Why Basic Legal Software Fails High-Stakes Trials | FluxCap

Summary · 3 min read

Kanter and Mekki led antitrust enforcement at the Justice Department before leaving to launch FluxCap, an AI platform for complex litigation. They say their experience showed them that resource constraints kept lawyers from pursuing more cases and that existing legal software did not meet their needs.

Kanter and Mekki say FluxCap aims to help small legal teams handle complex litigation with AI designed for specific legal domains, rather than generic legal software. They argue that limited enforcement resources and concentrated markets leave important cases and rights unaddressed, and that AI could help lawyers do more work. Mekki says companies need to understand how their technology works as investigators increasingly examine software logs and algorithms. They also discuss political shifts and plan to expand FluxCap from antitrust into additional practice areas.

Minute by minute

1. 0:39Resource limits drove FluxCap

   Kanter says the DOJ antitrust division had more than 900 people, yet resource-intensive litigation kept it from bringing some cases. The division secured a $45 million Technology Modernization Fund grant to build internal tools, but did not put the money to work before the 2024 election. After leaving, Kanter and Mekki found no existing product that met their needs and decided to build one.

2. 2:11Generic legal tech falls short

   Mekki says lawyers must police a $30 trillion economy and that public enforcers, in-house teams and law firms all face capacity constraints. She argues that basic legal software does not help lawyers do the difficult work they need to do. The team worked with lawyers and engineers to build tools around those needs.

3. 5:15AI could reshape market enforcement

   Kanter sees AI both as a force changing markets and as a tool for legal work; he rejects claims that it is sentient or will take over. He warns that concentrated markets can let incumbents extend their advantages and block new competitors. He argues that policymakers should address those risks early, while markets are still taking shape.

4. 7:52Past enforcement failures persist

   Mekki says failures to address major problems in the previous generation of technology have allowed abusive monopolies to remain in settings such as classrooms. She argues that the effects reach companies, small businesses, consumers and workers. She says FluxCap is built for people seeking to vindicate their rights.

5. 9:49Election shifts may reshape oversight

   Kanter says a Democratic wave would pressure leaders to address issues such as costs and inequality, as well as recent government actions that favor some market players over others. He expects oversight to change because, in his view, the administrative state has been weakened and Congress will face more detailed policy choices. Mekki says the balance of power has shifted and urges technology companies to think beyond short-term access to the White House.

6. 13:13Lawyers must interrogate algorithms

   Mekki says smaller groups could use technology to amplify enforcement, and that she would have brought more cases with FluxCap. She warns that companies may not fully understand products they ship, while states are passing laws to protect residents. She says investigators increasingly have software logs and will need to learn how to interrogate algorithms.

7. 16:08FluxCap builds for each legal domain

   Kanter says the team spent more than a year building and testing FluxCap with former DOJ lawyers and former Palantir engineers. They designed it to go deep into specific legal areas, rather than apply one generic system across practices. He says it is already in use and gives lawyers provenance, traceability and auditing tools.

8. 17:42Expansion will follow practice areas

   Mekki says FluxCap is being demonstrated and piloted with different kinds of lawyers, and that the team has received more requests than it can quickly handle. She says the technology is surfacing scams and schemes involving billions of dollars. Kanter says they work with private firms and governments, are in procurement with government agencies, and are preparing a second practice area for beta testing before expanding further.

Published Nov 5, 2026.