Why Hogan Lovells built a 100-person legal tech company: Sebastian Lach on what clients actually want from AI

Hogan Lovells might not be the first name that comes up in conversations about legal AI, but maybe it should. The firm has quietly spun up ELTEMATE, a 100-person legal tech subsidiary, to build tools for clients that go beyond hype and deliver real efficiency gains. At the helm is Sebastian Lach, a Hogan Lovells partner who also leads ELTEMATE.

In this episode, Sebastian talks about how ELTEMATE started with just three people around a table in 2019 and has since scaled into a global team creating client-facing technology. Funded entirely in-house, it now builds everything from AI-driven investigation tools to domain-specific platforms tools for compliance and litigation.

We also dig into Sebastian’s views on legal AI more broadly. He’s sceptical about so-called "Swiss Army knife" platforms and argues that the real value lies in specialist, vertical tools trained on the right data and guided by lawyers who know what good looks like. "Lawyers don’t want 60% answers", he argues. "They want a tool that gives them the right result at the push of a button."

It’s a conversation about what happens when a Big Law firm takes tech seriously - balancing risk and innovation - and what clients are really asking for when they demand AI.

Chapters

00:01 Introduction
00:50 Sebastian’s Background
02:07 Transitioning from Law to Legal Tech
04:00 Exploring White Collar Crime Law
07:25 The Birth of ELTEMATE
10:34 Funding and Business Model of ELTEMATE
11:39 ELTEMATE's Growth and Structure
13:12 ELTEMATE's Product Suite and Strategy
18:23 The Importance of Domain-Specific Solutions
20:48 Data as a Core Differentiator
24:28 The Future of Legal Tech and Client Needs
28:30 The Vision for ELTEMATE
31:16 Lessons Learned in Legal Tech Innovation
34:48 Concerns About AI in Legal Practice
35:51 Skills for the Future Lawyer
38:02 The Future of the Billable Hour