Priori Legal, a company innovating the process by which major businesses engage external legal representation, has secured $6.3 million in Series A investment.

The company was established by Basha Rubin, serving as CEO, and Mirra Levitt, the Chief Product Officer. These two founders initially connected as students at Yale Law School. Priori initially operated as a legal resource for smaller to mid-sized businesses before shifting to its present business model in 2016.

Rubin clarified that despite maintaining internal legal departments, companies listed in the Fortune 500 typically allocate approximately $150 million annually to external legal services. Locating suitable legal counsel can be a complex undertaking—a consumer products firm, for instance, may require legal professionals in every state within the country.

By establishing a marketplace comprised of thoroughly vetted attorneys (accepting only 10% of applicants), implementing a competitive bidding system for projects, and simplifying the billing and onboarding procedures, the company enables businesses to reduce their expenditures on outside counsel by an average of 60% and decrease the time spent searching for legal expertise by 80%.

“Our focus is not on the actual legal advice provided,” Levitt explained. “We are not a law firm and do not perform any legal work ourselves. Our innovation centers on efficiently identifying the appropriate legal talent and ensuring a streamlined billing experience once a case is underway.”

Currently, the marketplace includes a network of over 1,500 lawyers, providing coverage across all 50 U.S. states, along with 47 other countries and encompassing 700 distinct areas of legal specialization. Levitt noted that while the initial participants were often independent practitioners or lawyers from smaller firms who may not have previously had access to such clients, larger firms are now also joining the platform.

“We experienced such a high volume of incoming requests that the entire team frequently found themselves working late into the night,” she said. “We have an exceptional team, but a) this pace is not sustainable in the long term, and b) we recognized a significant opportunity for growth by investing additional resources.”

The Series A funding round was led by Hearst Corporation (which also utilizes Priori’s services), Great Oaks Venture Capital, Jambhala, Tim Steinert (previously the general counsel for Alibaba Group), Mindset Ventures, Bridge Venture Fund and Orrick’s Legal Technology Fund.

Rubin stated that the new capital will be used to expand the team and broaden the network of available lawyers, particularly on an international scale.

“From a product development standpoint, we are significantly enhancing our utilization of data throughout the platform,” Levitt said, adding that the company intends to leverage machine learning to refine attorney vetting, improve the matching process, optimize bidding, and enhance project definition, among other improvements.