Norton Rose Fulbright and legal technology company Syke Legal Engineering have formed NRF Syke as a strategic alliance to offer clients combined legal advice and document automation services.

Rapidly developing market

Syke helps corporate legal teams and law firms across the world to buy and implement legal technology, with a focus on document automation. NRF Syke will offer a bench of expertise with over 30 document automators, including a high concentration of globally experienced practitioners. These automators will work closely with lawyers across Norton Rose Fulbright. The new alliance complements NRF Transform, Norton Rose Fulbright’s global change and innovation program. NRF Transform aims to change how the firm helps clients solve problems, leveraging people, process and technology. Partner Martin McCann, Norton Rose Fulbright’s global head of business and global sponsor of NRF Transform, commented “Law departments that effectively leverage contract automation are seeing significant benefits. What often begins as an efficiency or cost saving exercise can lead to improved risk control, business information visibility and internal user experience, and a base to build other legal tech initiatives and tools. Document automation is a rapidly developing market in which there is an acute skills shortage, and in which both Syke and Norton Rose Fulbright are leading providers.”

Step change

Alistair Maiden, founder and ceo of Syke Legal Engineering, commented “We began working with Norton Rose Fulbright on an individual mandate when we realized we could do things for the client together which we couldn’t do alone. We quickly reached the joint conclusion that if we worked together more closely, we could take something to clients that would be a genuine step change on what client could otherwise access.” David Carter, commercial director at Norton Rose Fulbright and global co-ordinator of NRF Transform, added “Clients are continually telling us that they want to see more collaboration between law firms and other legal service providers. Syke is one of the most impressive alternative legal service providers in the market today.”