Legal Tech Circle looks out to 2028, using the tracker's long view since 2018 to show which trends have staying power and which may fade.
Two years is a long way out in a market that changes this fast, so treat this as Legal Tech Circle’s analysis of direction rather than a list of dates. What we can do is look at the long record on our funding tracker, add the moves of the past month, and ask which trends are likely to still matter in 2028. For the near term, see our 2026 funding review and 2027 outlook.
Funding Moves in Waves
The tracker shows legal tech equity funding of $1.61 billion in 2021, $1.07 billion in 2022 and $479.0 million in 2023. Then it climbed to $1.75 billion in 2024 and $3.84 billion in 2025, the highest year on our tracker. 2026 stands at $2.96 billion so far. The pattern is clear: big years have been followed by sharp pullbacks. Our call is that at least one year between now and 2028 comes in well below 2025. We are not predicting when, only that the history on the tracker does not support a straight line up.
Two Leaders Under Pressure to Exit
Harvey’s most recent round on the tracker valued it at $15.5 billion. Legora’s Series E this month valued it at $8.8 billion. At those sizes, the question for 2028 is less about the next round and more about how investors eventually get paid back. We think the most likely paths are a public listing or a large strategic deal for at least one of them by 2028. That is a question to track, not a forecast of a specific event, and neither company has announced plans.
New Ways to Fund Legal Work
Not all the money in legal will look like software funding. Teddy AI, a legal services and compliance startup, announced a $60 million seed round and said it has passed $25 million in revenue, according to Law.com, without naming investors or leadership. We have not added it to the tracker while we confirm how to classify it. Our view is that by 2028, more capital goes into owning or running legal services businesses directly, not only into selling tools to them.
Legal help is also moving into business software. SixFifty, owned by Paychex, launched an AI agent for employment compliance and says its team tracked more than 440 employment law changes across nearly 130 jurisdictions in the past year. We expect more routine compliance work to sit inside payroll, HR and finance systems by 2028.
Rules Get Written Down
Courts and law reform bodies are moving from reacting to cases to setting rules. New York’s court system has a model rule requiring attorneys who use AI to verify what it produces, and has now issued guidance on the risks. The Law Commission of Ontario presented 29 recommendations for AI in criminal justice, including new provincial legislation and governance frameworks. Our call is that by 2028 most major court systems will have written AI rules, and vendors will design products around them.
Seed Stays the Pipeline
Seed and pre seed rounds were the largest stage group on the tracker in both 2025, with 56 rounds, and 2026, with 19 so far. Even with fewer rounds overall, new companies keep forming. The companies raising seed rounds now are the ones that would be raising Series B rounds in 2028.
Common Questions
How far back does the tracker go?
It includes rounds back to 2012. Earlier years have far fewer entries, so we use them for direction, not precise comparisons.
Why is Teddy AI not on the tracker?
We are still deciding whether it counts as a legal tech company or a legal services company. It will be added if it fits our criteria.
Are these predictions investment advice?
No. They are Legal Tech Circle’s reading of public data and announcements.
What to Watch
Watch whether the 2026 total holds near $3 billion, whether either leader hires for a public listing, and whether other court systems follow New York’s lead. Those three signals will tell us early whether this 2028 picture is on track.
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