Exari Media Release
28 March 2001
Next Generation Software for 21st Century Lawyers
[Exari] today announced a product that lets lawyers do more work, in less time, without cutting corners. It's a next generation tool for a new generation of lawyers - designed to speed up and improve document drafting through automation and knowledge sharing. Less time drafting means more time solving problems, which is good news for lawyers and their clients.
Announcing the product, [Exari] CEO Jamie Wodetzki explained the problem: "Lawyers spend lots of time drafting documents - it's their core business. But these days, with so much urgent work, they end up working very long hours, doing some pretty repetitive things. It's not much fun."
"We decided there had to be a smarter way to work, so we set out to create a next generation drafting tool for the lawyer's desktop."
"As good as they are, word processed documents only capture half of what a good lawyer knows about any type of deal. Junior lawyers often waste valuable time looking for the right template or precedent, and hunting down the person with the right know-how for solving a particular problem."
[Exari]'s SmartPrecedent Technology allows lawyers to capture and share a new dimension in legal and industry knowledge. The right questions to ask, standard industry approaches, drafting hints, cases, legislation and commentary can all be built into a SmartPrecedent. A highly customized first draft is then created simply by answering questions in a standard web browser.
[Exari]'s Chairman, Peter Choy, was Deputy General Counsel with technology giant Sun Microsystems in Silicon Valley until his retirement early last year. Speaking in Melbourne at the product launch he said: "A career in the front lines of Silicon Valley is a tough act to follow. But when [Exari] asked me to join the company as Chairman it was too good to resist."
"This is a first class team, with world leading technology and they are solving a real problem for law firms. It's also a committed open systems company, which is something I strongly support."
Jason Harrop, [Exari] founder and CTO, is the technical visionary behind the company's new software. With a rare mix of legal and technical skills, Mr Harrop has shaped the development of the breakthrough product using XML and other web standards: "By using XML, we are offering law firms a safe foundation for their knowledge investment. It's an open standard with widespread industry backing, and it is the ideal format for rich knowledge capture."
"We have always been very focused on solving a specific problem, and solving it well. I think that is one of the secrets to start-up success" said Mr Wodetzki. "It also helps that some of the biggest law firms in the world are knocking on our door."
Legal and business publisher CCH made a strategic investment in [Exari] in January. "We think [Exari]'s technology is an excellent platform for many new online products and services. It's a perfect example of how CCH is integrating content and applications to offer better solutions to our customers" said Willem van Zanten, CCH's Regional Director.
