McDermott Will & Emery (McDermott), one of the world’s leading law firms, has long been at the forefront of helping clients comply with financial regulatory regulations. As the January 2025 deadline for complying with the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) approaches, the firm has turned to BRYTER’s AI software to help its financial services clients comply with these new requirements.
McDermott has partnered with BRYTER for over five years to integrate legal technology into the way they work. When BRYTER launched BRYTER Extract, the firm immediately recognized the potential for BRYTER’s AI to streamline the intensive contract review process required in financial regulatory compliance.
Renate Prinz, Partner, Corporate & Financial Regulatory Law, explains:
Why use AI for DORA compliance?
DORA’s requirements are complex and far-reaching, touching everything from the need to have clauses on data hosting to incident reporting processes. EU-regulated financial services (FS) firms have until 17 January 2025 to comply. This means that by that deadline they need to review every contract that is in scope against the DORA requirements and amend the contacts if required.
In practice, this means the same types of contracts with Information and Communications Technology vendors will need to be reviewed over, and over again, checking for the same types of clauses. This repetitive, and uniform process is perfectly suited for automation.
Renate Prinz, explains:
“DORA is a great use case for legal AI: its application is uniform and it is perfect for AI to handle efficiently.”
Why now?
The urgency around DORA compliance cannot be overstated. With the deadline approaching, FS firms must assess and update thousands of contracts to meet the new requirements.
Renate emphasizes the growing pressure:
“Firms have had two years to comply with DORA, but as with any deadline and real life, you wait until the deadline is approaching before you act. For many clients, this means there is now an enormous amount of work to do in a short period of time.”
BRYTER Extract gives McDermott the tools to deliver results at a much faster pace than was previously possible with more traditional contract review tools, ensuring their clients meet the deadline and avoid unnecessary risks.
Why McDermott chose BRYTER Extract
McDermott did not need a general legal AI tool, but one that was built specifically for contract review and due diligence. McDermott chose BRYTER Extract because it met the following core requirements.
1. Speed and ease of use
Historically, AI contract review software was out of reach for many use cases. The huge upfront cost and time needed to train the AI meant that AI contract review could only ever be used in a handful of due diligence use cases.
The new generation of legal AI software changes everything. Software like BRYTER Extract makes it faster, easier and cheaper for legal teams to use AI to review and analyze contracts, like the ones McDermott needs to review in the context of DORA.
“Within hours of identifying the need for an AI solution, BRYTER Extract was live and ready to use for reviewing contracts. We spoke with Lukas, our Customer Success Manager, in the afternoon, and by the evening of that same day, the first version of our DORA AI contract review tool was ready to be used.” Philip Uecker, Associate, Data Privacy and Legal Tech, McDermott Will and Emery shares.
2. Bundling capabilities
Traditional AI contract software was great on single document sets: the AI could read Contract A and understand it, and then read Contract B.
But what if Contract A is not just one contract, but instead a contract which has been amended 25 times over 25 years with 25 amendment agreements?
McDermott needed a tool that could understand these relationships holistically. BRYTER Extract’s Contract Bundle feature delivers exactly that.
Renate Prinz cites the example of analyzing and remediating outsourcing agreements for the upcoming EU DORA regulation.
“Outsourcing agreements often have long-term servicing contracts with numerous amendments and supplementary agreements. BRYTER’s bundling ensures we can review them holistically.”
Philip Uecker also notes the importance of bundling in other practice areas:
“BRYTER’s bundling feature allows related documents, like a lease agreement with multiple addendums, to be analyzed a cohesive whole, which is essential for the AI review software to produce accurate results.”
3. Built-in OCR technology
Handling historical contracts, including decades-old typewritten documents, is a regular part of McDermott’s work — just as it is for almost every law firm.
BRYTER Extract’s built-in OCR technology ensures that even low-quality scans are processed accurately.
“We’ve uploaded typewritten documents from decades ago, and even those were recognized correctly by BRYTER Extract’s OCR technology.” – Philip Uecker
4. Accuracy without hallucinations
Accuracy is essential for lawyers’ work. McDermott selected BRYTER Extract for its ability to provide accurate, reliable answers based solely on the documents uploaded.
“BRYTER explained to us that the system does not hallucinate. It always provides references for its answers, so we know exactly where the information is coming from. BRYTER Extract is accurate, reliable and efficient.” – Philip Uecker
Philip goes on to suggest that though many in Legal have understandable concerns of hallucinations, BRYTER never deviates from the documents uploaded to the system:
“In our experience, BRYTER Extract only bases its answers on the documents uploaded. We’ve understood from our practice sessions with BRYTER that there is no risk of hallucinations because it doesn’t generate answers outside the source material.”
This level of precision ensures that McDermott’s outputs are trusted by both their lawyers and their clients.
5. Scalable solutions
Whether it’s five contracts or five thousand, BRYTER Extract handles contract reviews effortlessly, helping McDermott deliver on tight deadlines without compromising on the quality of delivery.
Philip points out:
“We’ve tested BRYTER with other use cases as well, and it works seamlessly.”
Looking ahead
While DORA compliance is the immediate focus, McDermott is looking ahead to how BRYTER Extract can continue to drive value.
Renate shares the firm’s ongoing commitment:
“DORA is not just about meeting the January deadline. It requires ongoing compliance checks, updates to incident reporting frameworks, and regular reviews of service providers. That’s where tools like BRYTER Extract are invaluable.”
With BRYTER Extract integrated into McDermott’s client portal, clients can upload contracts, track compliance, and get faster insights — all backed by McDermott’s legal expertise.
Philip sums it up:
“AI software like BRYTER Extract doesn’t just save time. It enables us to provide a better service to our clients, meeting their immediate needs while preparing for the future.”
For more information on using AI for DORA contract review, watch McDermott’s DORA Deadline webinar recording, or check out their DORA Check tool.