Cleary Gottlieb Launches ClearyX, A Platform for Highly Efficient, AI and Data-Driven Legal Services

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP announced today the official launch of ClearyX, a new platform designed to reimagine how legal services can be delivered using innovative combinations of people, process and project-management discipline, augmented by a range of technologies.

“Technology is a major force in our competitive landscape, and it’s critical that we embrace it. For a number of months, we’ve been developing the ClearyX strategy, assembling the team and building the technical platform in preparation for our launch today,” said Cleary Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang. “ClearyX builds on our firm’s long history of fostering innovation and delivering value to clients, including developing our incredibly successful Discovery and Litigation Technology group. We couldn’t be more excited to engage with clients about this new platform and add ClearyX’s efficient, tech-enabled products and services to our offering.”

ClearyX operates as a wholly-owned business unit within Cleary, with its own management team and strategy. Its mandate is to explore the use of existing and emerging legal technologies and act as an incubator for new products, processes and services that can improve client experiences and increase efficiency through flexible business models and pricing. Another aspect of its mandate is to consider select investments in legal technologies such as Cleary’s investment in 10BE5, a platform founded by a Cleary alumnus and a current Cleary associate that automates the drafting of capital markets disclosures and related processes.

ClearyX is led by CEO Carla Swansburg, who joined in September 2021. Before joining ClearyX, Carla was Vice President and General Manager at Epiq, a global legal services company focused on e-discovery information management, legal operations and technology. At Epiq, Carla led all aspects of the company’s Canadian business and helped establish its presence in Latin America. Prior to Epiq, Carla served as the chief innovation officer at a leading Canadian law firm and led the litigation team at one of Canada’s largest banks.

“We use technology anywhere it makes us better, faster and more accurate, but our work is always led by humans,” said Carla Swansburg. “The secret sauce of our ClearyX platform is a combination of access to – and the support of – one of the world’s leading law firms, and our relentless focus on high-quality, consistent work product, combined with dedicated, highly trained people leveraging a range of technology. We constantly strive to improve client service, create efficiencies, lower costs and creatively explore new ways of working.”

The ClearyX team is comprised of experienced legal innovators and technologists, project managers and legally trained analysts, as well as transactional subject-matter experts who understand the context in which Cleary and its clients work. The team, which is based in the U.S. and Canada, is focused on growth, particularly in the UK to support Cleary’s global offices and clients.

During the pre-launch pilot and development period over the last year, ClearyX has focused on M&A transactions, initially supporting and streamlining the due diligence process. The ClearyX team has successfully supported numerous deals, demonstrating it can consistently produce high quality, efficient work product. Future projects will focus on other transactional areas including private funds/private equity, real estate, capital markets, debt finance, antitrust and others.

The ClearyX team is also designing document automation products, including a prototype for automating the drafting of confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, as well as programmatic approaches to managing high volumes of recurring transactions, and aspects of contract lifecycle management, among others.

The ClearyX leadership team works closely with an Operating Committee within Cleary, which includes Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang and Chief Legal Operations Officer Rebecca Ross-Bown.

In addition, ClearyX will have an advisory board of legal and business leaders from a range of industries. The board will be focused on ensuring ClearyX’s services closely align with client imperatives, and solve a broad range of the problems faced in legal work.