The construction industry and the legal sector are traditionally considered rather conservative. Yet Implenia, Switzerland's largest construction services provider, has launched an innovative co-development project with the Legal AI company Legartis. The goal is to develop an AI module specifically tailored to the construction industry that accelerates and optimizes the review of construction contracts. 

In this interview, German Grüniger, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer at Implenia, and Dr. Michael Burkart, Global Head Legal Operations & Strategy at Implenia, discuss the background of this partnership, the challenges involved, and the opportunities it creates.

How did Implenia come to choose a co-development with Legartis? Why now, and why Legartis?

German Grüniger: The construction industry, as is widely known, tends to be rather cautious when it comes to digitalization. At Implenia, as Switzerland's largest construction services provider, we invest heavily in digital innovation — and if not us, who should take the lead here? The same applies to our legal department. With around 40 lawyers on the team, we urgently need efficient work processes.

For years, I have been looking for ways to increase our efficiency. New technologies have opened up an entirely new field that offers us enormous opportunities. That was also my motivation to go a step further and do more than what is commonly done. It was simply the obvious choice.

It should also be noted that the specific use case — reviewing extensive contracts — has been well known for a long time. For years, we spoke with various providers to find a solution that would support and accelerate our contract review process. After a thorough evaluation of Legartis in 2022, we ultimately decided to work with them. A decisive factor in our choice was, alongside the many functional requirements, the already pre-trained AI from Legartis.

Part of the joint approach involved developing the business case. What are the challenges and what potential does the Legartis AI solution offer?

German Grüniger: Efficiency is at the center. Many repetitive tasks, such as contract review, are still done manually and are not very motivating for our team. On top of that, there is cost pressure: I need to clearly demonstrate to the executive board and the board of directors how we allocate our budget in the legal department. In this context, we are looking for innovative solutions, and I am convinced that new technologies can make a decisive difference.

The focus is on effectiveness and quality. With around 5,000 ongoing projects, we need standardization in contract management. The goal is for the operational business to handle a large part of contract management independently. It is also crucial that Legartis is adopted by everyone involved — our target is a 100% adoption rate in the relevant markets.

The support of the leadership team was of central importance to us. After initial reservations, we were able to convince them with a concrete proposal for the co-development. We prepared a detailed return-on-investment calculation and discussed various KPIs. While the quality improvement from the new solution is difficult to measure, that remains a challenge we are committed to addressing.

Once the leadership team was on board, the project moved to implementation. Dr. Michael Burkart, what happened next?

Dr. Michael Burkart: A key component of the project was the co-development. Together with Legartis, we developed construction-specific contract clauses that build on Legartis' existing clauses. The Legartis team carried out the co-development over a period of four to six months. We provided numerous contracts that served as the basis for training the solution.

It was important that both sides had a clear understanding of our use case. Our subject matter experts, the Global Heads of the respective divisions, were involved in the process from the very beginning. Since summer 2023, they have been very actively engaged, ensuring that the solution meets our professional requirements.

How satisfied are you with the collaboration so far?

Dr. Michael Burkart: We are extremely satisfied with the co-development. The training was carried out by the Legartis team, while we were involved both at the start and during quality review. Legartis brought extensive know-how on the contracts being processed and was able to explain the technical solution precisely to our legal team. There were some questions at the beginning, but the explanations were very helpful and led to a better understanding. Overall, the collaboration went very well.

Mr. Grüniger, where do you see the added value of Legartis at Implenia?

German Grüniger: With around 5,000 ongoing projects and constant new acquisitions, contract management plays a central role in our success. Many problems arise when contracts are not handled properly. Our legal department minimizes this risk.

Everything we are currently implementing with Legartis, we still do manually today. We review 72 or 74 clauses, add annotations manually, and then discuss them with the operational business. When you see how quickly this process now runs and that the business can largely handle contract management on its own, the enormous efficiency gain becomes immediately apparent.

Those who do not seize these opportunities will fall behind. For Dr. Michael Burkart, it is clear that Legartis AI gives us a significant efficiency advantage. When the business can review construction contracts themselves and we no longer have to manually go through 74 clauses, that is a decisive step into the future.

How well does AI fit into Implenia's digitalization strategy?

German Grüniger: AI fits excellently into our strategy, especially in project risk management. Every project brings technical, financial, and legal risks. AI helps us better understand these risks and learn from past mistakes. For the future development of Implenia Legal, the use of AI is of critical importance, and our team is very open and interested in it.

We are already exploring further use cases. This morning, I spoke with Dr. Michael Burkart about how we can use AI in a major legal case to create summaries and risk assessments. I am firmly convinced that AI will support us enormously in the future. When you look at the rapid development of technologies like ChatGPT, you can see the immense potential.

Where do you see the expansion potential for contracts?

German Grüniger: Beyond construction, subcontractor, and warranty contracts, we have many other types: employment, insurance, IT contracts, and more. A major issue is often the overview of all contracts. I envision that with the help of tools, we can manage all contracts across the company. Which contracts do we have, what jurisdiction clauses, what risks? This is often tedious to compile today. I see great efficiency potential here.

Dr. Michael Burkart: I fully support that. We are on the same path. Applying the solution to other contract types and designing the usability so that the business can use it is important. It should be a win-win situation, so they reach their goals faster and the legal department is only involved when there are deviations. That is another development we are planning.

Where will we be in one year, in two years?

German Grüniger: In two years, my legal department might not only consist of lawyers, but of AI users who perform the work just as well. The business will be able to handle contract management on its own. We will spend less time on repetitive, monotonous tasks and can focus on the important things that drive the company forward. Technologically, an extraordinary amount will be possible in two years.

Dr. Michael Burkart: I support German's points. The Legal Counsel will not be replaced, but empowered. They must use the available solutions to be faster and more efficient. AI solutions will become the standard in the legal sector. This way, we can deploy our resources efficiently and operate where we can increase the company's value — not in repetitive work like contract review, but in analysis and strategic advisory. I believe this will change drastically in the near future.

Thank you for the conversation!