Legal industry vets launch AI-powered employment firm backed by MSO
Legal industry vets launch AI-powered employment firm backed by MSO By Sara Merken
Sept 16 (Reuters) - A senior executive at litigation funding giant Burford Capital BURF.L has teamed up with a former business partner to create what they describe as an "AI-native" law firm focused on employment negotiations and disputes, marking the latest in a wave of new firms touting their reliance on artificial intelligence.
Burford vice chair David Perla and Sanjay Kamlani, who has advised law firms on innovation, said their firm FairPlay Law is publicly launching on Wednesday and is affiliated with a separate technology company and management services organization, FairPlay Global, that is backed by investor capital. Perla declined to name the investors.
Perla, who is remaining in his role at Burford, and Kamlani previously co-founded Pangea3, a legal outsourcing services company that Reuters parent company Thomson Reuters acquired in 2010 and later sold to Ernst & Young in 2019.
FairPlay is the latest new law firm touting built-in AI capabilities to launch in conjunction with a management services organization. MSOs can be backed by outside capital, unlike law firms which are largely prohibited from being owned by investors. The AI law firms, including FairPlay, often do not use traditional hourly billing and list flat fees on their websites.
He and Kamlani said the law firm uses data and technology to help professionals navigate workplace disputes and negotiate offer letters, equity grants, severance packages and other agreements. Prospective clients first receive a free AI-generated report that analyzes their documents against FairPlay’s proprietary platform. Kamlani launched an earlier iteration of FairPlay last year focused on developing the technology.
Matt Pollins, co-founder of legal technology company Lupl, started tracking native AI law firms in an online directory earlier this year that now lists at least 60 such firms, though not all describe themselves that way.
Kamlani said FairPlay doesn’t compete with large corporate law firms that represent businesses in labor and employment matters, and that big firms may refer people to FairPlay.
(Reporting by Sara Merken in New York)