South African law firm, Webber Wentzel announced that it has adopted artificial intelligence technology to enhance its due diligence processes for M&A transactions, the firm announced in a press release.
The firm, chose to deploy Luminance due to its ability to effortlessly aid the work of its legal teams. Luminance uses advanced machine learning techniques from the University of Cambridge to automatically sort, cluster and classify a data room, pinpointing even subtle differences between contracts so that hidden risks can be uncovered early on in a transaction. The company launched in September 2016 and has over 70 customers across 18 countries.
The platform’s built-in collaboration tools allow its lawyers to quickly group and assign documents, track live progress, and significantly reduce the amount of time spent organising workflow.
“Webber Wentzel has been using a number of innovative technology solutions to continuously improve efficiencies and add value when we deliver our legal services to our clients. Machine learning technology is the next step in our journey, focusing on enhancing the management and review of increasingly large volumes of documents,” says Celia Pienaar, Legal Project Manager who oversees alternative resourcing at Webber Wentzel’s Legal Services Centre.
“Webber Wentzel understands the importance of innovation in the legal sector, and we are thrilled to welcome them as the first South African law firm to adopt our language agnostic technology,” added Emily Foges, CEO of Luminance. “Luminance provides legal teams with an instant, unparalleled insight into the data room, and we’re delighted that our platform will assist Webber Wentzel’s lawyers on many of South Africa’s largest and most complex transactions.”
