Steven Lerner: Legal Tech Funding and Media Coverage
Steven Lerner, Senior Reporter at Law360, speaks with Tim Kenney at ILTACON 2026 about how journalists choose legal tech stories, vendor sales cycles, AI for access to justice and where legal tech funding is heading.
About this episode
๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ ๐ท๐ผ๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐ถ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐น๐ฒ๐ด๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด, ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ป๐ป๐ผ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฒ๐ป๐? At ILTACON 2026, Tim Kenney sat down with Steven Lerner, Senior Reporter at Law360, who covers all things legal technology for Law360 Pulse. A few highlights: ๐ฐ From niche to pillar. Steven started writing about legal tech in 2020, before Law360 even had a legal tech newsletter. Now it's a core part of their coverage. ๐ His litmus test: if a vendor wants to talk trends at ILTACON but can't point to a single client at the show, that tells you something.
Key takeaways
• Steven started writing about legal tech in 2020, before Law360 had a legal tech newsletter, and it is now a core part of their coverage.
• A vendor who wants to talk trends at ILTACON but can't point to a single client at the show is telling you something.
• Sales cycles are getting longer while contracts are getting shorter, so vendors can chase a firm for a year or two and be offered a six-month deal.
• One story that stands out is AI being used for pro bono work and access to justice.
• Funding totals are still rising, but there are fewer deals with bigger cheques, and more consolidation is expected as investors get smarter about which tools will last.
Explore more
Legal AI ยท Legal Tech Go-to-Market & Growth ยท In-House & Corporate Legal Teams ยท ILTACON 2026