AI Firm Luminance Raises £31.8M – How AI is Used In the Legal Profession
Key Takeaways
- Luminance has secured funding to expand its legal tech offering.
- AI automates tasks like document review, research, and billing, freeing up lawyers for high-value work like client service and analysis.
- Firms will still be required to navigate ethical and regulatory considerations associated with its use.
Luminance, a legal tech company using AI for contract generation and management, has concluded a raising round to fuel its growth, highlighting the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal industry.
In fact, while legal firms traditionally emphasize expert research and client relationships, there’s a growing trend among law firms to integrate AI into their operations for enhanced efficiency and expedited workflows.
Luminance Raises £31.8 Million
Luminance , an AI legal tech company specializing in generative technology, has secured £31.8 million ($40 million) in a Series B funding round to bolster its expansion efforts worldwide.
The London and Cambridge-based company has developed a sophisticated large language model (LLM) designed to streamline contract creation and management processes. Luminance’s LLM is capable of generating, negotiating, and analyzing contracts and various legal documents.
With its technology already adopted by 600 organizations spanning 70 countries, Luminance is poised for further growth. CEO Eleanor Lightbody emphasized that the new funding will support the company’s expansion into new markets, particularly in the United States. Here, its business already generates over one-third of its revenue.
The funding round was led by March Capital, a California-based investor, and saw participation from National Grid Partners and Slaughter and May.
How AI Helps Law Firms
Clients Benefits And Ethical Concerns
If the use of AI can boost productivity among law firms, also their clients can benefit from it. The primary benefit of integrating AI into law firms is the significant increase in available time for lawyers and legal professionals.
AI-powered tools streamline tasks, freeing up lawyers to dedicate more time to building strong client relationships. This increased availability allows lawyers to delve deeper into their clients’ needs, offering comprehensive legal assistance and becoming trusted advisors.
Establishing strong client relationships based on trust and understanding not only enhances reputation but also boosts client confidence and leads to increased referrals and positive online reviews. Ultimately, this client-centric approach contributes to the growth and success of the law firm.
But while AI offers opportunities for efficiency improvements in legal practice, it also presents ethical concerns that law firms must address. In particular, these regard the risk of bias.
Given that AI systems rely on human-generated data to generate outputs and predictions, they inherit the biases present in that data. For instance, if historical legal decisions reflect bias, AI tools trained on such data may inadvertently perpetuate those biases. Therefore, it’s essential for lawyers to be mindful of the potential for bias when utilizing AI technologies.
