The Lawyer just published an in-depth look at A&O Shearman's innovation incubator Fuse, and we're honoured to be part of the story. 

When Travis Leon and Stephen Scanlan co-founded Jigsaw in 2020, A&O Shearman's Fuse incubator was already the gold standard for legal tech innovation. It had everything: access to top-tier lawyers, sophisticated clients, and the pressure cooker of live deal environments. 

The Right Partnership at the Right Time 

In 2023, Shruti Ajitsaria, Head of Fuse, reached out. This was the partnership we'd been building toward. 

What followed wasn't a typical vendor selection. A&O Shearman staged a months-long evaluation, stress-testing Jigsaw against competitors with nearly 100 lawyers providing feedback. 

As Travis recalls: "What was very impressive was the idea that they were willing to not just accept and be satisfied with a product being good enough. They wanted the best... a lot of firms wouldn't have done that." 

Built for the Big Leagues 

That rigorous process wasn't just validation, it made us better. Working with a magic circle firm brought challenges that proved Jigsaw could handle the complexity of billion-dollar transactions at global scale. 

"Operationally, working with a global law firm also brings challenges that you wouldn't otherwise do if you're a company of six or seven people," Travis explains. "But that part of it was also awesome." 

Shruti's approach to evaluating startups is notoriously demanding. As she told The Lawyer: "Nobody loves that bit, but I don't let things go through the door and be presented to our lawyers unless I think they're brilliant." 

A Different Kind of Partnership 

What makes Fuse unique is how it approaches innovation. It's not about vendors and clients. It's about collaboration. 

"It feels more like a relationship of parity and joint learning," Shruti explains. "Often it's new for us, often it's new for you, often it's new for the regulators... so it really is a joint endeavour." 

The results speak for themselves. Fuse's survival rate is nearly improbable: 98.6% of its alumni are alive today, acquired, or merged. Together, they've raised more than a billion dollars. 

What This Means for Jigsaw 

The A&O Shearman merger opened new doors. With nearly 4,000 lawyers across 47 offices, Fuse graduates now have a ready-made launchpad into the US market, still the world's most lucrative legal market. 

For Jigsaw, being part of Fuse wasn't just validation. It was a masterclass in building technology that works in the real world, not just in theory. 

This is what long-term partnership looks like: technology that fits, evolves, and delivers real impact.

Read the full article in The Lawyer.

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