Global law firm, Allen & Overy (A&O), has launched a new tool, IBORMatrix, to handle the repapering of billions of pounds’ worth of LIBOR contracts, hand in hand with Factor, Eigen Technologies and iManage RAVN.
The IBORMatrix offering is a composite system that involves high level legal input from A&O, Axiom-spin out Factor handling the contract remediation, and utilising the tech of legal AI review system Eigen Technologies, as well as leveraging iManage RAVN.
The move is a coup for Eigen, given that A&O often uses Kira Systems, which also played a key part in its MarginMatrix tool launched some years ago.
Chris de Conti, Head of Strategy at Factor, told Artificial Lawyer: ‘A&O is not seeing review as an isolated element, this is a layered application and Factor is focused on the outputs (of the NLP review process).’
I.e. Factor takes on the work of leveraging a large human team to then work with what the automated review and analysis process has found. This involves complex question answering about each contract and deciding what needs to be done, e.g. a small tweak to make that contract workable under the new rules, or perhaps whether it needs a total rewrite.
‘It’s an end to end process,’ de Conti explained, ‘A&O is providing advice and there is a massive need for such legal advice as there are dozens of jurisdictions involved in these contracts. We need to work at a global level and deliver consistency and manage the risk.’
And, Factor estimates that 2 in 5 of the 100 million contracts using the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) have no language dealing with cessation of the benchmark, and will require remediation prior to it being discontinued at the end of 2021.
Artificial Lawyer asked if economics was the main driver here. De Conti noted that clearly that was part of it, but that ‘it is next to impossible to do something like this given the scale’ without the combined solution they have put together with A&O.
Overall then, an important win that will keep everyone busy, including iManage and Eigen.
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(Pic: Bank in the City of London in a pre-Covid-19 world.)
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