Former DOJ attorneys launch AI company to help lawyers help more people

Two former Justice Department officials on Wednesday launched FluxCap, a new artificial intelligence platform they say could help lawyers take on cases that might otherwise never make it to court.

Handling major cases can require a large team of lawyers, months of work, and tons of money – a longstanding problem that often puts smaller firms, government agencies and everyday people at a disadvantage against companies with far more resources.

“What kept us up at night at the Department of Justice were not the cases we brought, but the cases we didn’t have the chance to bring,” FluxCap co-founder and co-CEO Jonathan Kanter told ABC News.

Kanter and fellow co-founder and co-CEO Doha Mekki, who both previously led the DOJ’s antitrust division under President Joe Biden – Mekki also served in the DOJ under Presidents Trump and Obama – said the idea for FluxCap came from their government experience. Kanter estimates his team was only able to pursue about 10% of the cases they believed were worth bringing.

“We were completely outnumbered,” Kanter said. “We had some of the greatest lawyers in the world, but we needed more people than we could possibly bring in, and that was the biggest obstacle.”

FluxCap says its technology can address that problem by handling tasks that could take a team of lawyers days or weeks to complete – such as reviewing hundreds of legal documents and conducting legal research – and in a fraction of that time.

Unlike general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, the FluxCap platform is specifically designed for complex legal work with an initial focus on antitrust law, according to the company, with plans to expand into additional legal fields. Its founders argue that focusing on one specialty at a time makes the technology more sophisticated and accurate than the tools from larger AI companies.

The platform is also designed to help lawyers develop legal strategies, identify gaps in evidence and anticipate opposing arguments, its founders say, though they emphasize that the technology is intended to support lawyers’ judgement, not replace it.

“We’re not trying to be a better lawyer; we’re trying to help lawyers be better,” Kanter told ABC News.

For Mekki, who spent a decade at the Justice Department on what she described as “the front lines,” the promise of the technology goes beyond helping antitrust legal teams work faster. She believes the tool will help lawyers better serve the public.

“We’re hearing lawyers say that they’re excited about practicing law, that they’re doing things they didn’t know were possible,” said Mekki. “More people can have representation and have better access to economic justice to recover losses that they suffered in the marketplace.”