AltaClaro’s DepoSim (Powered by Verbit) Awarded “Overall LegalTech Innovation of the Year” By LegalTech Breakthrough
Prestigious Annual Awards Program Recognizes Companies and Products Driving Innovation in the Global Legal Industry
LOS ANGELES, November 12, 2026 – LegalTech Breakthrough, a leading independent market intelligence organization that evaluates and recognizes standout legal technology companies, products, and services around the globe, today announced that DepoSim has won “Overall LegalTech Innovation of the Year” as part of the 7th annual LegalTech Breakthrough Awards program. DepoSim was developed by AltaClaro, the pioneer and global leader in data-driven experiential legal training, in partnership with Verbit, a global leader in verbal intelligence.
DepoSim is the first AI-powered deposition simulator for lawyers, and it applies the deliberate-practice model behind world-class athletes and pilots to litigation training. It mirrors the dynamics of a live deposition using text-to-speech, speech-to-text, and advanced LLM capabilities. Every session draws on expert-curated case files, witness backstories, and pedagogical rubrics developed by practicing BigLaw litigators.
Attorneys run realistic simulations with AI agents acting as witness, opposing counsel, and court reporter. Witness and opposing counsel behavior can be fine-tuned along multiple dimensions. Firms can dial the difficulty up or down, simulating everything from a cooperative witness to a hostile deponent, or an aggressive opposing counsel or silent observer. Attorneys also choose session lengths from a 20-minute drill to a full seven-hour deposition, each ending with structured, rubric-based feedback.
DepoSim also offers unlimited repetition. Scenarios can be run as many times as needed to focus on specific parts of a deposition that need improvement, and attorneys can use targeted repetition across different personalities and scenarios to refine questioning, pacing, exhibit flow, and objection handling.
DepoSim is built for litigation teams, including attorneys at every level, from junior associates preparing for their first deposition to senior attorneys looking to refine specific techniques. The solution enables rather than replaces human interaction by allowing partners to coach and deepen mentorship.
“Deposition skills often atrophy between reps for juniors and seasoned litigators alike. Firms struggle to deliver a consistent baseline of development across offices and practice groups due to factors like inconsistent staffing opportunities and unconscious bias. DepoSim was designed in partnership with six major law firms, whose attorneys provided over 160 hours of feedback before release — shaping every element to reflect how depositions actually unfold,” said Abdi Shayesteh, Founder & CEO of AltaClaro. “We are grateful for this accolade from LegalTech Breakthrough. By extending DepoSim's footprint from law students to senior partners, our solution is leading the way in beginning to standardize deposition training across a profession where development has long been uneven and firm-by-firm.”
"DepoSim shows what’s possible when voice technology is built around how lawyers actually work,” said Yair Amsterdam, CEO of Verbit. “By bringing Verbit’s speech technology and deep legal experience to AltaClaro’s training expertise, we’ve given attorneys at every level a practice partner that feels real. With DepoSim, attorneys and law school students can build the skills that matter most in the deposition room and walk into the real environment more prepared. We’re proud to share this recognition with AltaClaro, and we look forward to extending what verbal intelligence can do as DepoSim expands into trial examinations and negotiations."
The solution’s roadmap extends to trial examinations, cross-examinations, oral arguments, negotiations, mediations, and client interviews. The legal technology sector is rapidly redefining how legal work gets done, transforming one of the world’s most complex and vital industries. From AI legal assistants and agentic research to contract intelligence, eDiscovery, court and compliance technology, and connected legal operations platforms, legal technology is delivering greater speed, transparency and access to justice for law firms, legal departments, courts and the people they serve.
The mission of the annual LegalTech Breakthrough Awards program is to recognize the innovators transforming the global legal landscape with breakthrough technology. The program conducts a comprehensive analysis of the companies redefining how legal services are researched, drafted, managed and delivered. From AI-driven research and drafting platforms and contract lifecycle management to eDiscovery, case and practice management, regulatory compliance, legal spend analytics and access-to-justice solutions, these innovations are enabling legal organizations to work more efficiently, serve clients better and shape the future of the legal profession.
“DepoSim closes a long-standing legal training gap. Depositions demand real-time judgment: pivoting when a witness turns hostile, holding ground against aggressive opposing counsel, and reformulating questions on the fly. Yet traditional training relies on annual live-actor boot camps that are expensive, logistically intensive, and impossible to repeat at scale,” said Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director, LegalTech Breakthrough. “While the legal industry's AI conversation has focused on efficiency and productivity, DepoSim uses AI to strengthen the legal skills AI can't replace. DepoSim addresses the lack of repeatable, on-demand deposition practice with objective feedback in the real-time judgment moments that define a deposition. We’re awarding DepoSim ‘Overall LegalTech Innovation of the Year!’”
Within six months of launch, more than 25 Am Law firms have deployed DepoSim. Recently, Vanderbilt Law School has become the first law school to deploy and integrate DepoSim into its coursework and law library.