Global firm Clyde & Co has entered into an arrangement with Neural Vision Technologies (NVT), an artificial intelligence company, to assist its Data Lab with the development of machine learning proofs of concept.

“Bottoms up”

The firm's Data Lab will use NVT's visual search engine, NVT VISTA, to accelerate the search and retrieval of records and documents. The tool will enable the Data Lab to automate critical record retrieval, and perform a “bottoms up” analysis of large document collections. NVT VISTA captures the visual appearance of a document page and finds other documents which are similar in appearance, without relying on file names or text - methods which can yield incomplete results or overwhelm users with false positives. Nadine Bairle, global head of legal technology at Clyde & Co, says “As part of our innovation agenda we are focused on incorporating new technology and smart processes into our business. The role of the Data Lab is to use AI to explore workflow efficiencies and to unlock insight and value from our data. This product will help us in our machine learning projects by enabling us to identify our data more efficiently and use it to deliver new insights and more value to our clients.” Brent Stanley, ceo of NVT, said “NVT's relationship with Clyde & Co is proof that we can bring significant value to firms' innovation projects. Improved efficiencies are constantly desired in the legal operations space and are part of the trend in legal tech. Clyde & Co is exploring what are leading edge technologies in this space.”

Data Lab focus

The firm launched its Data Lab in November 2017 staffed by Clyde & Co legal, machine learning and strategy staff, and students from University College London's world renowned computer science department. The Data Lab uses data analysis supplemented with machine learning to help extract value from data held by the firm to improve workflow efficiency, accuracy and speed, and deliver completely new products or services for clients across sectors and jurisdictions. The Data Lab is part of Clyde & Co's focus on innovation, led by the firm's innovation board. Last month the firm launched a first-of-its kind connected parametric insurance contract for use by insurers through its smart contract consultancy, Clyde Code, which launched in 2017. In addition, since September 2018 the firm has been providing legal services to Komgo, a consortium of leading banks, trading and energy companies that digitalise trade and commodities finance processes through a blockchain-based open platform.