LegalTech/AI Wrap-Up, Feat: Barclays, Diligen, BLS + Luminance

Always plenty of news coming out of the legal AI and wider legal tech world, so here is another quick wrap-up of what’s important.

Diligen Moves into Real Estate

Legal AI company, Diligen, has extended the company’s contract review platform to also include real estate documents.

It has developed over 60 new provisions to help identify clauses important to real estate law practices.

Using Diligen for Real Estate, attorneys will be able to speed up the manual and tedious process of lease review and abstraction while maintaining high standards of accuracy and quality, said the Canadian company.

One user, Nicholas Bartzen, Founder and Attorney at Altus Legal, said: ‘Out of the box, Diligen was able to help reduce the manual nature of our document review dramatically. In the span of just a few hours, I was able to train the Diligen platform to recognize a number of new clauses unique to our practice area, across a variety of documents.’

Barclays Eagle Lab Holds 1st Legal Tech Pitch Day

The legal tech incubator of Barclays Bank in London, ‘Barclays LawTech Eagle Lab’, is to host its first official pitch day for the startups and tech companies there. They will pitch to a range of law firms and experts on the 13th September.

The pitch event, which is invite only, will include a number of the 16 companies now based there. Barclays describes some of the companies involved below, some of which readers will already know well, others that are relatively new:

  • Avvoka – This is a document assembly tool that creates first drafts using intelligent software, describing itself as ‘Google Docs for contracts’ – (which has been at FUSE, in Allen & Overy) – See feature on them here.
  • Data Solver – Provides ‘Privacy Management modules’ which facilitate compliance and simplify the complexity of GDPR  
  • Ginie AI – The technology recommends clauses to lawyers so they can customise contracts, reducing costs for legal departments. Genie AI’s artificial intelligence technology solves the contract drafting problem accurately
  • Legatics – A platform that optimises and automates legal processes, allowing for real-time visibility over deal processing (which has been at FUSE, in Allen & Overy)
  • LexSnap – Offers simple, jargon-free legal advice packs cheaply to address the lack of legal aid available
  • Ruby Datum – Virtual data rooms that use automation and advanced search algorithms to enable you to find the right document in seconds – See interview with them here.
  • Thirdfort – They use technology to securely hold money during property transactions (which was at MDR Lab) – See feature on them here.
  • Transparently – A negotiation management platform which can be used to negotiate a solution to any legal dispute. They use AI to enable professionals to take a collaborative approach to client management

Meet the Blockchain Law Society

Noah Walters, a law student doing a JD/MBA in Canada has developed a site called the Blockchain Law Society to serve as an educational platform for blockchain law-related issues across jurisdictions and that helps connect lawyers with blockchain clients.

Artificial Lawyer caught up with Walters to ask some more.

He said: ‘Within weeks of setting this up the site was receiving emails from blockchain entrepreneurs looking to find lawyers, and considering the fact that I wasn’t able to do any of the legal work myself, I began reaching out to lawyers in jurisdictions where more comprehensive blockchain law related practices were developing – this led to the informal creation of our network.’

‘After establishing strategic partnerships with prominent blockchain NGOs/Consultancies – particularly the Blockchain Education Network, MLG Blockchain, and the Blockchain Association of Canada, the website quickly transitioned into an organization that helps entrepreneurs scale their business by connecting them with lawyers, VCs, and consultants around the world (in addition to the educational component),’ he added.

Sure this one will grow and grow…!

Luminance Announces 1st German Client to Go Public

And finally, we couldn’t have a legal AI/legal tech wrap-up without a Luminance client win story. German law firm SNP Schlawien has adopted Luminance’s AI review tech for due diligence. The announcement marks the first German law firm to publicly adopt Luminance.

Dr. Christian Ostermaier, Partner at SNP Schlawien, said: ‘What made Luminance Diligence a clear choice for our firm was its ability to very quickly learn and understand legal concepts in English and German, which will prove invaluable during time-pressured transactions.’