In a fast-evolving legal technology landscape, Mat Rotenberg has quickly risen to prominence by building and successfully selling his company to Bloomberg Industry Group in April. The recent acquisition of Dashboard Legal and subsequent hiring of both Rotenberg and his co-founder and CTO, Fedor Garin, to senior-level roles at Bloomberg Industry Group and Bloomberg L.P., respectively, brings a fresh approach to legal-tech innovation at the legacy organization. It also represents an industry shift toward content integration, AI, and advanced technology in legal workflows.
Rotenberg’s journey began like many founders, steeped in the problem he eventually sought to solve. During his seven years at Skadden and Akin Gump, he experienced the inefficiencies and frustrations of managing complex legal work within law firms. Lawyers, often stuck in a cycle of analog processes, faced tedious administrative burdens that detracted from their core work: providing legal expertise. These experiences ignited Rotenberg to innovate the system, and with Dashboard Legal by Bloomberg Law, he’s aiming to do just that.
Over the past five years, Rotenberg and Garin carved out a unique space in the industry, offering a remarkably simple solution that streamlines the way legal professionals manage their work. And, lawyers are actually using it.
Dashboard Legal claims to revolutionize the way lawyers work, not by doing it all at once but incrementally in ways that slot naturally into existing workflows. The platform offers a suite of tools designed to centralize matter management and reduce administrative overhead, which, Rotenberg says, is “the first stop on a more ambitious innovation journey.” Unlike generic project management tools, Dashboard Legal is tailored specifically for legal professionals, incorporating familiar structures and nomenclature that align with their existing workflows.
One of the platform’s key early moves was to focus on seamless integration with lawyers’ existing document management systems like iManage and Netdocs. By anchoring project management tools within these familiar environments, Dashboard Legal incentivizes use and eases the transition to new technologies. This approach has proven successful in addressing the inherent resistance lawyers often feel toward adopting new systems.
The newly formed “Dashboard Legal by Bloomberg Law” stands out for its deliberate and stated approach to AI. While most legal AI applications are focused on drafting and research, attracting huge sums of investment in the process, Rotenberg sees an opportunity to integrate AI in a way that directly enhances how lawyers get organized.
“The platform is looking to leverage AI for language distillation, summarization, and access to content, making it easier for lawyers to navigate and manage vast amounts of information,” says Rotenberg.
The acquisition of Dashboard Legal by Bloomberg Industry Group also marks a significant leap forward in the legal tech landscape. Bloomberg Law, known for its comprehensive legal research tools and vast data resources, is making a big bet on the value Dashboard Legal can bring to the table. Others have tried to be the “hub” for legal, a notoriously difficult mission. Yet one of the most innovative aspects of the acquisition is the potential to integrate Bloomberg Law’s extensive content library into the legal workflow via AI or otherwise, which allows lawyers to access valuable resources and data seamlessly within the context of their ongoing projects. It’s a potential game-changer that brings research and practical applications together in a unified platform. We’ll see if the bet pays off.
“Like many industries, the future of legal practice will be shaped by AI and other advanced technologies,” says Rotenberg, “but now is just the beginning. Much like the early days of the internet, there’s a sense of anticipation and excitement about AI’s possibilities, though we can’t forget that meaningful change takes time. The Dashboard Legal approach – thoughtful, deliberate, and user-focused – taps into this future practically and impactfully.”
Now leading workflow product strategy efforts for Bloomberg Law, Rotenberg seems poised to continue pushing boundaries to revolutionize the way lawyers work, making the profession more efficient, productive, and, ultimately, fulfilling.
