Linklaters has teamed up with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) to create an online tool for writing, negotiating and executing 'initial margin' (IM) documentation.

The firm – which claims the move represents the first major collaboration between a global law firm and a global trade association – said it expects the new tool to help financial firms deal with new regulatory requirements and reduce the time and cost of negotiating such contracts by 50% or more.

The beta version of the new tool, dubbed ISDA Create-IM, launched last Friday (28 September), with a full rollout expected early next year.

On the thinking behind the venture, ISDA general counsel Katherine Tew Darras said: "Negotiating IM documentation typically takes significant time and resource, and has to be repeated over and over again with each counterparty. ISDA Create–IM will drastically improve the efficiency of this process, enabling parties to deliver a document to multiple parties at the same time, and then to negotiate changes on a bilateral basis using the platform."

Linklaters derivatives partner Deepak Sitlani added that the move had been driven by the fact that more and more financial institutions will begin to fall under IM regulations being phased in until 2020, a point dubbed by many in the market as the 'IM Big Bang'.

Each IM contract typically contains about 50-60 'election' points, which are decided by each counterparty. An election point can specify which regulatory regime applies, or which methodology is used for calculating the amount of IM to be posted, for example.

Counterparties enter their election points into the contract and the platform will then highlight where the two parties do not agree. These points can then be renegotiated until there is full agreement and Create-IM can then draft the document automatically. The tool can also be linked with an electronic signature platform to get the contract digitally signed.

According to Sitlani, the tool "limits the need for lawyers to sit and populate these contracts, when it can all happen live on the platform".

By digitalising the negotiation process, users can also collate the data to investigate how the process can be streamlined in future. For example, a user of the tool will be able to recognise common sticking points in negotiations, and then reflect on whether they are absolutely necessary. Users will also find it easier to make wholesale changes to their contracts with others.

Sitlani said prospective users are already asking for the platform to be rolled out to other common ISDA documents such as the ISDA schedule. The long-term goal for the platform is to standardise and digitalise ISDA documentation as much as possible to facilitate trading, ahead of 2020.

Create-IM has been developed in-house by Linklaters AI and technology unit Nakhoda, which brings together lawyers and developers. The development of Create-IM began in conjunction with members of the ISDA technology working group in January this year.

Nakhoda COO Partha Mudgil said the launch of Create-IM "shows how the relationship between lawyers and clients is changing", adding that the firm's lawyers are increasingly seen less as 'black-ink' advisers, and are instead being asked to "create and deliver solutions that have real and practical results for the market".

Linklaters is also pushing through similar  initiatives in other areas. The firm announced today it has begun collaborating with computer scientists from the University of Luxembourg on a compliance platform to improve how organisations interpret and implement EU legislation.

Luxembourg managing partner Patrick Geortay will lead the project for Linklaters, which will make EU legal texts and internal policy machine-readable in order to automatically identify risks and gaps for organisations. Geortay said: "The challenge for corporations across Europe as they ensure compliance with EU regulations is huge, so this tool could have a significant time- and cost-saving impact."