Our Technical Innovation
Optimising the client experience
All our teams across the Firm need to be comfortable using and discussing new and innovative technologies. To support this, we are working to establish best practices across all practice groups for how we use and support these systems, ensuring we use the best resources at each stage of our client work.
Our current focus is on six core areas that are available to all practice groups and offices to use:
- AI document review
- Process automation
- Client-facing microsites
- Document automation
- Drafting assistance
- E-signing
Our clients remain at the heart of all we do and our approach and our technology is very much geared towards nurturing these relationships. Often a much-appreciated value-add for clients is our ability to share our experience and approach. "There is so much hype in the legal tech space that firms must be able to sift through it all and work out what is worth using,” explains Tessa Bartley, Head of Innovation Technology at Charles Russell Speechlys. “Using an agile approach enables us to promptly create innovative solutions to address clients' needs. At all stages of the process we embed best practice by creating templates and guidelines, optimising resources to ensure the best use of talent, skills, and knowledge.”
Tessa Bartley
Head of Innovation Technology
As the themes of AI and data gain prominence in the legal sector, our Innovation Technology team has been working closely with our practice groups to identify the best opportunities for our clients and for the Firm. We were one of the first firms to use Luminance, a machine learning tool, to review large data sets. Luminance identifies clauses based on language pattern recognition to highlight key data points and anomalies. We have used Luminance with an international client as part of a DSAR review (Data Subject Access Request) and in another case as part of a review of 4,000 contracts to assess the impact of Brexit. As clients face seismic changes like Brexit, we need to be able to respond with practical solutions to help them manage change and reduce risk.
Using tools such as these also enables us to maximise the potential of our own data and knowledge for the benefit of our clients. In 2023, we used AI to analyse trends in share purchase agreements (SPAs), following a similar review three years earlier. The SPA insights project was Highly Commended in the Using Data category at the FT Innovative Lawyer Awards 2022 and we have similar ongoing projects gathering market data in other areas. Aileen Johnson, Director of Knowledge, “clients rightly expect their lawyers to partner with them in areas beyond technical legal advice; they want our insights and they need tools to help them manage changes on the horizon and to identify what might be beyond the horizon.”
Charles Russell Speechlys has a strong innovation culture and a track record of leveraging new technologies, so we are fully engaging with the developing world of AI and generative AI solutions and how these can be adopted to optimise our clients’ experience. In December 2023, we were very pleased to welcome on board Joe Cohen, as Director of Innovation. Joe is one of the foremost legal innovators in the City of London and will spearhead our Firm's innovation initiatives and drive forward-thinking strategies to enhance client service. His extensive experience in navigating the intersection of law and technology will be instrumental in developing and implementing innovative solutions enabling us to continue to meet the evolving needs of our clients in a rapidly changing legal landscape.
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