Pan-African law firm, Bowmans, has invested in Kira, an artificial intelligence (AI) solution, to improve efficiencies in certain key legal processes, primarily in the mergers and acquisitions, private equity and compliance areas. The software automatically identifies and extracts information from contracts, using machine-learning models.
“We are excited to have implemented an innovative technical solution that enhances our service offering,” says Tammy Beira, talent partner at Bowmans.
The firm is among the first in Africa to deploy an AI solution of this nature and to train it in the African context. By offering this service, Bowmans is in line with some of the largest legal services firms across the globe that have adopted Kira to help improve the contract review process.
According to Alan Keep, managing partner of Bowmans, “our clients have responded very positively to this offering and have been eager to capitalise on the benefits. This really is a differentiator when it comes to law firm services.”
The initial focus of Bowmans’ implementation is legal due diligence.
“The software helps make the due diligence process faster and more accurate, and reduces the risk of contract review,” Beira says. “It can also streamline some of the project management aspects of due diligence and do a lot of the initial heavy lifting.”
Cathy Truter, who is leading the project implementation at Bowmans, remarks that, “our lawyers, who have been using and training Kira since February, are impressed by the power of the technology and are excited about how it enriches our client-centric service offering”.
Commenting on Bowmans’ decision to use this solution, Chloe Doyle, account director at Kira Systems, says, “Bowmans is known for its focus on providing high-class legal services to its clients. We are delighted to be working with them to support and enhance their innovative push towards superior service offerings.”
In addition to its obvious applications in the context of legal due diligence or regulatory compliance, the tool makes it possible to review many more agreements than was possible within the timeframes and cost constraints that clients have been working within up until now.
“This is useful for extended scope reviews involving thousands of documents, where the aim is to check for deviations from standard form agreements,” concludes Beira.