Page 168 - 2019 - Leaders in Legal Business (n)
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Likewise, many ALSPs have created platforms to apply natural language processing,
machine learning, and artificial intelligence to the task of legal research. Entrants such as Casetext
and Ravel Law offer AI-backed research capabilities and other features. Ravel Law’s Judge
Analytics, to cite one example, allows litigants to view a judge’s entire history of decisions in
different types of cases. Meanwhile, Allegory, a recent Integreon acquisition, uses what it calls
“augmented intelligence” to automate litigation management. Allegory makes it much easier for
trial lawyers to access relevant information and makes formerly cumbersome litigation tasks like
creating evidence binders a painless process.
Contract Management and Review
In corporate departments, AI has led to impressive developments in the areas of due
diligence, contract extraction, and contract data analytics. As with litigation, ALSPs have been at
the forefront of these developments. Often triggered by the implementation of a CLM platform,
an acquisition, or an audit, corporations can be faced with the need to locate, review, and extract
information from thousands of contracts. ALSPs offer technological tools available that can
support such an engagement. Integreon, for example, uses Kira’s machine-learning-based
technology to assist clients with contract extraction, due diligence, contract analysis, and lease
abstraction.
Automated metadata extraction, categorization, and related technologies greatly reduce the
cost of a contract-by-contract review performed by lawyers. Even when performing those tasks,
however, ALSPs frequently support their technological tools with a review by legally trained
personnel; it is this combination of human- and technology-driven analysis that provides the most
effective end-to-end solution.
Legal Spend Analytics
Legal spend analytics is another area in which technology is being used to achieve more
cost-effective legal services. By analyzing data from legal invoices, corporate legal departments
can benchmark historical charges from outside counsel and vendors for a variety of legal services.
ALSPs in this area use technology to produce reports that not only track outside counsel spending
(broken down by firm, practice areas, timekeeper), but also include savings opportunities, progress
against budgets, and other key metrics.
Knowledge is power, and these technology-driven legal-spend analytics tools allow
corporate legal departments to revisit their entire relationship with outside counsel — from how
they select firms, to how they manage them, to when they cut ties with them — from the position
of power. The end game is one in which resource allocation is optimized, using the right legal
professionals and technology for the jobs to which they are best suited.
The Impact of AI
The takeaway from the above should not be that ALSPs, and the artificial intelligence they
sometimes employ, is encroaching meaningfully on the territory of law firms. Instead, in each area,
the theme is the same: While technology solutions are automating certain tasks and offering
lawyers new insights, the human element remains as important as ever in delivering legal services.
AI tools still require that lawyers perform a quality-control check, as they routinely do for contract-
153
machine learning, and artificial intelligence to the task of legal research. Entrants such as Casetext
and Ravel Law offer AI-backed research capabilities and other features. Ravel Law’s Judge
Analytics, to cite one example, allows litigants to view a judge’s entire history of decisions in
different types of cases. Meanwhile, Allegory, a recent Integreon acquisition, uses what it calls
“augmented intelligence” to automate litigation management. Allegory makes it much easier for
trial lawyers to access relevant information and makes formerly cumbersome litigation tasks like
creating evidence binders a painless process.
Contract Management and Review
In corporate departments, AI has led to impressive developments in the areas of due
diligence, contract extraction, and contract data analytics. As with litigation, ALSPs have been at
the forefront of these developments. Often triggered by the implementation of a CLM platform,
an acquisition, or an audit, corporations can be faced with the need to locate, review, and extract
information from thousands of contracts. ALSPs offer technological tools available that can
support such an engagement. Integreon, for example, uses Kira’s machine-learning-based
technology to assist clients with contract extraction, due diligence, contract analysis, and lease
abstraction.
Automated metadata extraction, categorization, and related technologies greatly reduce the
cost of a contract-by-contract review performed by lawyers. Even when performing those tasks,
however, ALSPs frequently support their technological tools with a review by legally trained
personnel; it is this combination of human- and technology-driven analysis that provides the most
effective end-to-end solution.
Legal Spend Analytics
Legal spend analytics is another area in which technology is being used to achieve more
cost-effective legal services. By analyzing data from legal invoices, corporate legal departments
can benchmark historical charges from outside counsel and vendors for a variety of legal services.
ALSPs in this area use technology to produce reports that not only track outside counsel spending
(broken down by firm, practice areas, timekeeper), but also include savings opportunities, progress
against budgets, and other key metrics.
Knowledge is power, and these technology-driven legal-spend analytics tools allow
corporate legal departments to revisit their entire relationship with outside counsel — from how
they select firms, to how they manage them, to when they cut ties with them — from the position
of power. The end game is one in which resource allocation is optimized, using the right legal
professionals and technology for the jobs to which they are best suited.
The Impact of AI
The takeaway from the above should not be that ALSPs, and the artificial intelligence they
sometimes employ, is encroaching meaningfully on the territory of law firms. Instead, in each area,
the theme is the same: While technology solutions are automating certain tasks and offering
lawyers new insights, the human element remains as important as ever in delivering legal services.
AI tools still require that lawyers perform a quality-control check, as they routinely do for contract-
153
