LMA.Automate (a subsidiary of the Loan Market Association) has just announced the launch of its document automation service, which it will make available to all 750+ LMA members across 65 jurisdictions in early 2021. The vendors involved are Allen & Overy and Avvoka.
LMA.Automate, set up as an entirely cloud-based service, will provide an end-to-end platform focusing on the automation of LMA template documents. According to the LMA’s announcement, it will cater to the entire document drafting lifecycle. It will be available via a subscription (SaaS) business model.
While initially set as a document automation service, LMA.Automate will, in time, also be an on-platform negotiation and execution tool.
Loan Market Association expects LMA.Automate to provide a scalable and secure environment that will significantly reduce the overhead of facilitating loan transactions. It seeks to automate repetitive tasks, recognize and eliminate non-compliant content, and allow for central updates of templates in line with any legislative changes (e.g., LIBOR transition).
While the platform will continuously expand its document coverage, the initial suite will include full automation of all LMA NDAs, real estate finance suite, and the investment-grade suite. Additionally, it will facilitate the incorporation of “commonly used drafting options” within the investment-grade suite, among other use cases.
LMA.Automate will be available to all LMA Members in early 2021 and include an initial free trial period.
Earlier this year, the LMA released survey results that showed a strong interest in document automation services. The CL News Team has reached out to the stakeholders about this venture and will update this article accordingly. Meanwhile, the participants are:-
Loan Market Association, founded in 1996, aims to facilitate liquidity, efficiency, and transparency in the primary and secondary syndicated loan markets. Its 750+ members include commercial and investment banks, institutional investors, law firms, service providers, and rating agencies from around 65 EMEA countries. LMA is mainly active in documentation, market practice and guidance, loan operations, education, and dialogue with legislators and regulators.
Allen & Overy is a global law firm that helps the world's leading businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive. It has built a reputation for bringing original solutions to clients' most complex legal and commercial challenges for almost a century. The firm has extensive knowledge of the up-front non-technical tasks involved in automating documents and the different legal tech available that deliver efficiencies throughout transactions' life cycle.
Avvoka is a market-leading, end-to-end document automation specialist used by law firms and in-house legal teams. Avvoka brings efficiency and transparency to the contracting process by allowing users to automate, negotiate, sign, and analyze their documents.
Ivan Rasic holds the Transnational Trade Law and Finance LLM, a program by Universidad de Deusto (Bilbao, ES), Universiteit van Tilburg (Tilburg, NL), and Goethe Universität (Frankfurt, DE). After his work in law firms and inhouse, he started a legal tech company.
Nowadays, Ivan leads STP Informationstechnologie GmbH's Sofia RnD center with project/development management, culture, strategy, and special project initiatives.
Ivan is an Ambassador at European Legal Tech Association (ELTA). He closely follows and writes on future of law, legal tech, ALSPs, and new ways of delivering legal services.
CL News Team closely follows events that could potentially shape legal services delivery, the business of law, and influence the transformation of the legal space.
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