How machine learning and AI will transform law firms in Africa
A DocInsights case study
This article describes the genesis of South African AI legal tech start up, DocInsights. It describes how machine learning tools can improve your workflow and bolster revenue for law firms, big and small. DocInsights is a proudly African AI solution and therefore is priced for the African market, providing an impressive and potentially disruptive intervention for Africa’s legal professionals. This article also demonstrates how DocInsights can be integrated into other industries that rely on large datasets and data analysis, such as, Forensics, Accounting, Merges and Acquisitions, and Academic research. Lastly, practical insight into how to best introduce machine learning into your workflow is given.
AI is here, Africa legals. Image by DocInsights.
Contents
Lawyers face the problem of too many documents and too little time
Machine learning smart search to save time and boost revenue
How DocInsights works
Is there a steep learning curve when integrating AI into your workflow?
Are custom AI workflow tools expensive for the African market?
Other industries that our AI smart search tool works for
AI software for Forensics
AI software for Accounting
AI software for Merges and Acquisitions
AI software for Academic Research
How to integrate AI in data analysis and management
Lawyers face the problem of too many documents and too little time
My wife is a lawyer. I know that ordinarily she can spend weeks of her and her assistant’s precious time sifting through mountains of documents. Moreover, the documents are almost never all in one format. They can easily range from emails, to payslips, to contracts, to written correspondence, to forensic reports, to audio files.
Lawyers can drown in documents, and it usually follows the pattern that the bigger the case, the higher the stakes, the more weeks (even months!) needed for simply managing, organising and searching through data. Oftentimes, there is not enough time to adequately manage all the data, and some of it is simply overlooked, or not accurately accounted for.
The fact that mountains of files stall cases and define how long it takes a legal firm to bring a case to court, is an injustice. This is because people - their clients - have to carry the burden of time. Access to justice, the efficacy of legal proceedings, and the bottom line for law firms and their clients, are all impacted directly by this problem: Too many documents to search through and organise in not enough time.
Smart search for law firms. Image by: DocInsights.
Machine learning smart search to save time and boost revenue
A couple of years ago, shortly after my wife had started a boutique construction and engineering law firm, she was briefed on a new matter. The client dropped off a disc with 29 GB of data, consisting of 10,900 emails and 5,700 attachments. Without the infrastructure and staff support of a big law firm, working through thousands of documents in a reasonable amount of time was impossible.
At dinner that night, as my wife despaired over this conundrum, it occurred to me (a tech guy) that I could assist. I had been researching and developing AI, or machine learning, software for some time, and I had an ‘aha’ light bulb moment as we tucked into our berry pavlova for desert. A simple ‘smart search’ intervention could analyse the mountain of differing documents, drawing out only the prescient information without expending the sweat hours of highlighting endless printouts and photocopies.
Using the first version of DocInsights I developed for her, my wife was able to process 10,900 emails and other documents within a matter of hours. She was able to deliver an opinion on the merits of the case within a few days! The client was absolutely blown away. Needless to say, my wife is a rockstar, but behind every rockstar is a hardworking assistant, and in this case, it was me and DocInsights!
Machine learning can help you manage big data: How DOES DocInsights work?
The best way to explain how DocInsights works is through 4 key words: Smart search; Extract; Compile; Report.
Our software pulls data from all major public clouds, or custom cloud solutions. In an intuitive and user-friendly interface, you can then control various smart searches across multiple datasets and file formats. The proprietary AI we have built to power smart searches is able to sift through data in a nuanced and intelligent way, just like a handy research assistant would; recognising information relevant to the case. The difference is that it all happens in a blink of an eye!
The findings are then presented to you in a clear and ordered fashion, with links to the actual file source. We have integrated Adobe software so you can annotate, highlight, comment, and collaborate with your team on the documents, and on the extractions.
Then it’s time to compile. Our software will organise your findings, your comments, notes and collaborations in a chronological order in a presentable PDF format. The ability to chronologically compile findings is again a feature of machine learning. You can customise and edit the way in which this chronology organises findings.
Lastly, export! A presentable PDF with links to original source files is automatically generated for you to present to clients, and your team.
Revolutionise your data flow in 4 simple steps. Image by DocInsights.
Is there a steep learning curve when integrating AI into your workflow?
In the industry of eDiscovery and document management software it is very common that integrating software solutions into your workflow becomes complicated and costly task. Commonly, team members have to undergo custom training, and it takes quite some time for the software to actually present tangible results for you.
I can confidently say that this is not the case with DocInsights. We are very proud of how intuitive and easy-to-use our software is. It takes almost no time to learn how to use it, and the benefits are felt immediately. Just look at the example case studies of Adine Abro Attorneys and Spoor & Fischer. For both of these South African law firms, the benefits in using DocInsights was experienced immediately. Integration with your cloud is a case of ‘plug and play’ if you use a public cloud. If you have custom cloud solutions, then our team is on hand to do the hard work for you to ensure a seamless integration.
Are custom AI workflow tools expensive for the African market?
Commonly, yes. The market is dominated by USD, or Euro, priced solutions that when converted into an African currency are prohibitively expensive.
DocInsights is a proudly South African startup, and our pricing is Africa focused. We offer a subscription-based pricing tier that has affordability for the Africa market in mind. We also offer an enterprise solution that is costed in Rands.
AI for Africa - DocInsights is a proudly African startup. Image by DocInsights
industries that our AI smart search tool works for
Often clients give us feedback explaining how they wished they had been able to use DocInsights whilst studying for their Masters, or PhD. Additionally, they may detail how they feel smart searches could assist other professionals.
We agree. Here is a breakdown of four other professional industries that can benefit from machine learning in their workflow to manage data. The sky is the limit though, and this list is not exhaustive!
Smart search, compilation, and reporting are applicable for multiple other industries, Image by DocInsights.
AI software solution for Forensics
Forensics specialists are often required to cross-reference information in documents, such as affidavits referenced against bank statements, or other multi-format documentation. This means that there are multiple streams of data that have to managed and analysed in confluence. Ordinarily, this is complicated for practical reasons. The paper trail is not just enormous, it is also divided into interlinked streams of different relevance. Moreover, chronology is imperative, and this provides yet another influence in complexity. The compiling, annotation and reporting tools DocInsights provides are a wonderful way to manage this complexity, and keep track of everything with auto backlinks to origins. Chronology is built through machine learning, but given that there can be uncommon interruptions, or anomalies, we have allowed for you to intervene and customise the way in which the chronology is compiled. All this means that complex processes are ironed out and speeded up.
AI software solution for Insurance investigations
Insurance investigations and analysis often span lifetimes, or at least decades. All of that time is crystallised into records - emails, invoices and receipts, reports, contracts, bank statements, and police files. In order to serve your clients in this industry you need to cut through this lifecycle of documentation, and present a pattern of findings, or evidence pertaining to a specific issue. You cannot afford to manually digest a lifetime of documents. Smart searches are the answer, especially because direct search functionality (without machine learning) is too superficial. The evidence needed pertaining to one area is not always opaque and linguistically obvious. Smart search means that likened, or information that is relevant but not exactly the same, is not overlooked.
Once you’ve built the case for a client, use the Abode plug-in annotation tools on DocInsights to collaborate with your team.
AI software solution for Merges and Acquisitions (M&A)
M&A transactions take a huge amount of resources and time to complete. One of the specific areas that drain resources in the process is being able to cross-search all existing contracts in a target company for any whiff of “change in control clauses”. These clauses state that any existing contract terms can be terminated should a change in control of the target company occur. Understandably, a “change in control clause” undetected can derail, or significantly hamper a successful M&A process. This should, therefore, be avoided at all costs. Sometimes, a “change in control clause” is a wolf in sheep clothing, and it not prosaic enough to pick up when scanning a page. A smart search tool changes the game. The boring and hard work in sifting through eons of contract documents to find any “change in control clause” is done in an instant. Moreover, the findings can be neatly and impressively conveyed in an auto back-linked report, to share with your client and team.
AI software solution for Academic Research
The data set for a research project is often kept narrow for practical reasons - time; funding; resources. But what if you could radically expand your data set, and spend less time analysing it, with even more nuanced results? What could have taken months of research, could be done in a matter of days, or even hours, with AI powered smart searches. Moreover, researchers often spend far too much time and money on compiling sources. A bibliography is a resource drain over several years on one research topic. All our smart search reports have automated backlinks to original source documents, and in that way, you have an automated bibliography! Moreover, a research project oftentimes relies on a kaleidoscope of document types - written sources; books; journal articles; audio interviews; images. Smart search functionality has no problem surveying all those different file types.
How to integrate AI in data analysis and management
At DocInsights, our approach is to understand the building blocks, or components, that make up your data journey. We map out the order at which these building blocks relate to one another. There are always specific points along the journey where a ‘bottle neck’ occurs. This could be when - for example - email records have to be printed out, read through individually, manually highlighted, and then transcribed into a report finding. The ‘bottle neck’ usually arises for practical reasons, because big data sets practically take a huge amount of human energy and time to grapple with.
The advantage of isolating the ‘bottle neck’ is that an AI tool can be integrated at just that point. In this way, it does not require you to completely reorder your workflow, or somehow give up autonomy to a new system of software. AI is a tool like any other; it can be used to assist you, it does not need to usurp your role, or a team member’s role. It can be used to free up time for other tasks that serve your clients and bottom line.
If you are considering AI software for your workflow, and the software requires a lot of heavy lifting to integrate, and requires you to reshuffle your workflow, the AI tool is not suited to you. Integration should be seamless for you, and you should demand this.
The best way to get started with DocInsights is to book a demo with us. Our client success team will show you around the software and get to know your specific needs.