UK software development company Xperate has developed a ChatGPT-based Microsoft Outlook and Word add-in for legal, working in partnership with UK top 200 law firm ONP Group, we can reveal. Legal PAI (Personal Artificial Intelligence) helps end users to draft and respond to client emails quickly but, we’re told, adds guardrails by preventing client data from being shared with OpenAI’s chatbot.
Xperate was founded in 2021 by Mark Garnish (COO) and Simon Hill (CEO), who previously headed up Tikit. The fast-growing company has around 60 members of staff, including a sizeable development team in India.
Speaking to Legal IT Insider, Garnish said: “We were approached by ONP, who wanted an Outlook add-in using ChatGPT to draft emails and tidy up emails. While Microsoft provides this with Copilot, ONP wanted something legal specific, a kind of ChatGPT for lawyers.
“Microsoft’s Copilot will look through an entire email chain, which might contain confidential client data. With our add-in, you can have control. What we’re particularly proud of is the fact that we have come up with a way to get ChatGPT to analyse the data in a case file without submitting that data to ChatGPT.” Garnish says that Legal PAI can access information in the law firm’s practice and case management system confident that none of that data is retained by ChatGPT.
Lawyers will be able to use Legal PAI to analyse a whole email or just one bit of it. A right-hand side panel enables the lawyer to build the text, which is then pasted back in the main body of the email. Whereas with Copilot there will be a limited audit trail as things currently stand, Legal PAI retains a copy of the commands given and changes made.
Garnish says that a firm can also incorporate house styles, so that, for example, their way of addressing clients is automatically reflected in the email. He commented: “We’ve built code to make it easier for lawyers to make emails more or less formal. If firms always address clients as ‘Dear X’ and sign off ‘Yours sincerely’, we can make sure that is always respected.”
The add-in will be in beta with ONP in mid-April and Xperate is looking for other firms – both from the US and UK – to be a part of an early adopter programme. Anyone wanting to be involved can contact the Xperate team via their website: https://www.xperate.com/contact-us-legalpai
The collaboration is part of a new marketplace approach by Xperate, in which it will co-develop software with law firms that becomes commercially available under a revenue sharing model.
ONP Group incorporates O’Neill Patient Solicitors, Grindeys, and Cavendish Legal Group. Andrew Taylor, chief technology officer at ONP Group said: “Technological developments are changing the way we live and work by the day and, at ONP Group, we aim to be at the cutting edge of this development, improving experiences for our clients, enabling our teams to do the best work of their lives, and speeding up the whole legal process.
“We think we found the perfect partner for this project in Xperate, as they are a leading development company that really understands the capabilities of AI in the legal industry.
“Through partnership-based co-creation, we aim to develop a deeper understanding of customers’ needs, leading to clearer communication and increased client satisfaction. Working with Xperate and their early adopter program will provide the best opportunity for the legal industry to identify practical uses of Chat-GPT and other leading artificial intelligence.”
caroline@legaltechnology.com