Onit Acquires New Zealand-based McCarthyFinch to Drive Innovation with AI and Workflow Automation

Company Builds a Future on Artificial Intelligence Starting with a Platform That Reads, Writes and Reasons like a Lawyer

Onit, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise workflow solutions including enterprise legal management, contract lifecycle management and workflow automation, announced that the company has acquired McCarthyFinch and its artificial intelligence platform that accelerates contract reviews and approvals by up to 70% and increases user productivity by more than 50%.

The acquisition reinforces Onit’s innovation strategy to deliver powerful AI-based workflow and business process automation solutions. The company plans to further its innovation through AI by evolving its product offerings as well as the software provided by its legal operations management software subsidiary SimpleLegal.

The technology will become an integral component of Onit’s new artificial intelligence platform Precedent and the company’s first release on the platform will be ReviewAI.

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“Our vision is to build AI into our workflow platform and every product across the Onit and SimpleLegal product portfolios,” stated Eric M. Elfman, Onit CEO and co-founder. “AI will have an active role in everything from enterprise legal management to legal spend management and contract lifecycle management, resulting in continuous efficiencies and cost savings for corporate legal departments. Historically, legal departments have been thought of as black boxes where requests go in and information, decisions or contracts come out with no real transparency. AI has the potential to enhance transparency and contribute to stronger enterprisewide business collaboration in a way that conserves a lawyer’s valuable time.”

McCarthyFinch’s breadth of AI expertise from lawyers, technologists and data scientists speaks to the ever-evolving needs of the legal profession and Onit customers.  “AI is a natural extension of our evolution,” continued Elfman. “In addition to acquiring award-winning technology, we have gained some of the brightest minds in the AI space.”

Nick Whitehouse, McCarthyFinch’s CEO and co-founder, is now the general manager of the newly rebranded Onit AI Center of Excellence. He has focused on digital innovation and AI for more than 15 years and was recognized in 2019 as the IDC DX Leader of the Year for his advocacy across the legal industry and Australasia. He is joined by McCarthyFinch’s vice president of legal, Jean Yang, who is now vice president of the Onit AI Center of Excellence.

“McCarthyFinch has been dedicated to building world-leading AI that augments lawyers and helps automate low-value and time-intensive manual legal processes. Drafting contracts and redlining documents shouldn’t take up 70% of a lawyer’s time, as statistics suggest. There’s a better way to work,” stated Whitehouse. “With AI, we’ve dramatically changed the contract management lifecycle and enabled businesses to move faster, provide higher-quality services and lower the cost of legal services. We are excited to join the Onit team and apply AI to Onit’s contract lifecycle management solution and expansive product offerings.”

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Onit Is AI: Introducing Precedent and ReviewAI

Onit’s new intelligence platform, Precedent, is uniquely positioned to complement its existing workflow automation platform, Apptitude, and drive AI and digital transformation in the legal market. The Precedent intelligence platform reads, writes and reasons like a lawyer, enabling legal and business professionals to get more work done faster. It combines machine learning and natural language processing so legal teams can automate tasks and processes to make them more efficient, cost-effective and faster.

The first release on the Precedent intelligence platform, ReviewAI, focuses on pre-signature contract review. Law departments need a rapid path through drafting and negotiation to contract closure so they can accelerate the pace of doing business, increase contract compliance and enhance employee productivity. Using ReviewAI, lawyers can streamline intelligent activities like contract creation, redlining, complex negotiations and risk rating contracts on their terms. Through Precedent, ReviewAI learns from the vast inventory of a company’s contracts, leverages the company’s playbook and presents the results in a Microsoft Word plug-in so the legal team can work where it is accustomed to operating. Legal and contract teams can s********* 70% on review time, increase contract compliance and lower company risk.

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