Wotton + Kearney have reported significant improvements in efficiency that has positively impacted employee workload and job satisfaction

Background

Wotton + Kearney is a leading specialist insurance and risk law firm, established in 2002. Over the past two decades, the firm has expanded to 86 partners and more than 700 employees across 10 offices in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. Wotton + Kearney differentiates itself through a people-first culture and a proactive, innovative approach to leveraging technology.

Challenge

Wotton + Kearney had been monitoring the progress of generative AI to identify solutions that could enhance both client services and internal efficiency. The firm recognised that generative AI could significantly streamline work processes, especially in labor-intensive tasks like legal research, document review, and drafting. One of the main challenges faced by the firm was the time-consuming nature of legal research.

Lawyers often had to dedicate considerable effort to finding case law relevant to a matter. Traditional research methods relied heavily on identifying precise keywords, which meant lawyers either had to generate numerous Boolean searches or conduct broad searches, reviewing extensive results to find the most relevant cases.

Additionally, determining whether to pursue ancillary issues in a matter posed another challenge. Every sub-issue incurs further costs for the client. Lawyers had to carefully weigh the value of additional research versus the cost, often limiting the exploration of potential issues.

Wotton + Kearney sought a generative AI solution that could reduce the time and effort required for these tasks, without compromising the quality of the legal work. The firm involved key stakeholders including partners, IT teams, and legal staff throughout the decision-making process, ensuring that the solution implemented aligned with the strategic goals and needs of the firm.

"Integration of Lexis+ AI has positively impacted employee workload and job satisfaction"

Solution

LexisNexis provided Wotton + Kearney with the Lexis+ AI solution that addressed many of the firm’s key challenges, by enabling lawyers to ask direct questions from the AI assistant and receive clear, concise answers with linked legal citations.

Lexis+ AI significantly reduced the time spent identifying case law. Lawyers can now focus more on interpreting key cases and communicating the implications to clients than evaluating large volumes of search results to identify what they need. Lexis+ AI also helped the firm to efficiently explore ancillary queries that might arise during the course of a matter more quickly and efficiently without excessive costs to clients.

"Lexis+ AI identified a key case in seconds—a task that had previously taken a lawyer four hours of research using traditional search methods"

Outcomes

Since adopting Lexis+ AI, Wotton + Kearney has seen significant improvements in both efficiency and productivity. Although still in the early phase of adoption, early feedback from users has been overwhelmingly positive. For example, in one instance, Lexis+ AI identified a key case in seconds—a task that had previously taken a lawyer four hours of research using traditional search methods. In another, Lexis+ AI was used to quickly narrow down potentially relevant cases by generating case summaries.

The integration of Lexis+ AI has also positively impacted employee workload and job satisfaction. Lawyers now spend less time on routine tasks like legal research and more time on higher-value work, such as client consultation and legal strategy. This shift has enhanced the firm’s ability to deliver faster, more cost-effective solutions to clients.

Wotton + Kearney is excited about the potential of Lexis+ AI to transform legal research and anticipates even greater efficiency gains and cost savings as the solution continues to evolve.

The firm looks forward to further integrating generative AI into its operations and continuing to provide top-tier legal services to clients across the region. As an early adopter of generative AI Wotton + Kearney has strengthened its position as an innovative leading firm in the legal industry.

"We anticipate even greater efficiency gains and cost saving as Lexis+ AI continues to evolve"

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