Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance drives innovation strategy with artificial intelligence system Kira

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has announced that it has entered into a partnership with the artificial intelligence software provider, Kira Systems. Clifford Chance is embracing innovative resources and ways of working to provide the very best combination of people, processes and technology solutions, to deliver a service that exceeds evolving client expectations.

Kira is software that, using artificial intelligence, searches and analyses text in contracts, delivering improved levels of speed, efficiency and quality to processes, adding value to clients. Clifford Chance selected Kira both because it works 'out of the box' with little set up time, and because it can be easily 'trained' – by Clifford Chance lawyers – to learn from the firm's specialist expertise, enabling it to deliver more effectively against the specific requirements of Clifford Chance's clients. The new partnership is the latest step of Clifford Chance's successful global innovation commitment which constantly challenges the firm to develop new ways of working and delivering to clients.

Last year, Clifford Chance appointed Bas Boris Visser as Global Head of Innovation and Business Change. Bas Boris is the champion for the firm's strategy to anticipate, respond and adapt to key factors shaping the global legal industry, including new technologies and market entrants. Bas Boris Visser explains: “Our clients are under substantial pressure to reduce legal spend. At the same time, they need more support to manage the increasing risks and complex issues that their companies are facing. Deploying Kira is an exciting next step in helping our clients address this demand for greater value, and very much fits into our strategy of embracing innovation to ensure that we deliver the best service to our clients."

Clifford Chance is recognised for its ability to advise on complex matters, Kira Systems will seek to support this by alleviating the time spent on traditional due diligence methods and potentially expanding the qualitative analysis by, for example, reviewing a higher number of documents.

Paul Greenwood, Chief Information Officer at Clifford Chance, added: "The legal industry must adapt if it is to deliver what clients value most – whether that is about speed, accuracy or risk management. There are increasing numbers of intelligent tools on the market that can help law firms service clients and we want to be at the forefront of identifying and deploying those systems that will make a real difference to our clients. We are showing our commitment to emerging technology by integrating Kira into our processes and building its knowledge through teaching and training. Kira is great software, but it is the additional investment from our leading lawyers that will ensure this is a tool that is highly valuable to our clients.''

Clifford Chance has long shown its commitment to embracing new ways of working. For example, our market leading Continuous Improvement programme, pioneered at scale, positioned the firm as a leader in the market and continues to stand out as an exceptional success in the legal industry.

Noah Waisberg, CEO and co-founder of Kira Systems, comments: 'It is extremely exciting for us to be working with a firm at the top of the global legal industry. Our vision for Kira has been that it would amplify, rather than replace, the expertise of the world’s leading lawyers. Clifford Chance is dedicated to delivering its clients world-class service through innovative methods, and we are pleased that it has adopted our system to support this commitment.'