Wolters Kluwer today beefed up its LegalCollaborator product for corporate legal departments with the addition of new summarization functionality driven by generative artificial intelligence and the ability for legal departments to now leverage reverse auction capabilities to drive more competitive law firm bids. The new summarization capabilities will help corporate legal departments assess how law […]
Wolters Kluwer today beefed up its LegalCollaborator product for corporate legal departments with the addition of new summarization functionality driven by generative artificial intelligence and the ability for legal departments to now leverage reverse auction capabilities to drive more competitive law firm bids.
The new summarization capabilities will help corporate legal departments assess how law firm proposals align with the objectives contained in a request for proposals (RFP), the company said in announcing the new feature. Summarizations highlight and compare key information such as experience and certifications across bidder.
According to Wolters Kluwer, the summarization capabilities include:
- Quick and detailed overviews: Gen AI-generated summaries highlight how a law firm’s proposal addresses a corporate legal department’s stated scope of work and matter guidance. A “Firm Capabilities” summary showcases the three qualities a law firm believes to separate them from the competition. A “Foundation” dimension efficiently summarizes relevant experience, staffing assumptions, and methodology.
- Key comparative insights: The gen AI analysis compares law firm bids to identify the lowest price across alternative fee arrangements (AFAs) such as flat fee, fee cap, and phased fee cap. LegalCollaborator will also evaluate RFP responses to highlight law firms providing the most detailed plan, organization and method.
- Surfacing differentiators: The feature identifies and summarizes unique perspectives, experiences, certifications, awards, technology and other unique differentiators that can help drive the decision.
The addition of reverse auction functionality allows legal departments to set up a process in which law firms compete with one another in a time-bound auction. Firms offering either the lowest bid or the most favorable terms become frontrunners to win the business.
LegalCollaborator, which directly integrates with Wolters Kluwer’s TyMetrix 360° e-billing and matter management platform and Passport legal spend and matter management platform, is designed to not only capture early law firm engagement information and competitive pricing insights, but also to provide enforcement of pricing agreements for full vendor transparency and cost management.
“Corporate legal departments are under the spotlight to improve efficiency while forging stronger, more impactful relationships with their law firm partners,” said Raja Sengupta, executive vice president and general manager of Wolters Kluwer ELM Solutions. “The new functionality announced today for LegalCollaborator empowers corporate legal departments to benefit from enhanced transparency into law firm strategy and strategically manage expenses from the earliest days of engagement with their law firm partners.”
