The Origins Story
Uwais Iqbal • 2022-08-31
Every story starts with a first page. Every adventure with a first step. Every dream with a breath of optimism. In this blog post, we will share why simplexico exists and what it aims to achieve.
Background
Let’s face it. AI in legal has been hyped beyond repair. Everyone and anyone is claiming to use AI in some mystical way that will magically solve all of your problems. There’s a huge gap between the makers: those actually building the AI solutions and the users: those who end up using the AI solutions. The gap is so large it means that most solutions on the market aren’t well-designed and are far from being user-centric. A recent study has demonstrated that almost half of lawyers are frustrated with the current technology they use at work [1].
The ‘Build vs Buy’ question is something most law firms and legal teams have to ask themselves at some point. AI talent is hard to come by and most teams don’t have the necessary technical skills to develop and build AI solutions in-house so they tend to favour Buy over Build. For a team looking to leverage AI, the only way to access AI solutions is through startup vendors. In effect, startup vendors gatekeep access to AI within the legal sector and teams are at the mercy of startup vendors. With a technology as important and revolutionary as AI, access should be as open and as broad as possible.
Legal work is incredibly subtle, nuanced and bespoke. The custom nature of legal work and legal documents means that general AI solutions trained on dissimilar data will result in poor performance. Many people have dismissed AI in legal as not being very useful because of the poor design and delivery of these AI solutions.
These are some of the problems which led to the creation of simplexico. With a white-glove consulting approach simplexico aims to cut out the middle man and put the makers of AI solutions in direct communication with the users. Rather than being stuck deciding between ‘Build vs Buy’, you can now consider a third option of ‘Collaborate’ so the design and delivery of AI solutions are tailored to your specific needs and created with users in mind.
Our Mission
There is an inherent inevitability with technology. It was only a matter of time before personal computers became a mainstay in our lives. AI will be no different. AI will come to penetrate every part of our personal and professional lives. It’s only a matter of time before AI will become commonplace in the legal sector.
As a complex and new technology, AI is still not well understood by those who use it. The lack of understanding of what AI can and can’t do has fostered a culture of fear of AI in legal. You tend to fear what you don’t understand. This fear has found its place in the popular narrative that “AI will replace lawyers”. Despite its popularity, this narrative is starting to fall apart to give way to something much more positive, mature and fruitful.
Christina Blacklaws, chair of the LawtechUK advisory panel, and managing director of Blacklaws Consulting, notes that the hype in which “almost every legal job would be replaced by robots” has given way to something “much more realistic”. - [2]
This more realistic narrative is the realisation that lawyers are here to stay but AI and technology will further penetrate into the legal profession. It’s no longer a question of “When will AI replace lawyers?” but now a question of “How can AI help lawyers?”.
simplexico exists to help legal professionals step into a future of collaboration, not competition, with AI. It’s a mission based on positivity, optimism and hope about the future. A future where AI is discussed openly and honestly as a transformative technology rather than a marketing tool. A future where AI - done properly - can help to lift the manual burden so legal professionals can spend time doing the work they actually enjoy. A future where technology helps to realise human potential and creativity.
Our Values
These are the values we hope to represent through our work:
honesty > hype - The hype around Legal AI has done more harm than good. AI is great at some things and not so great at other things. We’ll be honest and upfront with you about where AI will be best placed to serve your needs.
simple > complex - Complexity makes it easy to play smoke and mirrors. Despite the complexity of AI, our solutions are focused on simplicity and transparency so that they can be understood, explained and deliver value.
service > sales - With a servant leadership approach, our goal is to successfully serve your needs and help you on your AI Journey. We’re not in the business of aggressive sales or selling you something that won’t be used.
Our Approach
Our approach is based on the three pillars of innovate, integrate and inspire:
innovate - Innovation isn’t about throwing out the old and trustworthy in place of shiny new toys. To innovate is to use the tools of today to remove the pains of yesterday so you can focus on solving the problems of tomorrow.
integrate - With countless legal tech solutions, fragmentation is a real problem. We want to work with you to develop bespoke solutions that integrate with existing workflow tools that you already know and love.
inspire - Through our work we want to inspire the legal sector to question the ‘facts of life’ and explore the possibilities with AI to discover what the future might hold.
What’s Next?
Now you know a bit about us. We are just starting out and there is a long road ahead. A path travelled with friends is much more enjoyable than one travelled alone. We’d love to learn a bit about you, your experiences with AI in the legal space and your thoughts on how AI will come to impact the legal sector in the future. Feel free to drop us an email at [email protected].
[2] - https://www.ft.com/content/b6f0796e-0265-40c6-ad4c-a900cd788c39
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