OnRamp describes itself as offering “hosted software and services to help legal departments deliver results more efficiently with higher quality and lower cost.” I recently spoke with Paul Lippe, CEO (and former GC of Synopsys, an AI software company for computer-aided design), and other management to learn more about their use of IBM Watson.

Borrowing from IBM Watson’s notion of “cognitive computing,” Paul calls contracts the “cognitive backbone” of the enterprise. Yet he points out that companies rarely characterize or track contracts well. On a day-to-day basis, information from contracts drives most business operations: revenue recognition, compensation, services and product delivery, risk assessments, lots of R&D and IP asset creation. But while companies put enormous energy into contract negotiation, they typically put the final documents “in a drawer.”

When major corporate events or deals happen – for example, M&A, divestitures, securitization, resolution planning (Dodd-Frank), and new revenue recognition rules – companies hire professionals to do some level of due diligence on their contracts, but with a narrow risk and exception focus. With better tools and methods, companies can turn contract details into data and ultimately “code,” better managing both risk and revenue.

That is where Watson comes in. The common view of Watson is as Jeopardy champion or Q&A machine. Paul reports that some firms are “exploring this ‘encyclopedic’ approach of winning [legal] Jeopardy”. In contrast, Paul and the OnRamp engineers – who are getting help from Prof. Dan Katz in this project – are realistic about how Watson best helps do legal work today. They see machine learning as “an additional member of the team,” supporting and scaling the work of lawyers in large projects.

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