Having made its contract analytics and legal document platform ContraxSuite open source and therefore free to use and modify in July 2017, LexPredict has partnered with global law firm Baker McKenzie, which, in a significant step for BigLaw, is now deploying a custom-designed version of the tool.
ContraxSuite helps firms to identify legal material, analyse and organise documents, extract information, dedupe, visualise and export data. Its many use cases include M&A, where ContraxSuite can help search for and validate key terms; and it can help organisations to identify risk in their supply chain including counterparty risk and regulatory risk. It was made open source by co-founders Daniel Katz (pictured) and Michael Bommarito for the same reasons that other tech providers have gone open source: because software is often of little value until it has undergone significant revision by the user and it will give LexPredict more ability to build out its product. They are also providing consulting services to those using the software.
In a statement today (1 August) Bakers said that this collaboration will modernise and improve the contracting process for mid to high-volume contracts for Baker McKenzie’s clients. The software covers many aspects of the contract process, including intake, pre-review, standardization, and post-review analysis.
R&D partner, Ben Allgrove, who chairs Baker McKenzie’s innovation committee said: “Our clients expect us to foresee their business challenges and anticipate what’s next – and by combining our legal expertise with technology, we are doing just that. This bespoke software reduces the time associated with reviewing legal documents and redirects our human talent to high-value work.”
Baker McKenzie has undertaken a number of major tech project over the past 18 months including becoming one of if not the first to roll out Relativity on a global scale.
Responding immediately on LinkedIn to the news of Bakers’ partnership with ContraxSuite Adrian Camara, CeO of Athennian said: “This is amazing to see big law adopting open source!” Katz said: “We are so happy that Baker McKenzie chose to partner with the LexPredict team and leverage ContraxSuite in this exciting offering!”
The advantages of open source software to the user are many, but the risks include copyright infringement as open source software is still covered by a licence. We’re keen to hear other law firms’ experiences of using open source technology. Please contact [email protected]