About Implenia

Implenia is Europe's leading construction company with branches in over 20 countries and around 5,000 ongoing projects. Its legal team, comprising approximately 40 lawyers, faces a classic challenge of growing organizations: contract volume increases while capacity remains constant. Repetitive contract reviews tie up resources that are then unavailable for strategically valuable tasks.

Since 2023, Implenia has relied on Legartis as its agentic Legal AI. What began as targeted co-development for construction-specific contract clauses has evolved into a key component of the Group's digitalization strategy.

Starting Situation: A growing portfolio. Same resources.

Implenia reviews hundreds of construction, subcontractor, and warranty contracts annually, in multiple languages, across various divisions and markets. Each review was conducted manually: clause by clause, with handwritten annotations, followed by rounds of coordination with operations.

"Many repetitive tasks, such as contract review, are still done manually and are not very motivating for our team. I need to clearly demonstrate to senior management how we are using our budget in the legal department."

— German Grüniger, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Implenia

The key challenges

• Repetitive, manual contract reviews tie up legal resources
• Lack of standardization across divisions, markets, and contract types
• The operational business relies on the legal department as a bottleneck
• No comprehensive overview of the entire contract portfolio

Solution: Co-development instead of a standard solution

Implenia and Legartis jointly developed a construction-specific AI module based on the particular requirements of the construction sector. Over a period of four to six months, Implenia provided contracts as a training basis; the global heads of the individual divisions were involved in the process from the outset.

Today, the operational team largely reviews construction contracts independently with Legartis. The legal department is only consulted in cases of discrepancies and critical clauses.

Construction-specific clauses

Implenia and Legartis jointly developed requirements directly tailored to the contractual realities of the construction industry.

Scaling into business

The operational department handles the initial audit independently. The legal department focuses on the essentials.

Complete standardization

Every contract is reviewed according to the same rules, regardless of division or market.

Results: Efficiency you can feel.

The efficiency gains are evident where they matter most: in day-to-day operations. Review cycles that used to take hours are now completed in minutes. The business operates autonomously. The legal team focuses on issues where legal expertise truly makes a difference.

"When you see how quickly this process now unfolds and that the business can largely handle contract management itself, the enormous efficiency gains become immediately apparent. Those who fail to take advantage of these opportunities will fall behind."

— German Grüniger, General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Implenia

What exactly has changed?

• Contract review is conducted without manual clause-by-clause analysis
• The operational department reviews contracts independently; legal is only involved in cases of discrepancies
• Group-wide standardization: all divisions review according to the same rules
• The legal department gains capacity for strategic analysis and consulting
• Contractual knowledge is systematically documented and remains within the company

"The legal counsel is not replaced, but empowered. They must utilize the available solutions to be faster and more efficient. AI solutions are becoming standard in the legal field."

— Dr. Michael Burkart, Global Head Legal Operations & Strategy, Implenia

Outlook: The next step — a complete portfolio overview

Implenia is already thinking beyond construction and subcontractor agreements. Employment, insurance, and IT contracts are the next candidates. The long-term goal is a complete overview of all the Group's contractual relationships: jurisdiction clauses, contract durations, risks — all at a glance.

According to German Grüniger, the legal department of the future will not only consist of lawyers, but of people who can use AI as a tool and thus work on a different level.