Credit: whiteMocca/Shutterstock.com

Norton Rose Fulbright and Gowling WLG have taken their next steps in the legaltech market by agreeing to joint ventures.

Norton Rose has teamed up with legaltech company Syke Legal Engineering to form NRF Syke, a strategic alliance that offers clients a service that combines legal advice with document automation capabilities.

The service – which will operate alongside the firm's existing innovation programme, NRF Transform – will make more than 30 experienced 'document automators' available to Norton Rose lawyers working across all practice areas.  

NRF Transform's global coordinator David Carter told Legal Week that "there is no strict limitation" on the types of clients the service will be offered to. He added that the service is designed to help companies that "have to deal with contracting on a reasonable scale" that might involve a degree of what he calls "repeatability". 

Though he said "there will be a lot of interest" in the service from the firm's transactional practices, he expects that "most legal departments will need to embrace digital contracting at some stage".

"A document automation project can be the kernel for other innovation activity that the client may need or wish to explore," he added.

Meanwhile, Gowling has formalised its ties with startup AI solutions company Avail – one of the firm's existing tech partners. As part of a joint venture with family-owned AI company Purple Frog Text, Gowling is to invest an undisclosed amount in Avail via a combination of cash, resources, expertise and innovative technologies.

The firm has deployed life sciences partner Jocelyn Paulley and corporate partner Jeremy Millington to head up the JV, alongside Avail directors Laura Bradley and Sirvan Yahyari.

Gowling currently uses two real estate-focused Avail products with a view to building efficiencies into routine work: the Title Register Review App, which delivers instant reporting of certified copies; and the Property Searches App, which extracts information from multiple documents to create summary reports.

Gowling real estate partner Mike Twining said in a statement: "New technologies are playing an increasingly important role in our markets, and from working with the team behind Avail we know the company is at the forefront of creating innovative solutions to solve issues faced by businesses across multiple sectors."