Shoosmiths launches its own AI contract review tool created with Microsoft

Shoosmiths is rolling out its own proprietary generative AI contract review tool it developed with Microsoft as its AI-forward strategy pushes on.

The firm created and piloted Project Apollo in collaboration with the tech giant over the past year. Built on Shoosmiths' own dealmaking know-how, the firm said the tool is designed to mirror the way a senior associate would justify decision-making to a partner. 

The firm said the tool provides “auditable reasoning” that provides transparency and explanations on how recommendations were made, grounded in the firm’s internal knowledge.

Training the next generation

Shoosmiths chief executive David Jackson said the tool allows lawyers “to not only see what amendments have been made, but most significantly, why”.

“With our platform, developing lawyers can learn more, faster,” said Jackson. 

Shoosmiths said that each markup in the tool reflects the preferred language, risk profile and commercial position of each client, and that a senior lawyer will review and sign off all output from Project Apollo.

Microsoft UK & Ireland CEO Darren Hardman said: “Law firms hold enormous expertise and the challenge is always how to share it.”

He called Project Apollo “a strong example of AI doing what it does best: taking the knowledge of Shoosmiths' most experienced lawyers and making it available to everyone in the firm, at every stage of their career.”

Embracing AI

Shoosmiths has demonstrated a pro-adoption outlook on AI.

In April last year, it announced it had put aside £1 million to be unlocked and distributed among staff if a target of one million Microsoft Copilot prompts was collectively hit. In December, the firm confirmed it had reached its firmwide goal.

The firm has spurned outsourcing legal AI platforms in favour of developing its own proprietary tools - a decision the firm said it took over a year ago.

Some other top firms have taken a similar position. Kirkland made headlines in May when it announced it was earmarking $500 million to develop its own proprietary AI tools, and Freshfields announced in April that it was teaming up with Anthropic to build its own AI tools.

Freshfields also struck a deal with Google to deploy Gemini across the firm and co-create AI tools, alongside adopting Thomson Reuters’ CoCounsel, and partnering with AI knowledge search startup DeepJudge.