LexisNexis Australia unveils rapid generative AI for legal sector

LexisNexis Australia has launched a generative artificial intelligence (AI) solution, Lexis+AI, which is being billed as the fastest of its kind on the market.

Following a trial involving over 300 Australian legal practitioners, Lexis+AI is now available to all Australian customers. The AI aims to transform the legal sector by offering fully encrypted, secure interactions and delivering reliable results in a matter of seconds.

The trial phase commenced in February and featured a diverse range of users, including professionals from leading law firms, corporate legal departments, small legal practices, and government agencies. Lexis+AI combines generative AI capabilities with LexisNexis’ proprietary search technology and a vast repository of authoritative content, making it a comprehensive tool for legal practitioners.

The AI solution offers a user-friendly interface and provides trusted results with linked legal citations. It integrates primary, secondary, and analytical content, alongside Practical Guidance modules. Lexis+AI ensures fast and reliable responses, making it significantly quicker than other available legal generative AI solutions.

Developed internally by LexisNexis with the aid of world-leading technology partnerships, Lexis+AI brings new features and technology in a native environment. The AI capabilities offer linked citations to minimise the risk of invented content or hallucinations, and it verifies citations against authoritative content for added reliability. Users can also input specific citations to check their validity and receive feedback when a citation might be incorrect. The solution does not rely on user input for learning, ensuring data privacy and protection.

Lexis+AI is designed to support both litigation and non-litigation workflows. It features conversational search, intelligent legal drafting, insightful summarisation, and document upload capabilities. The conversational search feature streamlines complex legal research by enabling users to interact with the AI intuitively and refine output as needed. The document drafting function allows for the rapid generation of contract clauses and client communications. Summarisation capabilities provide case summaries swiftly, and document upload features facilitate quick analysis and extraction of key insights from legal documents. All functions are supported by advanced encryption and privacy measures to keep sensitive data secure.

The solution employs a multi-model approach, utilising large language models like Anthropic’s Claude 2, AWS’ Amazon Bedrock, and OpenAI’s GPT-4 and ChatGPT, hosted on Microsoft Azure. A team of over 2,000 technologists, data scientists, and subject matter experts at LexisNexis has been involved in developing, testing, and validating Lexis+AI to ensure it provides reliable and comprehensive information.

Greg Dickason, Managing Director of LexisNexis Asia & Pacific, called the launch “a moment unlike any we’ve seen in the legal industry.” He highlighted the significant competitive advantage Lexis+AI gives to legal professionals by improving speed, productivity, and work quality.

The adoption of Lexis+AI has garnered positive responses from early users. Emma Covacevich, Chief Executive Partner at Clayton Utz, the first Australian law firm to use Lexis+AI, praised the tool for complementing their lawyers’ expertise and enhancing legal research efficiency. Gilbert + Tobin’s Partner and Chief Knowledge and Innovation Officer, Caryn Sandler, echoed these sentiments, expressing gratitude for being involved in the beta trial. Keren Smith, Chief Knowledge Officer at Holding Redlich, emphasised the importance of innovative technology in attracting and retaining top legal talent and noted that Lexis+AI enhances their lawyers’ ability to provide accurate and timely advice.

LexisNexis remains committed to responsible AI development, aligning with the RELX Responsible AI Principles, which consider the broader impact of AI solutions and aim to prevent unfair biases. The Lexis+ AI Insider programme is also open to all legal professionals, offering education on generative AI and updates on the latest developments.