Baker Donelson's recent deal to bring on Kira Systems' machine learning technology to analyze and manage the firm's contracts makes them the latest in a spate of firms to turn to artificial intelligence (AI) for contract operations. The firm plans to use Kira's technology to analyze and manage various transactional processes, notably complex acquisitions and capital raises for businesses with large contract bases.

Although legal technologists continue to struggle with the long sales cycles endemic to the legal industry, technology serving contract work has seen a fair amount of buyer traction in law firms over the last year. In the last two months alone, Baker McKenzie inked a deal with eBrevia for a machine learning approach to contract due diligence work, while Cravath Swaine & Moore and Australian firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth each signed on to work with Luminance for similar work.

Kira Systems in particular has gained some traction among Big Law firms over the last year, with Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and DLA Piper each adopting the AI-based platform to read and work with the firm's contracts.