Matthew Field reports on the latest from Global 100 players in legal tech
Long regarded as the most conservative of City law’s elite players, Slaughter and May has entered the artificial intelligence (AI) game with new intelligent M&A software Luminance.
In the most significant recent development following a string of AI moves this summer, Slaughters’ high-profile software launch follows a partnership with Cambridge-based Luminance. The venture is backed by Autonomy founder and tech billionaire Mike Lynch, who went so far as to hail the move as ‘the beginning of a new era’ in legal AI.
Slaughters’ acknowledgement of the potential of AI is viewed as a significant development for the legal tech market 12 months after Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) employed a ‘contracts robot’ using AI software. Luminance’s technology uses the input of Slaughters’ lawyers to learn the most probable human decision on due diligence work. Corporate partner Sally Wokes (pictured) said Luminance had helped reduce the hours spent on document review, cutting time on M&A due diligence by half. She said: ‘We see it as something that can really enhance the work and experience of people here. Lawyers spend less time doing diligence and more time doing their analysis and recommendations.’
The rise of the machines seems set to continue and the latest announcement follows a raft of AI ventures from firms in recent months.
Outside the Magic Circle, Hogan Lovells is one of the latest firms to be working with RAVN Systems and IBM’s ROSS to develop its own AI strategy. The firm said it was exploring several options for implementing AI. It has also shaken up its innovation leadership team in recent months, bringing in former DLA Piper, PwC and BLP innovator Stephen Allen as global head of legal services delivery, along with Leslie Brown from Ogletree Deakins as head of legal project management for the Americas.
RAVN has proven a popular choice for a number of law firms. Following BLP’s launch of its RAVN robot back in 2015, Travers Smith, Linklaters, Reed Smith and Dentons are all known to be working with the tech start-up.
As such, the legal technology company is currently scaling up due to recent client wins, moving to new offices in Old Street’s tech hub that will allow it to double in size.
RAVN uses its applied cognitive engine, or ACE, to extract and summarise key pieces of information in documents. Reed Smith announced it had piloted a project using RAVN in August, which used the ACE software to perform live due diligence tests in the firm’s real estate group.
‘We see Luminance as something that can enhance the work of people here. Lawyers spend less time on diligence and more on analysis and recommendations.’
Sally Wokes, Slaughter and May
However, firms and tech companies are still learning from each other, according to RAVN chief executive Peter Wallqvist. ‘Firms know the worst thing to do would be to do nothing with AI,’ said Wallqvist. ‘In order to stay ahead of the Big Four and non-traditional legal services players, firms need to exploit the data they have painstakingly built up over hundreds of years.’
Clifford Chance (CC) and DLA are using Canadian AI firm Kira, with Freshfields announcing its own partnership in September after a year-long trial. In the US, Baker & Hostetler and Latham & Watkins are both trialling ROSS.
Since the launch of its partnership with the tech firm in July, CC lawyers have used Kira on 14 projects across practice areas including corporate and litigation. CC chief information officer Paul Greenwood told Legal Business: ‘Kira allows us to embed our own expertise to it to add value.’
Despite some successes for firms investing in the technology, EY legal risk director Matthew Whalley, who helped implement the use of RAVN at BLP, said there was a supply problem in getting more AI programmes implemented at law firms, as well as a disconnect between the perception and reality of software on offer.
‘The application of AI in decision-making is headline-grabbing, but it remains a long way from being able to achieve results reliably,’ Whalley said. ‘There is massive potential for AI to streamline work in the legal services market, but there will be a capacity issue as there is a limit to the number of good AI vendors out there.’
matthew.field@legalease.co.uk