In what now appears to be a clear trend, another alternative legal services provider (ALSP) has linked with a legal AI company to provide more efficient document review services. In this case it is CAS (Carillion Advice Services) teaming up with UK-based legal AI company, Luminance.
The move follows the news that both Elevate Services and Axiom are also now both making use of legal AI applications, such as Kira Systems, to help with document review exercises for clients, while also exploring further uses. We have also seen Thomson Reuters link with financial services AI company, Logical Construct to help with derivatives contract analysis, which also works alongside its managed legal services arm.
The latest move, in this case involving CAS, suggests that although many law firms are now adopting legal AI capabilities the reality is that LPOs and ALSPs also see a huge opportunity to combine their human resources and expertise in legal process work with legal AI’s efficiency and productivity.
CAS, which is part of the Carillion Group, will use Luminance’s technology to enhance the corporate due diligence document review projects it conducts on behalf of M&A departments in the UK’s leading law firms, said the company. It will also use Luminance for in-house contract analysis to help the company manage its internal legal documents.
The fact that CAS will be working with law firms, rather than seeking to compete directly with them for this process work side of M&A transactions is interesting. That said, it’s not clear if it’s the end client, i.e. the corporate, that is asking the law firm to make use of CAS, rather than use AI internally itself, or if the law firm is passing on the process and AI work to the external provider because it does not want to do this work itself. Either way, this suggests a complex four-way relationship involving: the end client, the law firm, the ALSP and also the legal AI company which is providing the application.
The company stated that ‘the system’s ability to prioritise a data room review by automatically highlighting key areas of interest allows CAS to use its legal resources as wisely and cost-effectively as possible, delivering better value and higher-quality results to their law firm clients. Built-in collaboration tools also add value to CAS’ work by streamlining the entire review process’.
Lucy Nixon, Director at CAS, said: ‘The fast, high quality, cost-effective outsourcing of commoditised legal processes we provide at CAS saves businesses money and frees qualified in-house lawyers from low-value repetitive work.’
‘Luminance’s new-era product offers our clients exactly the kind of innovation they need to allow them to focus on adding real value to the business. Its unique anomaly detection capability and easy implementation ensures Luminance stands head and shoulders above other providers we have looked at in this space,’ she added.
‘Adopting Luminance is a natural step for CAS, a technology-powered alternative legal provider that is disrupting the marketplace for traditional law firms,’ said Emily Foges, CEO of Luminance.