How I Left Corporate Law to Become a Legal Tech Entrepreneur

Years into my entrepreneurial journey, I still ask myself: “Is this the right path?” The question nags at me every now and then, especially after a career in law where risk is something we’re taught to avoid.

But here I am running eBrevia—an artificial intelligence legal tech company I co-founded in 2011. Today, we serve major clients globally and continue to release innovative products that reshape how legal professionals work.

If you’re a lawyer wondering whether to take the leap into entrepreneurship, I understand the apprehension that comes with leaving a predictable path. Embracing the fear, uncertainty, challenges, and constant evolution integral to an entrepreneur’s journey has been worth it for me.

I was already curious about business during law school. After roles at New York white-shoe law firms, a clerkship, an in-house legal department, and even a presidential campaign, I landed in a business role at a private equity firm.

My co-founders and I later launched eBrevia, collaborating with Columbia University. Glancing at my LinkedIn profile, you can see what looks like a smooth transition. But my resume doesn’t detail the time I put my apartment on Airbnb and slept on friends’ sofas because I was pouring every resource into the company.

It doesn’t capture my former colleagues ribbing me about being “the best value-for-money Harvard Law grad ever” because my career shift came with a significant pay cut—and it doesn’t show the night classes I was taking or the true value of learning by doing, and sometimes failing.

Leaving the security of a law firm or in-house position for entrepreneurship can be terrifying. Many lawyers are drawn to the idea of building something of their own, but the thought of the unknown holds them back. Supportive friends and family often questioned why I didn’t return to a corporate law career.

The truth is that I like the independence and control that come with entrepreneurship; becoming comfortable with doubt is part of the journey. The satisfaction of cracking a hard problem and arriving at a solution is more important to me than those doubts. I love every moment we free people’s time or expand their capacity for rewarding work.

Let’s rewind to the genesis of eBrevia. When I was on the law firm side, many associates wondered why we went to law school only to perform menial, repetitive tasks such as diligence and contract review. It was demoralizing—we wanted the strategic, sophisticated work that had attracted us to law.

When I was on the client side, we wanted to minimize legal fees and increase efficiency. Disruption was overdue.

In 2011, AI was nascent. I believed that if applied correctly, it could greatly improve contract review efficiency, reduce costs, and free lawyers for high-impact work—benefiting clients and lawyers alike. That was eBrevia’s premise.

My co-founders and I had to find comfort in startup life. I teamed up with attorney and Harvard Law School classmate Ned Gannon and engineer Jake Mundt. Since then, we’ve convinced other attorneys and engineers to forgo traditional paths and join eBrevia’s scrappy journey.

The road from ideation to clients such as Norton Rose Fulbright, PwC, Intel, SAP, and MUFG wasn’t linear. At times, it felt like throwing everything—money, time, relationships—into a black hole. And if I’d known about the hurdles we’d face over the past 15 years, I might have gotten cold feet.

But I’ve learned to trust myself, draw strength from experience, and believe that challenges are solvable—or at least breakable into manageable parts. It’s vital to bring along talents united by a shared vision.

No entrepreneur starts with all the answers, and that’s a good thing. Knowing the obstacles upfront can kill the dream.

With our initial plan ready, Ned and I approached Kathleen McKeown, a renowned computer science professor at Columbia and founder of its Data Science Institute. We understood the challenges of contract analysis and envisioned AI solutions but needed a skilled and business-oriented engineer to bring it to life.

Kathy introduced us to Jake, one of her star students. Over a decade later, Jake remains our chief technology officer despite having gotten opportunities from larger companies.

Like me, Jake enjoys finding solutions to difficult problems. We complement each other—I take the big-picture view, and he focuses on the details. We’ve been partners throughout this journey, constantly collaborating and challenging each other.

After launching and scaling eBrevia, we achieved what many founders dream of—Donnelley Financial Solutions acquired us. This allowed international expansion and new opportunities, but it also brought comfort and even complacency.

Jake and I realized we still craved a chance to keep disrupting, building, and innovating. With generative AI, we saw countless opportunities to shake up the legal industry once more. So I left semi-retirement, and Jake and I made the audacious decision to take eBrevia private again to focus fully on innovation and client partnerships.

It was scary. Most startups never have an exit, especially a profitable one. After our success, returning seemed foolish to some.

But history shows technological revolutions—from industrial to digital to Web 1.0—shape progress and transform society. We’re in the midst of another massive inflection. Being part of that revolution through legal tech excites us.

In the year-plus since we reacquired eBrevia, we’ve launched features for instant document querying at scale across repositories of documents, for integrating our AI with 2,000-plus systems, and for project complexity and cost estimation. We’ve also launched a new product for AI-assisted contract drafting and negotiation.

Our business has saved thousands of lawyers countless tedious hours and deepened their client relationships. It’s gratifying. The future belongs to professionals willing to handle change despite risks.

Law teaches risk mitigation; entrepreneurship demands embracing risk. My legal background sharpened my critical thinking and problem-solving but also taught me that sometimes, the biggest risk is avoiding it altogether.

If you have an idea, take that first step. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Start, and the rest will follow.

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg Industry Group, Inc., the publisher of Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg Tax, and Bloomberg Government, or its owners.

Author Information

Adam Nguyen is the co-founder and CEO of eBrevia, a leading AI-driven legal tech company specializing in contract analysis and management.

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