Horace Wu
Horace Wu, the Founder and CEO of Syntheia, sat down with Amy Monaghan for a dynamic conversation on the future of legal technology, live from ILTACON. The discussion covered a range of topics, including AI’s impact on legal work, the importance of user experience, and the role of collaboration in driving innovation in the legal industry. If you missed it, you’ll find a recap of Amy and Horace’s conversation here.
Syntheia
The conversation began with Amy introducing Horace Wu, who shared an overview of his company, Syntheia. Based out of New York City, Syntheia focuses on improving transactional law by analyzing contracts. Their innovative technology helps lawyers identify potential issues in documents and suggests fixes based on past precedents. Syntheia aims to make transactional lawyers more efficient by reducing the time spent manually reviewing and correcting documents.
Leveraging AI to Solve Tedious Legal Tasks
A significant part of their discussion was about AI’s role in legal tasks, particularly around transactional documents. Horace explained how Syntheia breaks down contracts into “Lego bricks,” or individual clauses, that can be rearranged to solve various legal problems. He shared an example of a private funds lawyer who used Syntheia’s tools to streamline the creation of side letter compendiums—a process that traditionally took up to 50 hours but now takes only five.
Amy related to this pain point, noting how challenging it was to do this kind of work before 2017 when machine learning tools like those offered by Syntheia weren’t available. Horace emphasized that while AI can assist in extracting information, it still requires human oversight to ensure accuracy.
AI in Legal Tech: Potential and Challenges
Horace touched on the current state of AI in legal tech, noting that law firms are eager to adopt generative AI, especially for tasks like document extraction and summarization. However, he cautioned that AI is not always reliable when dealing with complex or highly specific information. This can lead to inefficiencies if lawyers have to double-check AI-generated outputs, raising questions about whether these tools are truly saving time.
The Importance of Experience Design in Legal Tech
Amy shifted the conversation to user experience, a topic close to both her and Horace’s hearts. They discussed how legal tech providers need to focus on how lawyers and clients interact with technology. Horace referred to the “Nintendo philosophy,” where instead of focusing on the latest hardware, companies should prioritize creating a smooth and intuitive user experience. This design-first approach, he said, is key to ensuring that legal tools are both effective and user-friendly.
Collaboration and Shared Knowledge at ILTACON
ILTACON is known for fostering collaboration, and Horace Wu highlighted how the conference provides a unique space for legal professionals to share experiences. He mentioned that many law firms face similar challenges in implementing new technologies, and ILTACON provides a safe environment to exchange ideas and strategies.
Lastly, Amy echoed these sentiments, noting that the shared excitement around new innovations has created a positive vibe at the event. Both agreed that the legal tech landscape is shifting rapidly, and conferences like ILTACON are essential for staying updated on the latest trends.
Conclusion
Overall, Amy Monaghan and Horace Wu’s conversation at ILTACON was an insightful look into the evolving world of legal technology. From AI’s growing role to the importance of user experience and collaboration, their discussion provided a roadmap for how legal professionals can navigate the rapidly changing landscape. Horace’s practical insights into the industry, combined with Amy’s enthusiasm, made for a conversation filled with actionable takeaways for those in the legal tech space.