In this Legal IT Insider TalkingTech product demonstration, Rhys Hodkinson, chief revenue officer at Definely walks us through Definely’s knowledge management, drafting and proofing tools, with which you can create, draft, review and search for legal documents in Word.
Hodkinson started his legal career as a trainee solicitor at Baker McKenzie in South Africa. In 2018, he left the law and moved to the UK, where he obtained an MBA from the University of Cambridge. It was there that he was introduced to Definely’s co-founder Nnamdi Emelifeonwu, and says he was persuaded to join the company immediately.
For a lawyer starting the drafting process, they are likely to want to introduce clauses from previous work, which may include a search of the document management system (DMS). Definely Vault is embedded in Word, “meeting lawyers where they work.” Definely integrates with all major DMSs, and lawyers can search for a clause on eg calculation of interest, with relevant clauses being surfaced on the right-hand pane. Definely will tell you if the clause is frequently used or is ‘gold standard’, meaning that knowledge managers can make sure approved clauses are surfaced.
Vault, launched last year, allows users to find similar clauses to the one in front of them from knowledge bank, and compare how the provisions differ. Definely’s semantic search capability means you can surface similar clauses and run a red line.
We discussed how firms can enable a search of the DMS without risking out of date or poor-quality documents being used, which is a fear of many legal technology heads.
Definely’s flagship product is Draft, which helps lawyers review and edit information, including defined terms and cross-references, without having to navigate away from the clause they are working on. Hodkinson demonstrated how easy it is to amend terms and link documents.
A definition report allows you to see all of your defined terms and where they appear in the contract, as well as whether there are undefined terms. A reference report provides an interactive table of contents that allows you to search for and export specific provisions as well as their definitions into a standalone document. And the most recent functionality is the ability to create an issues list, showing every change that has been made in red line in a spreadsheet to send to clients for final approval – a task that takes lawyers hours.
Moving on to final review, Hodkinson talked us through Definely’s proofreading solution, which automates hundreds of proofreading checks to identify common errors, undefined terms, and unused terms in a document. He demonstrated how to fix these issues and ensure the document is polished before sending it to clients or colleagues.
This was an interesting conversation that concluded with a discussion about the place and future of generative AI – including agentic AI – and the importance of solving data and workflow challenges first. Make sure you watch the product demonstration below: