Named after one of the brothers who co-founded the firm in 1896, and powered by Open AI’s GPT 4, the advanced AI tool operates solely within Simmons’ internal environment, exclusively used by the firm’s employees.
With the development of Percy, lawyers and other employees at Simmons will have access to a unique tool with the unrivalled power of the GPT 4 large language model (LLM) – modified to align with the work of the firm, with added safety and security.
Following its launch, staff will be trained in how to use the tool to better support their client and internally facing work – with the goal of developing a strong culture of AI literacy across the firm.
Percy will assist Simmons employees with generating comprehensive responses, summarising texts, and the drafting of documents. The firm anticipates that in time, the AI tool will significantly enhance employees’ daily work – freeing them up to focus on more complex tasks, bringing greater efficiencies to the firm, and providing added value to clients.
Secured within Simmons’ own system, Percy is configured with stringent safeguards to ensure third parties are unable to access any information, that no large language models are trained with any of the information passing through the system, and that the firm has confidence in its ability to preserve client confidentiality.
Percy is a central part of the firm’s strategy to set the standards of technology and innovation in the legal industry and become a Next Generation Law Firm. It is also one of several advanced generative AI tools currently being developed by the firm.
Commenting on the launch, Alex Brown, head of the firm's Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) sector said, “Simmons has a strong history of embracing new technology to improve our client offering. The development of Percy is a critical step for the firm that will enable us to take our commitment to innovation to the next level. Meticulously designed, secure and tailored for our work, our internal generative AI tool will support employees, streamline our internal operations and enhance our level of client service.”
Drew Winlaw, partner and Global Large Language Model (LLM) Lead, commented: “Percy is both a tool with utility for our people, as well as an educational tool to raise awareness about the workings of generative AI technologies. This understanding is necessary for us to plan our future as a Next Generation Law Firm.”
