Tom Dunlop, CEO & Founder at Summize is an achieved business and expertise lawyer, Tom’s expertise with reviewing contracts was the catalyst that led to Summize. Previous to this, he labored as a International Authorized Director for a number of fast-growth expertise corporations.
Summize is remodeling Contract Lifecycle Administration (CLM) by enabling complete companies—not simply authorized groups—to work quicker and smarter with contracts. The platform integrates instantly into extensively used instruments like Microsoft Phrase, Groups, Slack, Outlook, and Gmail, assembly customers the place they already work. With an intuitive consumer expertise, knowledgeable implementation, and highly effective AI, Summize simplifies and accelerates the contract course of from finish to finish. Targeted on driving business-wide CLM adoption, Summize is redefining how contracts are managed, reviewed, and executed throughout organizations.
What impressed you to create Summize? Had been there particular challenges you confronted as a Basic Counsel that led you to develop an AI-powered authorized answer?
There’s a number of issues that impressed me. Beforehand, as a International Authorized Director, I’d be there with my highlighter marker and printouts, reviewing contracts and attempting to create summaries of every one. There have been additionally groups of very demanding salespeople who wanted consideration and understandably wished to get offers finished. There was clearly a necessity for automating duties. I used to be working in a really excessive progress tech setting, so when it got here to innovation, I had an entrepreneurial mindset. Everybody round me was additionally continually looking out for higher methods of doing issues, too. These items all coming collectively have been the catalyst for me growing and beginning Summize.
How has Summize developed since its founding in 2018? What have been some key milestones alongside the way in which?
We have been a generic summarization instrument at first, so it was a giant step ahead once we determined to deal with the authorized business, and particularly, in-house counsel. Subsequent was once we reached our purpose of making a holistic answer that might function a touchpoint for each contraction interplay – which additionally led to the widening of our performance. The third milestone was once we started embedding our intelligence in different instruments inflicting adoption to essentially take off. Then there was our enlargement into the U.S. and the speedy progress that adopted.
Alongside the way in which we achieved lots. We have been first-to-market with Phrase Add-In and AI performance. We have been first-to-market with Groups and Slack chatbots that might work together with authorized and create contracts. And, we’ll be first-to-market with further capabilities within the very close to future. We’re continually evolving.
What units Summize other than different Contract Lifecycle Administration (CLM) options available on the market?
Our distinctive promoting level is our embedded strategy versus an all-in-one CLM platform. Basically, these are the choices, and we really feel an embedded expertise by means of present and acquainted instruments is extra highly effective and facilitates adoption. Our use of synthetic intelligence (AI) and pure language processing (NLP) can also be a differentiator. Its skill to streamline processes and scale back handbook effort is driving new ranges of price effectivity for authorized groups.
What industries or authorized capabilities are at the moment main in AI adoption, and which of them are lagging behind?
In-house counsel at expertise and software program corporations usually tend to undertake AI because of the excessive quantity of offers and deal with effectivity. If you’re in additional commercially centered environments, eradicating blockers to hurry deal processes is essential. We’re seeing adoption throughout all authorized capabilities. Nevertheless, because the voice of a enterprise, normal in-house groups can truly be a barrier to AI. They should approve options and that may sluggish adoption amongst customers and throughout wider enterprise capabilities. However bigger business groups which might be very deal centered know there’s speedy productiveness positive aspects and financial savings, in order that they’re adopting AI quicker.
How do you see AI remodeling authorized work past contract evaluation? What different authorized duties might AI streamline?
Contracts are the system of file for any enterprise transaction, delivering all of the related relationship knowledge, starting from who you’re contracting with to particular obligations to termination particulars. Accessing that data and making it usable is what we’re doing with issues like contract evaluation and summarization. Put AI on the again of that and you may drive knowledge pushes between techniques and workflow orchestration throughout numerous components of the enterprise. That opens the door to a world of functions. It’d sound far-fetched, however AI might even remodel the authorized service mannequin itself someday, enabling companies to cost primarily based on the data they ship and never time.
In response to Summize’s current survey, 89% of in-house authorized professionals use AI instruments, but issues stay round privateness and safety (45%), restricted understanding or coaching (37%), and a scarcity of clear use instances (31%). How can authorized groups transfer past preliminary AI adoption to make sure they’re utilizing it securely and successfully as a trusted associate of their workflows?
They should perceive how AI works, what to look out for from a safety standpoint, and the way knowledge interacts with an AI mannequin. You must guarantee they’re utilizing it securely and successfully as a trusted associate in workflows. This requires coaching and clear AI insurance policies. Workforce members must also perceive how AI will affect the position of normal counsel over the following 5 years. As soon as they’ve this data, they’ll be capable to apply what they’ve realized to develop even better use instances and spur additional adoption,
How do you suppose AI-powered instruments like Summize will change the position of Basic Counsels and in-house authorized groups over the following 5 years?
I believe it’s going to free them from decrease worth, excessive quantity duties, permitting them to deal with the appropriate sort of labor. It’s going to additionally allow Basic Counsels to scale their data, in addition to their experiences, throughout authorized groups and the enterprise itself. And along with being relieved of time-consuming, handbook duties, leaders will know that such jobs are being finished to their requirements.
Do you suppose regulatory frameworks have to evolve to raised govern the usage of AI in authorized tech?
Regulatory frameworks might want to specify the info utilized by language fashions (LLMs). What’s extra, fashions could possibly be required to make use of verified content material, which might shift the main target from knowledge quantity to high quality and relevance. General, I do suppose we’ll see regulatory frameworks evolve, and fashions do higher at understanding the info it makes use of earlier than rendering a solution.
What position do integrations (e.g., with Microsoft Phrase, Groups, Slack) play in making AI-driven authorized instruments extra accessible and user-friendly?
Shifting ahead, it’ll be important to have AI embedded in consumer workflows and experiences. The query is, how do you do it and make it straightforward for customers? Integrations with Phrase, Groups and Slack are essentially vital as a result of persons are already utilizing and adopting these instruments every day, making it the best entry level to begin a question.
Integrations with on a regular basis instruments will guarantee AI-driven authorized instruments are extra accessible and user-friendly.
What’s subsequent for Summize? Are there any upcoming options or expansions we needs to be wanting ahead to?
We simply launched our next-gen AI-Powered CLM with clever brokers to speed up evaluations and unlock contract insights that makes use of agenetic AI to deal with duties from redlining to evaluation. We additionally broadened our chatbot’s performance to work together with assorted knowledge units. These are only a couple issues we now have deliberate and we’re wanting ahead to introducing different highly effective CLM developments.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to Summize.
