In recent months, major Spanish law firms have announced the implementation of generative AI in their operations. Garrigues has developed its own tool, while Cuatrecasas has worked with Harvey to create a system tailored to its needs. As has PwC Tax & Legal, which has integrated the US startup's model into its daily use. At Pérez-Llorca they have taken a different path, hand in hand with Leya, the Swedish startup that has created a legal assistant for lawyers.
Pérez-Llorca has been the first Spanish law firm to implement Leya in its day-to-day work. It has done so with the purpose of processing large volumes of legal data in a conversational format. In this way, the firm's lawyers can carry out documentary analysis or assisted legal research, as well as generate communications and legal arguments. Marisa Delgado, director of Knowledge Management at Pérez-Llorca, answered Neosmart's questions about the firm's adoption of generative AI.
Delgado, whose department has a central role in the implementation of generative AI in the firm, highlights that Leya was chosen after a thorough study of the different options offered by the market: “Our decision to integrate Leya was based on a detailed analysis of our specific needs and how this tool could adapt and respond to the particularities of the Spanish and European legal environment, in addition to offering high levels of security”.
Unlike other tools, of U.S. origin, the Leya project was initiated in Stockholm. The proximity to the European legislative framework - not for nothing does Sweden belong to the EU - is seen as an asset.
Once the decision has been made, another crucial part remains: integrating the tool into the lawyers' tasks and the operation of the firm. “The implementation has been the result of a collaborative effort involving various areas of the firm, mainly knowledge management, lawyers and the technology department,” explains Delgado. “This approach allows us to ensure that any generative AI tool we adopt meets our needs from all angles.”
The director of the Knowledge Management area tells that her department has worked with lawyers, who have contributed their legal vision, as well as an assessment of the usability of the tool and the quality of its results. But the Technology department has also been involved in the process, whose role is to ensure the security and protection of information.
A tool for everyday use
The emergence of generative AI in the legal sector has forced law firms to turn their attention to this technology. The need to implement it is reflected in Pérez-Llorca's approach. The entire firm has been involved in the use of Leya.
“All of Pérez-Llorca's professionals are participating in a pilot project that will allow us to obtain a comprehensive view of its usefulness,” says Delgado, referring to the AI tool. “We intend thereby to evaluate its applicability in a broad spectrum of legal tasks, from searching for legal information and extracting data to preparing preliminary analyses and reviewing documents.”
These are tasks that the firm's lawyers have already begun to do with the assistance of AI. For Delgado, the goal of the program is clear: “We want to find out whether generative artificial intelligence not only improves efficiency, but also raises the quality of our legal advice, adjusting to the specific needs of our firm and our clients.”
And this effort to discern the value of generative AI within the firm, one of the questions that arises is the role of lawyers. “With the advancement of technology, the role of the lawyer will evolve,” assures the director of the Knowledge Management area at Pérez-Llorca. “Undoubtedly, generative artificial intelligence will be a great support for lower value-added tasks and will allow lawyers to focus on more complex and crucial aspects of legal advice, such as strategic thinking or innovation in the resolution of legal problems.”
Delgado stresses that AI will complement human capabilities but, and he emphasizes here, will never replace them. “Human experience, legal knowledge and professional judgment remain irreplaceable and central in the provision of quality legal advice,” he points out.
Adapting to the Spanish and European legal framework
The market is changing. It is currently buzzing with new tools, adaptations of models and internal developments. Law firms are still in an exploratory phase. Technology is being tested and algorithms are being trained. One of the most paradigmatic cases of this need to feed AI tools with specialized information is the agreement reached between PwC Tax & Legal and Lefebvre. This company will feed the version of Harvey used by PwC with its legal database.
Precisely Harvey is Leya's great competitor and has opened up the market by winning over some of the leading law firms. “We are aware that there are other options in the market that can also be interesting and bring significant value to the legal sector,” Delgado acknowledges, adding that his firm is not closed to testing alternatives. “At Pérez-Llorca we keep an open attitude and are always willing to explore and adopt other generative AI solutions that can complement or enhance our current capabilities.”
All these tools are developments outside Spain and Spanish is not their native language. This is an important aspect as they are language models, which execute tasks based on text instructions, entered in natural language. Although the systems already have mechanisms for linguistic adaptation. Regarding Leya, Delgado states that its ability to process and understand Spanish guarantees linguistically correct responses.
In addition, the tool draws on specialized sources. Its expertise in Spanish and European legal documentation is remarkable. In this regard, he highlights the agreement reached with the Iberley legal database, which allows Leya to keep up to date with all Spanish legislation and jurisprudence. Pérez-Llorca emphasizes that this quality is not common among other tools of the same type.
“Leya adapts to the Spanish legal and linguistic environment. It uses a model-based approach that improves the generation of answers by searching specific sources. And this allows it to access and analyze a wide range of Spanish and European legal documentation, from case law and legislation to specialized Spanish language databases,” says Delgado.
The AI tool selected by Pérez-Llorca also allows the company to integrate its own documentation. This enriches the process and allows the firm to obtain more accurate and contextualized results.
For Delgado, adaptability to new technologies is linked to the continuous improvement of the firm's performance. In this way, Pérez-Llorca aims to remain at the forefront in the provision of legal services. “With generative artificial intelligence we seek to boost the efficiency of our processes, improve accuracy in legal analysis and research, as well as expand our capacity to develop innovative legal strategies,” says the director of the Knowledge Management area. It is a formula for streamlining routine work and focusing talent on essential problems.
