A former partner at PwC and former COO at SYKE has launched a new AI legal services firm on the premise that the next battleground for legal AI is no longer the software itself, but the ability to turn technology into measurable business outcomes.
Lewis Bretts and former SYKE COO Tom Mellor started Telon with a team of 15 people. They say they already have major platform partnerships and distribution in the US, UK, South Africa and Argentina.
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Telon runs legal AI on behalf of its clients, deploying lawyers and agents to do the work, and “stands for results” by setting prices by results, not time.
“Software is the functionality, but it’s the results that are valuable, and the space in between is where most legal AI investments get stuck,” said Bretz, who founded the company after leaving a partnership with PwC earlier this year. “Nobody has ever tried to own that space before. We are. We run the platform, we staff the lawyers and representatives, and we stand behind what our clients receive. The value of an enterprise software sale is no longer fixed at signing.”
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At the heart of the company is Outcomes Engine, a managed service that turns the platforms clients already own into delivered works. Telon configures and enables the technology and forward-deploys AI-native lawyers trained in proprietary methodologies to run agents and playbooks behind them.
“Most service businesses start with a founder and a hiring plan,” Mellor says. “We launched with a team of 15 people, our delivery engine is live in four countries, including the US, and our big four partnerships and major platform partners are already up and running. Typically in a services business, operational structures that take years to build are in place from day one.”
We look forward to discovering more. Of course, real results come from an organization’s people, culture, and processes (you’ve heard it before), not just the technology. Stay tuned for updates.
