Linklaters rolls out Microsoft 365’s Copilot globally

Linklaters has rolled out Microsoft 365’s Copilot globally following the success of firm’s participation in their Early Access Programme. This is the latest development in Linklaters’ Generative AI (genAI) strategy, with the adoption of Copilot complementing the firm’s existing bench of technology and genAI tools.

Linklaters has been part of Microsoft’s Early Access Programme since August 2023. Initially, 300 people across different practice areas and business teams took part in the pilot, growing to over 700 people earlier this year. A cross functional and global pilot ensured we explored the widest number of use cases as well as captured comprehensive feedback ahead of the firmwide rollout. The feedback identified its strength in summarising, simple document creation and minuting meetings but underlined that hallucination still happens when prompts are insufficiently detailed.

Microsoft’s Copilot will slot into Linklaters comprehensive technology stack which includes a variety of tools including, Laila, Linklaters’ self-built chatbot and Google’s Cloud Vertex AI platform for search. To ensure our people know how to use these tools effectively and responsibly, Linklaters rolled out mandatory training in April 2024 providing foundational training for all its staff. The digital training was created in-house by the firm’s learning and development team, collating existing practice-group based training and knowledge but adapting to a digital platform for speed and scale. The team have also created bespoke training for Copilot ensuring our people can make the best use of this new product immediately.

Bruna Pellicci, Chief Information Officer at Linklaters:

“The firm has long enjoyed its relationship with Microsoft, and it has been great to work with them on the rollout of Copilot. We have an ambition to ensure our people are using and embracing this exciting new technology.

By taking time to test and review different tools available we have built up a technology stack which offers bespoke tools to our teams and can cater to their needs depending on the practice and geography they are in. It has been great to see the enthusiasm that has come out of the training. It has given people confidence to use the tools available effectively and responsibly – we now have over 5,900 people using Laila.”

Tom Checkiewicz, Head of GenAI Technology at Linklaters:

“Copilot significantly boosts productivity and effectiveness in day-to-day use of MS Office products, as evidenced by positive feedback from our early access program. Ensuring the strategic use of Copilot was crucial for us, seamlessly aligning it with our firm-wide AI strategy. Our goal is to empower Linklaters with a balanced integration of AI-powered business tools and highly customized, task-optimized generative AI services.”