A&O Shearman leads the pack with new AI tool for senior legal tasks

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Magic circle law firm A&O Shearman has introduced an innovative AI tool designed to expediate tasks typically handled by senior associates and partners. The move aims to capitalise on the transformative impact of AI within the legal industry.

Developed in collaboration with AI startup HarveyAI, the tool targets time-intensive, low-billing tasks in areas such as antitrust and fund formation. While top law firms are increasingly using generative AI to streamline processes and improve the efficiency of junior tasks, its application to complex tasks performed by senior lawyers has been limited due to the nuanced analysis required. This latest tool is changing this dynamic.

The antitrust component of the tool utilises a company's financial data to determine necessary regulatory filings across more than 130 jurisdictions for mergers, identifying missing information and drafting requests for each party.

These tasks often require significant input and oversight from senior lawyers, and demand extensive hours due to the high stakes involved. However, law firms often perform these tasks at a low cost to remain competitive. A&O Shearman's new tool is expected to enhance margins on such work.

The CEO and co-founder of HarveyAI, Winston Weinberg, said the AI model used the latest generation of OpenAI and was trained by senior lawyers at A&O Shearman “to think and how to reason” like a partner. After the tool replicated their problem-solving methods, the results were evaluated by the lawyers to determine whether the answers were suitable.

Global head of AI advisory and the markets innovation group at A&O Shearman, David Wakeling, explained that the AI tool wouldn’t lead to job losses because it’d give senior lawyers more time and allow them to be redeployed to other tasks.

Wakeling added: “We believe that AI will ultimately be transformative for our firm and we can actually create revenues from being part of that change.”

Find out more about how law firms are using the latest technology to transform their business model by watching this masterclass on ‘Innovation and the future of law’.

This tool is the the second AI product that A&O Shearman has launched. In 2023, the firm introduced ContractMatrix – a contract negotiation tool used internally and sold to other law firms and clients. According to the firm, there are currently more than 40 large organisations signed up to that tool.

A&O Shearman’s latest AI tool is currently still in development and expected to be available later this year.