Ep 036: Atrium Cofounder Augie Rakow on the Alternative Firm’s Successes and Challenges

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Silicon Valley-backed</span> <a href="https://www.atrium.co/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Atrium</span></a> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">is a different kind of law firm -- a dual entity that is part law practice and part legal technology company. The goal is to provide corporate clients with a more efficient and transparent alternative to traditional large firms, with Atrium’s lawyers focusing exclusively on practicing law, while a second entity, Atrium LTS, handles all operations for the firm, even including marketing, and develops and operates software to streamline the firm’s workflows.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Atrium was</span> <a href= "https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2017/09/revealed-justin-kans-secretive-legal-startup-debuts-today-different-kind-law-firm.html"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">launched in 2017</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">by</span> <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinkan/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Justin Kan</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, a serial entrepreneur who sold the Twitch video platform he created to Amazon for $970 million, and</span> <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/augierakow/"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Augie Rakow</span></a><span style= "font-weight: 400;">, a former partner representing startups at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, to address Kan’s own frustrations as a client with how legal services are delivered. Atrium raised an initial $10.5 million in funding in 2017 and then another</span> <a href= "https://www.lawsitesblog.com/2018/09/innovative-law-firm-tech-company-atrium-raises-65-million.html"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">$65 million last September</span></a> <span style="font-weight: 400;">in round led by prominent venture capital firm</span> <a href= "https://a16z.com/"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Andreessen Horowitz</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On this episode of LawNext, cofounder R