Julia Salasky living the dream as she turns focus to her second business, a $25 million legal tech start-up
A Linklaters lawyer turned entrepreneur has sold her pioneering crowdfunding business in order to focus on her $25 million legal tech start-up.
CrowdJustice, a legal crowdfunding platform which operates a donation-based funding model to allow public and private funding for legal fees and costs, has been acquired by Crowdfunder.
Founder Julia Salasky, an Oxford and LSE graduate, came to pursue her access to justice ambitions after having spent four years as a litigation and arbitration associate at Linklaters, as well as a stint as a lawyer at the United Nations. In the eight years since its founding, the platform has facilitated more than £35 million in donations to go towards the funding of legal services, with an impressive 14 cases backed by such funding reaching the Supreme Court. Notable cases include People’s Challenge to the Government on Article 50 and a successful high court battle to prevent a road project near Stonehenge.
Discussing CrowdJustice’s acquisition by Crowdfunder, Salasky praised it as a “truly socially-driven platform, funded by its own community, with mission driven people at its helm, with real expertise in grassroots fundraising, campaigning and technology”. She went on to explain that the acquisition would allow the platform to expand further, providing it with more resources and the chance to have a greater impact. She confirmed to Legal Cheek that the “main motivation [here] was for CrowdJustice to find a great home with a mission-aligned organisation”.
Meanwhile, Salasky continues to work on a newer and growing legal tech business venture, Legl, which seeks to improve legal services from an operational and regulatory angle. It pulled in a $7m investment in 2021 and an additional $18m last year and now employs 60 staff.
