By Sara Merken
NEW YORK, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A venture capital-backed startup that says it uses artificial intelligence to identify toxins in drugs and other products through medical records said on Tuesday that it has opened an Arizona-based law firm to represent clients directly in mass tort litigation.
The company, Justpoint Inc., previously shared its findings with outside law firms to bring cases. The company launched its new subsidiary, Justpoint Law LLP, through a program in Arizona that allows people who are not lawyers to own law firms.
The Arizona Supreme Court approved Justpoint Law’s application to operate as an “alternative business structure” in July. It adds to a growing number of firms and businesses that have been licensed since the court relaxed the state’s law firm ownership rules in 2021.
KPMG and LegalZoom are among the largest companies that have opened subsidiary law firms under the state's program, which also includes many firms focused on personal injury and mass torts.
Boulder-based Justpoint, which was founded in 2018 and bills itself as a consumer protection company, uses medical records to identify drugs whose dangers were understated to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Victor Bornstein, Justpoint’s CEO and co-founder.
The company states on its website that it uses proprietary AI to analyze data, medical studies, safety reports, and patient records.
“The mission for us is to identify [issues] more efficiently than our current system can,” Bornstein said. “Having the law firm just allows us to operate in that mission much more effectively.”
Justpoint Law plans to begin filing lawsuits based on its research in the next few months, Bornstein said. He declined to share specifics about future cases, but said the firm is focusing first on issues including heart attack and cancer.
Opening an independent law firm will allow Justpoint to bring cases quicker and retain a bigger share of the litigation proceeds, he said.
Bornstein and Justpoint co-founder Oleksandr "Sashko" Zakharchuk are owners of the law firm alongside Lauren Miller, the company’s vice president of litigation, according to Bornstein.
Justpoint in February 2025 raised $45 million from investors and a $50 million line of credit. The company’s outside investors do not have decision-making authority over the law firm, he said.
(Reporting by Sara Merken in New York)