A recent piece “After Heenan Blaikie, is it all over for Big Law?” by Alec Scott in The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine included DiligenceEngine in a discussion of changes in large firm law. After several pages on challenges to traditional firms (primarily outsourcing, new model firms, and efficiency-focused clients), Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP (a leading Canada-HQ’d firm) using our system on a deal was cited as an example of how good firms are trying to be more efficient:
It’s not as if Big Law has been twiddling its thumbs while all this change—economic, cultural, technological—swirls around it. … Osler recently employed a computer program developed in part by a young Canadian lawyer to aid in due diligence on a $900-million (U.S.) deal that closed in January—Chemtrade Logistics’s acquisition of General Chemical Holding Co. Built over three years, Noah Waisberg’s DiligenceEngine searches contracts for relevant clauses and puts its findings into summary charts. The tool is used (after training) by lawyers. It’s not outsourcing per se, but it can dramatically reduce the time an associate spends on due diligence.
As longtime Globe-reading Canadians who rarely have permission to discuss specific deals we helped on, it was really a treat to be featured in this article.