“AI is going to play a big role in making document comparison even faster and smarter — but it should support lawyers, not replace them.” That was the message from Draftable CEO Timothy Toner at Legal Tech Talk 2025 in London, where he reflected on the company’s journey and shared his vision for the future of legal technology.
From an idea sparked by his Caltech-trained physicist brother to one of the world’s most widely used document comparison tools, Toner shares the story of Draftable Legal — now trusted by more than 900 law firms — and how a relentless customer-first philosophy has fueled its growth.
From an innovative idea to a global tool
Thirteen years ago, Tim’s brother Ben, a Caltech-trained quantum physicist, had a powerful idea: what if the version control concepts developers rely on could be applied to documents?
That vision grew into Draftable, which today is one of the most popular document comparison tools in the world.
Listening to law firms: the birth of Draftable Legal
A major turning point came a couple of years ago when law firms began asking for a solution built specifically for them.
About two and a half years ago, we had law firms start asking us for a document comparison product for the legal industry," Tim said. "It was a market where there was a dominant provider, a lack of transparency around pricing, and a lack of support for a lot of those law firm customers. So that was the birth of Draftable Legal."
Building with, not for, customers
From the very beginning, Draftable Legal has been shaped by close collaboration with the firms that use it.
“We partnered with a whole lot of firms around the world to build products that law firms and customers actually love,” Tim shared. “The combination of products that customers love, transparent pricing, exceptional support has been very welcome in the industry. We do everything in partnership with the law firms, so we're very responsive to feedback and user requests. We've essentially built the product in conjunction with a lot of our customers.”
Today, over 900 law firms worldwide, including leading firms like Allens, Brodies and Mills & Reeve, rely on Draftable Legal to make their work easier and more efficient.
Customer-first approach
That customer-first mindset remains central to everything Draftable does.
“What we hear over and over again from our customers is that simplicity and reliability are key,” Tim explained. “They want tools that work, that are easy to deploy firm-wide, and that their teams can use with confidence right away. That’s really shaped how we think about building and improving Draftable Legal.”
"We have monthly product releases, and the product roadmap is informed by all of the user feedback. Some of the most recent product features — like Redline in Email and Departures Tables — have all come from things that lawyers actually want. And the feedback’s been terrific so far."
The future: smarter, AI-powered tools
Looking ahead, Tim sees AI as a powerful tool to help legal professionals work more efficiently, without losing the precision and control they need.
"I think the biggest misconception is probably a fear of AI. The advancements in AI are pretty scary, but I think there’s still a place for software products that are rules-based, that are using algorithms, particularly around document comparison, where you can’t afford to be wrong," he said. "Trying to get the right balance between how you combine the best of humanity with the best of artificial intelligence, the fusion of the two, becomes really critical."
"I think a lot of firms at the moment are really struggling with that combination. But in our world, you want the humans in charge and you want them to be assisted by the AI. So building products that are very human-centric, easy to use, that do what they say they’ll do, with transparent pricing and great support — I think there’s always going to be a role for that."
Watch the full interview here
