The German arm of CMS, CMS Hasche Sigle has signed up with Kira Systems to use its machine learning software.
Kira’s software identifies, analyses and extracts clauses and other information from documents, typically within a transactional, due diligence setting. A CMS knowledge management team will be responsible for deploying the software and training the system during the set-up phase.
“We believe that using artificial intelligence software will further enhance our legal services. By deploying Kira, we expect to be able to handle large quantities of data and due diligence processes better, faster and more efficiently,” said Stefan Sieling (pictured), a CMS Germany partner who is responsible for the firm’s knowledge management.
In December 2016, Addleshaw Goddard announced that it has signed up with Kira, as the Toronto-headquartered company notched up another UK top 20 win.
Other firms using Kira’s software now include DLA Piper, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance, as well as accounting giant Deloitte.
With this early adoption, CMS, which is planning to apply Kira to German documents, hopes that it is setting the benchmark for legal tech in Germany. “Identifying typical clauses in a large number of contracts has always been a challenge for major law firms. Machine learning technologies will enable us to provide our lawyers with new tools so they can use short timeframes even more effectively to focus on delivering legal excellence,” said Dr Frederik Leenen, counsel and head of legal tech at CMS in Germany.