LexisNexis Collaborates with Microsoft on Product Integrations and Generative AI Capabilities

Global News

02
Aug
2023

Editor

LexisNexis^® Legal & Professional, a leading global provider of information and analytics, today announced the integration of AI-powered solutions with Microsoft 365. Both companies are also working on solutions integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI, built on a long-standing relationship and experience working with AI and large language models, and previously announced plans for incorporating generative AI into its products. 

These integrated products – Lexis+^®, Lexis^® Connect, Lexis^® Create, and Lexis^® Create Plugin with Microsoft 365 Copilot – provide legal professionals with intelligent, AI-powered tools, enhanced capabilities, and more efficient, guided workflow experiences where they already work the most: Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Teams. Additionally, LexisNexis is focused on enhancing its use of GPT-powered technology with Azure OpenAI Service which has already been rolled out to customers via Lexis+.

“Microsoft and LexisNexis have a long history of collaboration, and we’re excited about how our Microsoft-integrated products will help improve the lives and work product of legal professionals,” said Jeff Reihl, CTO of LexisNexis Legal & Professional. “Lexis Connect, Create and Copilot truly embody our strategy of creating a fully integrated ecosystem, inserting world-class legal data, content, and technologies directly into attorney workflows. To enhance this, we’re incorporating professional-grade generative AI capabilities into our current and future products to elevate legal work and help lawyers be more efficient at their jobs.”

“Lexis Connect applies the best of LexisNexis’ innovation and know-how to extend core Microsoft 365 capabilities and Azure OpenAI Service with a focus on supporting legal professionals’ success. It de silos work using a smarter collaboration space for legal and business professionals. This approach accelerates the journey to apply AI to real work that matters.” said Jason Barnwell, Associate General Counsel, Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs at Microsoft Corp. 

LexisNexis products integrated with Microsoft include:

• Lexis+: Azure OpenAI Service has been rolled out to customers via Lexis+.
• Lexis Connect: An essential workflow tool for corporate legal departments built into Microsoft Teams with Microsoft Outlook integration. For employees, Lexis Connect features a conversational AI assistant that leverages internal corporate documents to answer simple legal questions, enabling attorneys to focus on high-value tasks. For legal departments, Lexis Connect features powerful work intake capabilities, automated task and matter assignment, centralized communications, insightful department analytics, and a conversational AI assistant that taps into Lexis+ and Practical Guidance for legal research and matter-related queries.
• Lexis Connect will be commercially available in Q3, with generative AI capabilities added in Q4.
• Lexis Create: A comprehensive, intelligent drafting solution built into Microsoft Word. Lexis Create puts Practical Guidance and Market Standards content, Shepard’s Citations, AI-powered Clause Intelligence, and other powerful recommendation and collaboration tools directly into legal drafting workflow, helping users work quickly and confidently throughout every stage of their draft. 
• Lexis Create will be commercially available in Q3, with extractive AI capabilities incorporated this summer and generative AI enhancements added in Q4. It will also integrate with the recently announced Agreement Analysis feature in Lexis+. 
• Lexis Create Plugin with Microsoft 365 Copilot: Bringing together the best of LexisNexis unparalleled legal data, citations and analytics with Microsoft 365 Copilot generative AI functionality, legal professionals can develop, draft, edit, and validate documents all within the Microsoft Word environment. This LexisNexis plugin within Microsoft 365 Copilot speeds work efficiency, effectiveness, and supports the development of exceptional work quality. LexisNexis will roll out its plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot as Microsoft makes its service available to eligible customers.  

In addition, Lexis+ customers benefit from large language model (LLM) functionality via Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT embedded into its flagship legal research solution. Launching this summer, Lexis+^® AI, a generative AI platform, features conversational search, insightful summarization, and intelligent legal drafting capabilities, all supported by state-of-the-art encryption and privacy technology to keep sensitive data secure. 

As part of its multi-model approach, the company is embedding a broad range of LLMs from OpenAI, including ChatGPT through the Azure OpenAI Service, and other providers to ensure that the best model is employed for each particular use case, that the performance capabilities are professional-grade, and that customer data and prompts and outputs are safe and secure. 

LexisNexis is responsibly developing legal AI solutions with human oversight. LexisNexis, part of RELX, follows the RELX Responsible AI Principles, considering the real-world impact of its solutions on people and taking action to prevent the creation or reinforcement of unfair bias. The company’s commitment to data security and privacy in the legal industry spans more than 50 years. LexisNexis employs over 2,000 technologists, data scientists, and subject matter experts to develop, test, and validate its solutions and deliver comprehensive, accurate information.