The term “legal engineering” has become somewhat of a buzzword in legal and LegalTech. It sounds important, and most legal tech companies will tell you that it’s their priority. But what it means exactly, depends on where you work.

In some organisations, legal engineering is a job role ultimately used to sell. A legal engineer may have a law degree and legal expertise, but their primary job is to add credibility, sell the product and close deals. 

In other companies, it means sitting adjacent to product and engineering teams, transferring legal knowledge and expertise by way of a sounding board to help assess and troubleshoot potential product features. Essentially serving as context, not a contributor.

At Definely, we’re thinking about it differently.

Built for complex contracts

Definely is focused on complex contracts, the ‘bet the company’ high-stakes transactions where the margin for error is zero. Think Corporate M&A, Banking & Finance, Oil & Energy or Project Finance transactions. It is because of this, that we take a meticulous approach to how we develop our products. 

This is exactly why we’ve built our legal engineering team in the way we have.

Legal by design. Not as an afterthought

In our opinion, a lot of LegalTech has been built the wrong way around. Developers scope and build, then lawyers are brought in at the end to sense-check. The result is a product that doesn’t understand the fine details of how lawyers and legal teams working on complex transactions actually work, their needs and goals, and what truly matters to them. 

LegalTech should start with the problems and needs of the lawyer. 

We call it 'legal by design'. 

“Legal engineering is about translating legal expertise into scalable product experiences. It turns legal knowledge from something delivered only through people and process into something embedded directly in workflows, systems, and customer value. Legal engineering is a core part of the product function at Definely: it ensures legal insight is not only correct, but usable, repeatable, and built into how the product works”‍

Nnamdi Emelifeonwu, CEO and Co-founder of Definely

We are building legal-first tools with powerful proprietary technology at its foundation. Legal thinking is baked into the architecture of Definely. Our deep understanding of how expert lawyers working on complex transactions think, operate, and what matters to them at the highest levels of legal practice is what drives product development. We want to reduce cognitive load and increase peace of mind during complex contract review and negotiation. Fewer issues missed, more REM sleep.

The Team

Our legal engineers are a core part of the product team, co-architects and co-builders from the outset. They channel years of training and experience into one goal: transforming how lawyers and legal teams deliver value to clients in complex transactions. 

The team combines deep expertise across a range of high-value practice areas, with backgrounds spanning elite law firm environments and years of hands-on experience in corporate M&A, banking and finance, and tech transactions. That wealth of experience means our legal engineers understand our customers' challenges first hand. 

We are building the future of law not just with our products, but through the legal engineering team behind them. At Definely, we see legal engineering as a new kind of role and career path for lawyers - one for curious lawyers who want to make a lasting impact within LegalTech.

“Definely is building precision tools for lawyers and legal teams who need to stay in control of every clause, ensure nothing slips through, and apply their expert judgement. With our combined experience and expertise, the legal engineering team is helping to drive and build this vision.”‍

Nir Golan, Lead Product Manager at Definely

The introduction of generative AI models in law means that the value of a lawyer’s expert analysis and review is only increasing, and at a fast rate. Such models, if used correctly, can  give lawyers the ability to solve more complex legal problems for clients and find more creative solutions. The need for experienced and high-level legal minds is growing and compounding.

Lawyers and legal teams are being given new superhuman powers - the possibilities are expanding. Definely is here to build this new future for legal.

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