One of Norway’s leading law firms, Wiersholm, has announced it has chosen legal AI company, Kira Systems, to provide document review technology to its lawyers.
It will be used for M&A due diligence and real estate deals, as well as to support regulatory-driven reviews. Using the company’s Quick Study feature the firm has already trained up the system to identify and extract legal provisions in Norwegian.
The 150-lawyer Nordic firm said it was implementing Kira as part of its ‘ongoing commitment to innovation and transformation of their legal service delivery model’.
The client win is also the latest sign of legal AI and automation tech spreading across Scandinavia, as well as Europe in general. Rival legal AI company, Luminance, has also won deals with several firms in the region, including Swedish law firm MAQS Advokatbyrå, regional firm Roschier, and fellow Norwegian firm BA-HR.
While these are leading firms, it’s arguable that they may not see the same volume of M&A contract review activity as some global law firms based in New York or London that have adopted legal AI tech, yet these top Scandinavian firms have also found a business case for using natural language processing (NLP) to help automate parts of their work.
This suggests that as well as showing that legal AI tech delivers value across a variety of law firms and markets, it also shows the benefits of automation of legal tasks is seen as of value by clients across multiple regions.
Kira Systems noted that its software helps to automate the extraction and analysis of key provisions from both structured and unstructured contracts, this in turn helps with ‘accelerating and improving the accuracy of due diligence, deal points studies, general contract reviews and regulatory compliance’.
Niklas Larsson, Chief Digital Officer at Wiersholm, said: ‘With the adoption of Kira, we expect to continue to meet and exceed client expectations, give our partners confidence that their expertise is supported by an excellent tool, and attract the best associates who want to work at a firm that is adopting cutting edge technology.’
‘We truly believe this will make coming to work better for everyone,’ he added, perhaps suggesting that one of the ancillary benefits of legal automation could be an improvement in satisfaction levels among lawyers, as they can reduce the volume of process work they have to do.
The ‘bonus’ ability of AI systems to help reduce associate attrition could be an important factor as the war for talent continues to rage across all legal markets.
Chloe Doyle, Account Director at Kira Systems, concluded: ‘We are thrilled to be working with Wiersholm, a firm that is continuing to show leadership in the industry by providing their clients the best service through the use of new technology, while also working to find solutions that benefit all of the members of their team.’