Macfarlanes LLP has launched an AI chatbot for its lawyers as firms look to invest in the booming technology to boost productivity and improve efficiency.
(Bloomberg) — Macfarlanes LLP has launched an AI chatbot for its lawyers as firms look to invest in the booming technology to boost productivity and improve efficiency.
The tool can analyze and summarize documents, as well as draft contracts and answer general legal questions through AI startup Harvey, Macfarlanes said Thursday. The content will be reviewed by the firm’s lawyers.
Around 650 lawyers will gain access to the technology at the end of September.
Macfarlanes is the second major law firm to partner with Harvey after Allen & Overy. The launch of generative AI has accelerated the legal industry’s search for productivity gains in a profession known for its heavy workload sifting through pages of documents.
Read more: Law Firms Wooing AI Experts as Clients Demand ‘More for Less’
“The technology will become part of the furniture in the legal industry,” said Chris Tart-Roberts, head of lawtech at Macfarlanes. “Over the next 12 months, people will stop even thinking of the tool as something new, it will just be part of how we do certain things.”
The firm sees the technology helping its lawyers to be quicker, more accurate and freeing them up to work on tasks AI can’t do.
More law firms are expected to announce partnerships with Harvey in the coming months. Dozens of firms with offices in the UK are currently trialling the chatbot, Winston Weinberg, Harvey president and co-founder said in an email.
Harvey is built on OpenAI and ChatGPT technology and is backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund.
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