AI in law: A leading voice for the profession
At Allens, we’ve always believed that innovation is most powerful when it’s thoughtful — and when it brings people along for the journey. As AI continues to reshape the legal landscape, we’re proud to be helping lead the conversation, not just within our firm, but across the profession.
Many of our alumni are navigating AI too. Whether you’re advising clients, running legal teams, or shaping policy, we know you’re asking the same questions we are: How do we use AI responsibly? Where does it add real value? And how do we keep human judgement at the heart of legal practice?
From early adoption to everyday impact
Allens has been using AI for close to a decade. What began as a way to streamline document review and due diligence has evolved into a firmwide transformation. Today, AI helps us on everything from document analysis and due diligence to contract review and matter management – enhancing both speed and precision, and creating more space for the high-impact thinking and solutions our clients expect from Allens.
But it’s not just about efficiency. It’s about reimagining how legal services are delivered.
People + technology
Our technology doesn’t replace expertise — it amplifies it, creating more space for the high-impact thinking, strategic advice, and creative solutions our clients value most.
Our Chief Innovation and Legal Solutions Officer Lisa Kozaris recently shared, 'We’re not just adopting tools. We’re reshaping how legal work is delivered — combining cutting-edge technology with the insight, experience and precision of our people'.
That philosophy underpins our rollout of tools like:
- Airlie, our secure instance of ChatGPT, built on Microsoft Azure and now upgraded to GPT-4o. It’s become a go-to for everything from checking the tone and expression of emails to summarising meetings.
- Microsoft Copilot, embedded in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams, helping us communicate more clearly and work more efficiently.
- CoCounsel, a legal-specific AI assistant developed by Thomson Reuters. After extensive trials involving more than 60 people across the firm, we’ve rolled it out to all lawyers. It’s already transforming how we approach document review, contract analysis and drafting.
We’ve also trialled tools like Lexis+ AI, Harvey and Legora — all designed to support legal tasks with speed and precision.
Benchmarking AI for legal practice
To help the profession understand how GenAI tools are performing in real-world legal contexts, we launched the Allens AI Australian Law Benchmark. Now in its second year, the benchmark evaluates leading large language models (LLMs) on their ability to deliver legal guidance in the Australian context.
The 2025 update shows just how far these tools have come — with significant improvements in accuracy, reasoning and relevance compared to last year. It also offers practical insights into how firms can optimise GenAI use in legal workflows, and how Australian performance compares with international benchmarks.
'The benchmark is helping us — and the profession — understand where GenAI is strong, where it still needs support, and how we can use it responsibly to deliver better outcomes for clients,' says Lisa.
Building, testing, sharing
We’re not just using off-the-shelf solutions. We’re building our own. Tools like Chronology Plus, QUOLL, KOALA and Diligence 360 are helping us streamline workflows, reduce costs and deliver greater value to clients.
And we’re sharing what we learn. We’ve supported clients like Westpac and IAG in their own GenAI trials, drawing on our experience and deep partnerships with providers like Thomson Reuters.
Internally, we’re building capability through initiatives like our Generative AI Community of Practice - which brings together people from across the firm to share insights and explore new ideas - and the Future Fluent Passport which is helping to build the digital capabilities of our people. We're fostering a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement – ensuring we are ready to adapt, lead and scale our impact in a rapidly changing world.