Allen & Overy Expands Legal App Subscription Business With Neota Logic

Global law firm Allen & Overy’s online subscription business, aosphere, has unveiled a new range of legal and RegTech apps built using the platform of expert systems pioneer, Neota Logic.

The law firm said that the three apps that have been released to clients are the first output to emerge from aosphere’s use of the Neota Logic software. The firm added that they ‘represent an important step towards making complex legal data easier and quicker for clients to access’.

It appears to be another indication that innovative firms are not just making use of expert systems and AI technology for internal uses, but creating new tools and services for their client base to make direct use of, without the supervision of their own lawyers.

Also of interest is that this operates using aosphere’s subscription model, rather than an hourly billing method. Such subscriptions may also help to tie clients into a closer relationship with Allen & Overy, while also helping to open the door to more complex work for the financial services clients that will tap these online resources.

One could also perhaps see this as the continuing development of Legal Tech As A Service, or, LTaaS, mirroring the now well-developed tech company strategy of SaaS relationships with their consumer clients.

The three subscription apps, which clients will pay the firm to use are:

  1. The Marketing Unregistered Funds Into Europe app untangles the rules applicable for non EU managers marketing funds into the EU. Clients can find the content that fits their profile by selecting jurisdictions and the preferred marketing strategy to tailor the results. In a matter of seconds clients are presented with a comparison between the likely complexity of marketing in different ways across Europe.
  2. The G20 Equivalence app uses data from aosphere’s Rulefinder G20 service to show clients which jurisdictions have adopted equivalence determinations for the topics covered by the rules governing OTC derivatives regulation, such as clearing and margin rules.
  3. The Initial Thresholds app presents users with a snapshot of the major shareholding disclosure thresholds, which clients can view for the jurisdictions which matter to their business.

The firm added that ‘client experience has been the key driver behind this product development, with the aim to provide clear and user-friendly initial guidance before a client delves into the detailed legal content that aosphere provides’.

Claire Farley, aosphere Executive Director, said: ‘We have always had incredibly detailed data as a core part of our services. The difference now is that clients can interact with that data through different applications [such as those provided via Neota Logic] to apply complex law and regulation to their own scenarios.’

While, Clare Godson, aosphere Executive Director, added: ‘These apps are already helping persuade clients to choose us over our competitors.’

Rick Seabrook, Managing Director of Neota Logic, EMEA, concluded: ‘We’re thrilled to see our technology put to work to help its clients reduce risk in day-to-day business operations easily and around the clock.’