So back in June I did this thread announcing the launch of @vizlegal (the thing I spend 99% of my time on!) for anyone to sign up and try - and thank you to everyone for the RTs and spreading the word.. https://twitter.com/gavinsblog/status/1138076707477495810

One of the things I described was how product development works, and how software it no easy thing to build - but it's very rewarding when you see people using it

Years ago I was speaking to @RayNolan (an early investor in @storyful where I previously worked) about the idea for a legal information platform. He recalled one of his very early startups was software for barristers... "interesting customers" he said.. with a wry smile..

Given that I spent a bit of my time on public interest litigation @RightToKnowIE I've got to know my own barristers and their habits and workflows, as well as buying lots of coffee and Guinness for many others.. to ask them how to do things

With that in mind we built some features with barristers in mind and I approached The Bar of Ireland to see how we might work together to give barristers access. I met the rather wonderful CEO Ciara Murphy and Nuala Byrne, the Director of Library and Information Services..

One thing you're often asked as a company is how we're different from the incumbents - differentiation is also one of the key questions investors ask - and Nuala said she saw right away how we were approaching the problem from a different and rather unique angle..

And as a result, I am very pleased to say that @Vizlegal access is now rolling out to all 2,200 barristers and staff at The Bar of Ireland - a huge deal for us and really important market validation for a young company.

We think we solve several problems barristers and solicitors face on a daily basis - and barristers are even using us in ways we didn't anticipate (in a positive way!)...

One barrister told me it was amazing to quickly be able to access consolidated rules on his phone while standing in court, or quickly find a key High Court filing

Another told me that being able to very quickly search Labour Court and WRC decisions on his iPad was a "game changer", and he could find stuff he'd not been able to find before.

Another said her research work with WRC and Labour Court decisions would have been basically impossible without Vizlegal - or would have taken 10 times longer.

Others have said that tracking their own High Court cases was something they may not have thought they really needed, but now find incredibly useful..

We also met and pitched to barristers themselves at The Bar of Ireland, some of whom provided important feedback (and criticism!) but always encouraging and suggesting new approaches on how we could improve.

I'm looking forward to being in the Four Courts and seeing barristers using our platform, on mobile, tablet or laptops - because I know they are getting value, saving time and hassle, and better able to focus on the tasks at hand. It's very, very rewarding to see it

The team @Vizlegal have built a blazingly fast search and tracking system for all types of legal information and our coverage continues to grow..

We think we can keep growing both in Ireland and beyond too - and we're working hard to do so

We think there's enormous scope to transform access to legal information globally - and we're taking the steps needed to get there.

Apologies for interrupting your Twitter feeds!

Oh and to solicitors out there who want to join barristers in using our technology: you can try us out right now here:

https://app.vizlegal.com/register 

Track High Court Cases, Circuit diaries, find judgments, get consolidated rules, search WRC decisions, CJEU, ECHR, IE, UK..