Clifford Chance's London office Clifford Chance's London office

Eight banks have snapped up one of the first digital products developed by Clifford Chance.

CCDr@ft—a cloud-based document automation system that can be applied to a wide range of contracts for companies across a number of different sectors—has won its first clients from the retail, commercial and investment banking sectors, some of which are quoted in the FTSE100.

The news comes eight months after the firm launched its new tech division, Applied Solutions (AS). The unit aims to sign up 20 additional clients in the next year.

AS CEO Jeroen Plink said the product has “automated the entire mid-market loan process” for those already signed up. The firm is currently in talks with 15 companies in finance and other sectors including one “large media firm”.

Plink says AS is also in “fairly advanced stages with three or four additional products” which he expects to launch within the next year.

One, which he declined to name, will focus on global data privacy regulations across 41 jurisdictions, and will launch towards the end of this summer.  

AS was set up by Clifford Chance as one of two “innovation units” in July of last year. It is run as a separate subsidiary under Plink who has worked in legal technology for close to two decades.

Selling or licensing software is still novel for law firms, but Plink thinks firms can succeed in the software business “if they take the right steps.”

He said: “I think it only works if you go about your product and go-to-market strategy like a traditional software company or publisher would, and that's where AS is very well positioned.”

“The key thing a law firm brings is the credibility, the brand and the legal expertise, and in the case of Clifford Chance it's also the global network.”

Most of the actual software development is outsourced, but the firm has taken on in-house developers. It has doubled the team to ten since launch and intends to double it again by the end of this year hiring developers, designers and marketing and sales staff. The team currently includes a chief product officer, a head of commercial, tech developers and document automation specialists.

CCDr@ft charges clients a set-up fee to customize the platform  and then an annual licence fee.

Plink declined to comment on the venture's profitability, but said: “Our primary driver is to actually help our clients,” and that turning a profit was a “secondary goal”. He added: “We need to build an investment case, and do it in a way that doesn't cost us money.”

Plink said law firms have to be willing to make the upfront investment to succeed: “The challenges are more internal than external. You need to get the partners on board and make sure the products you're bringing to market don't cannibalize their business.”

Meanwhile, AS launched 'SMCR Manager' earlier this month, which aims to help a range of FCA-regulated firms with the impending senior managers and certification regime rules arriving later this year.

Taylor Wessing launched its own SMCR manager in December.