White Shoe Firm Davis Polk Picks Kira In AI Market Milestone

White Shoe, New York law firm, Davis Polk & Wardwell, has announced that it has chosen Kira Systems’ legal AI technology for contract review work in what is a significant milestone for the Canadian company and the US legal market.

Last night, top US law firm, Latham & Watkins, also formally announced it had chosen Kira Systems – and Latham is one of the top commercial law firms in the world, for sure – but bagging a White Shoe firm, the old school elite of Manhattan’s legal might, is something of special note.

While legal AI companies have made great progress in winning the top tier of firms in the UK, in Europe and also in the Asia-Pacific region, the absolute top end of the US transactional legal market has been a little slower to adopt, at least publicly, the use of legal AI systems for doc review work, such as for M&A due diligence.

The Lexington Avenue (pictured above) firm said via John Bick, Head of Davis Polk’s Corporate Department: ‘We are pleased to collaborate with Kira and look forward to working together.’

That may not be the most expansive of announcements to accompany a legal AI vendor deal, but when White Shoe firms start taking on AI systems, whether this is to provide additional insight into documents; to provide efficiencies; or to help young associates avoid dull and low value work; it is perhaps not something that needs to be expanded upon by the firm.

The fact remains that the top end of the top legal market in the world, i.e. New York’s White Shoe firms, are opening up to legal AI technology, and after that there is really no going back, nor anywhere else higher to climb in terms of market reach.

Commenting on the importance of the deal, Kira Systems said: ‘Davis Polk’s market-leading M&A practice handles the largest, most sensitive and highly complex deals of the day.’

Meanwhile, Noah Waisberg, CEO and co-founder of Kira Systems, told Artificial Lawyer: ‘Davis Polk is one of the finest firms in the United States. We are honoured they chose Kira to help them amplify their practice.’

And Tony Ensinger, Director of Global Accounts at Kira Systems, added: ‘We are excited to see Kira being used by Davis Polk’s exceptional corporate team. Through the adoption of machine learning technology, the firm will be able to further scale their expertise to deliver increasingly efficient and innovative client service.’