In its effort to provide contract software utilizing both artificial and human intelligence, Pittsburgh startup LegalSifter has recruited a lawyer and academic who actually wrote the book on contract law.

Ken Adams is now an adviser to LegalSifter, which last year forged its first partnerships with law firms in Pittsburgh and in the United Kingdom. CEO Kevin Miller said he and his colleagues had “admired Ken from afar” for a few years, and more recently reached out to him about joining forces with LegalSifter.

“You can't be in this space for long without realizing the impact Ken makes,” Miller said.

Adams, who hails from Long Island, has spent the last 20 years of his career researching and writing about contract language, he said. The fourth edition of his book, “A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting,” was released in October. He also blogs about contract law, is a consultant to businesses, and previously taught contract drafting as an adjunct professor at Notre Dame Law School.

“I've long had the idea of making what I do more accessible by harnessing it to technology,” Adams said.

Technology Alone Is Not the Answer

But Adams said he has been skeptical of some technology created to assist in the contracts process.

“You get the sense that people are expecting the tech to save us from ourselves,” he said. But “the machines are never going to tell us what is best.”

Ken Adams

Adams said he was encouraged by the way LegalSifter instead marries technology with human knowledge.

“I find that reassuring because whenever I use technology, I know that human expertise underlies it,” he said. “I want to know where that expertise comes from, and I want to know that it's reliable.”

Adams has been tasked with reviewing and writing the help text that clients read when using LegalSifter, creating a “common voice” in the product, Miller said. He will also work with clients in finding ways to better design the product.

“For our product to be successful … it also needs to be enriched with human-driven intelligence and expertise,” Miller said, adding that Adams provides “that clarity of expertise.”

Resistance to Change

Both Miller and Adams acknowledged that at this point, not every law firm is open to using artificial intelligence.

“Inertia is a very powerful force in the legal profession,” Adams said. “There are all sorts of reasons available to you if you don't want to change.”

Miller said successful firms, in particular, may be slower to adopt some of the bolder technological innovations.

“The people who are winning, the law firms that are crushing it today,” are actually less likely to lead the way in adopting artificial intelligence and other technological innovations, he said. “Early adopters will be those who want and need to explore new business models.”

Some vendors, including LegalSifter, have figured out that the best way to go is with the legal industry and not against it, Miller said. That means adopting the “combined intelligence” concept, which merges software efficiency with human knowledge, he said.

“It's a false premise to say, 'Am I going to buy the robot or am I going to buy the lawyer?'” Miller said.

Adams said the result will likely be a departure from the traditional legal business model, involving “benefiting from inefficiency by racking up billable hours.”

“If you were able to be more effective in your contract process, if the end result is better, you are going to reap rewards,” Adams said. “Kevin and the team at LegalSifter are making a tangible bet, and I'm happy to join in that bet that the demand is going to be sufficient to make this all worthwhile.”