Legal industry pioneers AI knowledge exchange

In a significant move for the legal industry, law firm Kingsley Napley has announced its collaboration with legal tech startup Let’s Think to create ‘The Knowledge Exchange’, a pioneering Behavioural Science AI tool meant to tackle the long-standing challenge of knowledge transfer within legal practices. The tool leverages advanced Behavioural Science AI developed by Let’s Think, which focuses on the science of expertise, learning, and cognition. This innovative approach aims to unlock and safeguard the expert knowledge of senior lawyers, making it accessible to their colleagues through a centralised database that allows for easy retrieval via a conversational interface.

Kicking off the collaboration in 2024, Kingsley Napley sought to explore the application of Behavioural Science AI in the legal sector to address key problems faced by law firms. With a strong emphasis on its people-focused culture, Kingsley Napley prioritised investing resources into understanding technological advancements and their implications for future lawyers. “We asked: What is it about our lawyers that our clients find value in? With a firm like Kingsley Napley, it is the fact that their lawyer has a great deal of lived experience,” Sarah Harris, Director of Innovation and Knowledge at Kingsley Napley, stated.

A pilot programme is currently underway to populate and test the tool, with a firm-wide rollout anticipated later this year as the product undergoes refinement. The tool is designed not only to protect and catalogue the intellectual capital of the firm but also to enhance tacit knowledge sharing among senior and junior lawyers, regardless of their location. Harris notes, “If we can use technology to enable greater and earlier exposure to legal decision-making we can look again at how we provide value and how it is priced.”

The Knowledge Exchange will serve multiple purposes including acting as a reflective tool for senior lawyers and establishing what Harris describes as a “continuous legal brain” accessible to everyone in the firm. Meanwhile, Wendy Jephson, CEO and co-founder of Let’s Think, expressed her enthusiasm for the partnership, highlighting the potential of the tool to improve training and client services across the firm. “The Knowledge Exchange is the easiest way for firms to capitalise thinking,” Jephson remarked.

Through this collaboration, both firms aim to tackle the complexities of knowledge retention in the legal sector, ensuring that valuable expertise is not lost when senior employees depart, as studies indicate that up to 90% of tacit knowledge remains unwritten and vulnerable to loss. ‘The Knowledge Exchange’ seeks to bridge this gap, providing an essential platform for legal professionals to harness their collective expertise for enhanced productivity and client service.