Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance partners with Singapore start up Alpha LegalTech to launch CompareNow in Asia Pacific

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has launched the CompareNow precision text comparison tool through Create+65, the firm's legal technology innovation lab in Singapore. Developed in collaboration with Alpha LegalTech, a Singapore-based startup founded by lawyers to provide legal technology solutions, CompareNow enables instantaneous and precise comparison and mark-ups for drafting, a task that constitutes a significant portion of a lawyer's day-to-day work. CompareNow is designed to integrate seamlessly with a lawyer's workflow, from emails to word processing.

Following the launch of CompareNow as a pilot earlier this year to a select group of lawyers, Clifford Chance will be the first law firm to roll out the tool regionally, across its Beijing, Hong Kong, Perth, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney offices.

Thus far, the pilot has demonstrated significant time savings and efficiency when compared to conventional tools, including:

• Simplifying workflow by halving the number of steps required;
• Saving an average of 75% of the time when comparing text in emails;
• Saving an average of 41% of the time when comparing text from longer documents (for example, a 72-pager contract).

Singapore Managing Partner Kai-Niklas Schneider said, "The launch of CompareNow builds on our ongoing commitment to contribute to Singapore's ecosystem of collaboration and innovation in the legal sector. We are excited that we will be the first law firm to introduce this innovative legaltech solution regionally."

Clifford Chance Innovation Lead Laura Collins-Scott added, "Collaborating with founders who deeply understand user needs and pain points, and leveraging on tech to churn out routine legal processes in faster and more cost-effective ways is key. We are particularly proud that we were able to do all this in Singapore, with the talented team at Alpha LegalTech."

Shawn Tan, Alpha LegalTech, co-founder said, "We believe that true innovation is simple - applying the right solutions to the right problems. The positive response from the lawyers at Clifford Chance is testament to our no-frills approach to legaltech."

The launch of CompareNow follows the recent commencement of the pilot phase of a cutting edge robotics training programme Automation Academy, also through Create+65. The programme was launched in conjunction with Josef, a 'next generation' legal automation platform that allows lawyers to create bots. The Create+65 innovation lab was set up with the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), and in collaboration with the Future Law Innovation Programme (FLIP) by the Singapore Academy of Law.