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Those who askew the normal law firm path for a world of beginning a startup in legal technology face a number of barriers, including finding their way through funding, learning about the world of legal technology and potential product options, and listening to potential clients about their wants and needs.

But especially for those younger founders selling to law firm and corporate legal department decision-makers potentially twice their age, is there a fear of age bias? Not so much, according to several such founders who spoke with Legaltech News.

"I think the one thing about lawyers that I'm really proud of is that we are a logical group," said Jerry Ting, co-founder of contract automation company Evisort. "If you're illogical and wrong, it doesn't matter how old you are, you're still wrong. If the logic is there, we are a very reasonable group."

Indeed, younger legal tech founders who have worked with clients across an age spectrum have found that innovation is more a matter of mindset than age. Ting said he doesn't view an age gap to be the same thing as an experience gap, as even someone young can be well-versed in a given matter.

"I've helped set up contract management policies at over a hundred companies," he explained. "So for a GC who's been at three companies, they're actually very curious to hear how other companies like them are doing it."

Basha Rubin, co-founder of outside counsel analytics company Priori Legal, said she sees the differences in innovation happening across the age spectrum, noting that "there are younger lawyers who aren't innovative at all, and there are older lawyers who are."

"I think attorneys who are interested in innovation, integrating technology into their practices and understanding what that looks like, are going to be the most successful people," she added. "And the gulf will widen moving forward."

In fact, Jake Heller, founder of legal research company Casetext, might take it one step further: Some of the older clients he's worked with are perhaps more inquisitive about new technologies, given the security they feel in their careers.

"Sometimes the older, more experienced attorneys want to engage even more," he explained. "One of the ironies I've noted is that sometimes people at the associate level feel more rigid and feel like they can't make any decisions for their firm, or they feel like they can't kind of do anything differently because they're worried about what partners will think, etc."

Of course, it's natural to feel some nervousness when starting a new company and pitching for the first time, Heller added. That's part of taking the leap to a new job. But one big upside is that talking to potential clients can be educational.

"My impression has always been, and I guess this is how I stay sane, is that it's always a learning opportunity. It's always an opportunity to get in front of some folks who genuinely are interested in learning about our product, and they'll give me, I hope, good feedback, ideas and thoughts on how we can do this better."

All of the founders LTN spoke with agreed: It's all about listening. Even though he's just past 30, Evisort's Ting has incorporated some lessons he learned while interning with Boston Consulting Group while in law school. There, he would see fellow college grads actually provide value to clients, "not by having redundant competencies with subject matter experts with the clients they were working with, but by providing a fresh lens." Now, he's trying to do the same with his own company.

"When I was at BCG, they told us that we're in the practice of lending our brains to our clients. It is not to do the work the client is already doing, but it is to think with the clients," Ting said. "And I think when you take that perspective into a legal tech perspective, it's very helpful. I'm not trying to tell a partner who's viewed a hundred contracts of the same type in the last quarter how to negotiate that contract. My goal is to understand how to help him negotiate that contract."