Leading UK law firm Penningtons Manches LLP (‘Penningtons’) has selected Luminance’s AI technology, initially to enhance its due diligence processes for real estate transactions.

Penningtons trialled ‘Luminance Property’, the platform’s real estate functionality, using a large volume of documents from a historic transaction. The firm valued Luminance’s intuitive and easy-to-use interface, and its ability to identify and grade anomalies within a large body of contracts. Luminance’s suite of collaboration tools also allowed Penningtons’ legal team to streamline the workflow and project management of the review, resulting in significant time savings and greater visibility over the project.

“We are seeing an increasing demand from clients to adopt new-era tools such as Luminance. We are delighted to have found an AI solution that not only meets our contract review needs for real estate, but which we can use across our legal practice” said Tarnya Pilgrim, Associate Director at Penningtons. “We were impressed with the project management tools within Luminance and the power of the machine learning technology. We are excited to see the added insights that the technology offers and the faster turnaround times that we can deliver to clients.”

James Rushton IT Director at Penningtons commented: 'We have been watching the market closely for the right AI solution. Luminance not only meets an immediate demand within our real estate team but also offers e-discovery and M&A solutions that we will be exploring in the near future. I believe Luminance will establish itself as an essential tool throughout the firm'.

Emily Foges, Luminance CEO, added: “We are delighted to welcome Penningtons as the latest UK law firm to publicly adopt our AI technology for real estate transactions. Luminance is quickly expanding its customer base within the UK as technology and innovation becomes increasingly vital for law firms conducting due diligence.”

Developed by mathematicians from Cambridge University, Luminance harnesses proprietary machine learning algorithms to read and understand legal documents much like a human does, but at volumes and speeds no human can match, thus improving the efficiency of processes such as due diligence. The platform’s collaboration tools enable faster, more accurate review, allowing lawyers to minimise the time spent on administrative tasks and dramatically increase productivity.

Since launching in September 2016, Luminance has over 100 customers spanning six continents, including over 10% of The Global 100 law firms. As a testament to the exceptional growth and advanced machine learning technology, Luminance was recently awarded ‘Best AI Start-Up’ at the prestigious AIconics awards, held at Kensington Palace last month.

About Penningtons Manches LLP

Penningtons Manches is a leading UK law firm providing high quality legal advice tailored to both businesses and individuals. They have UK offices in the City of London, Basingstoke, Cambridge, Guildford, Oxford and Reading, with 110 partners and over 600 people in total. They have also established a presence in San Francisco and have a broad international focus supported by well-established links with law firms throughout the world. Penningtons Manches is a member of Multilaw and the European Law Group, networks with representatives in over 70 countries. Many of the firm's lawyers play leading roles in various international bodies.

Penningtons Manches have several multi-disciplinary teams concentrating on a variety of industry sectors, including technology, life sciences, education, social housing, retail and international wealth. Their main areas of practice are real estate, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution, private client and family. The firm's commitment to excellence is backed by a track record which dates back 300 years.