the most recent intake. It built a strong advisory board, raised seed capital and set up an office in Barclays' high tech innovation site, Rise-London. The 10 companies successfully chosen to participate will receive investment up to $120,000, exclusive access to technology, mentorship from industry experts and the ability to work closely with Barclays' and Techstars' extensive professional networks. Sunday Indo Business

Fintech firms fight it out for Barclays programme places

Courtsdesk has been backed by Barclays Bank and seeks venture capitalist funding
Fri, Aug 25, 2017, 11:12
The Four Courts in Dublin. Courtsdesk, a news and data service, will “make getting access to the courts a 21st-century tool”, according to its founder, Enda Leahy. A new service backed by Barclays Bank has been launched to provide better online access to the Irish courts. Courtsdesk, a news and data service, will “make getting access to the courts a 21st-century tool”, according to its founder, Enda Leahy . Speaking to The Irish Times, Mr Leahy said that all the research up to now has been focused to cater for lawyers or barristers. He believes that it’s “extremely” difficult for people to conduct insightful research into the courts. A former journalist with the Mail on Sunday, Mr Leahy found getting access to courts records to be “a nightmare”, which gave him the idea for this business. Interest in the service has been relatively strong, he said. The company has signed up two of the top four law firms in the country as well as four national newspapers. Initial capital for the business came from both Enterprise Ireland and the global business accelerator programme Techstars , which invested $120,000. A small group of Irish investors have also backed the company, Mr Leahy said, although he wouldn’t disclose who they were or how much they had provided in backing. Cost
While the cost of the service is still unclear, it is understood that certain parts of the service will incur a cost per user per year, while other packages could charge on the basis of data downloaded. “We envisage that we’ll have users in all the top 20 law firms in the next six months. All the news organisations will be using us,” Mr Leahy said. The company plans to internationalise its offering and says it hopes to start mapping the UK courts in the first quarter of next year. “We have users confirmed in London who want us to set up the same business model in the US,” Mr Leahy added. The company’s founder said that he’s been in front of a dozen large venture capitalists in London and has one confirmed to come on board.

New service plans to provide better online access to Irish courts

Bank of Scotland Ireland

Kitman Labs

Courtsdesk is a legal news service that applies social media technology and data analytics to the centuries-old business of court reporting in order to revolutionise transparency in the justice system. Courtsdesk offers the first archive of previously unavailable data on court cases at all levels of the justice system in any jurisdiction in which it operates - from criminal prosecutions to commercial and civil litigation.

Name	Work History	Title	Status
Enda Leahy		Chief Executive Officer	Current
Aja Teehan	Bank of Scotland Ireland	Chief Operating Officer	Current
Alan Larkin	Kitman Labs	Chief Technology Officer	Current

Name	Enda Leahy	Aja Teehan	Alan Larkin
Work History		Bank of Scotland Ireland	Kitman Labs
Title	Chief Executive Officer	Chief Operating Officer	Chief Technology Officer
Status	Current	Current	Current

Wells Fargo Success Story

3M Success Story

Platform Overview

Courtsdesk

Executives

Courtsdesk Management Team

3 Team Members

Discover the right solution for your team