Global firm scales secure, embedded intelligence inside its document management system, moving beyond pilots to enterprise AI execution

Salt Lake City, UT – March 24, 2026 – NetDocuments today announced that Am Law 100 firm Akin has expanded its embedded AI deployment firmwide, transforming how more than 900 lawyers interact with over 65 million documents across its global practice.

The firmwide initiative reflects a broader shift underway across the legal industry: moving from isolated AI experimentation to operational, embedded intelligence inside core systems — where AI is applied directly to client matter content, precedent, know-how, and institutional IP.

Future-focused and dedicated to excellence, Akin is an elite law firm that helps clients anticipate what is next and navigate a path to success. That mindset shaped the firm’s AI strategy from the outset.

For Akin, the move was not about layering another tool onto its technology stack. It was about extending the secure foundation it has relied on for more than a decade.

AI Applied Intentionally and Responsibly

As generative AI capabilities have accelerated across the legal industry, Akin made a deliberate choice: bring AI to its documents — not move documents to AI.

“Our documents are the firm’s institutional knowledge,” said Jeff Westcott, Director of Innovation & AI at Akin. “Embedding AI directly into that environment allows us to enhance how our lawyers work without having to move data outside of our secure ecosystem.”

By embedding NetDocuments AI capabilities directly within its system of record, Akin preserved governance, auditability, and client confidentiality while unlocking new efficiencies across its global practices.

NetDocuments recently released Smart Answers, in particular, has generated strong interest across the firm. In nearly every training session, lawyers have identified search as the primary use case, and there is excitement about moving from traditional keyword queries to semantic, concept-driven discovery. The ability to surface relevant precedent, work product, and matter intelligence more intuitively is helping Akin embed AI into the core utilization of its client content.

The Prompt Generator has also created strong momentum internally, giving lawyers a practical way to refine and optimize how they interact with AI tools and accelerating confidence, consistency, and day-to-day usability.

From Strategy to Execution: Operationalizing AI Through Collaboration and Change Management

Akin formed cross-functional working groups spanning IT, Innovation, Knowledge Management, and more than 100 pilot users embedded within practice groups. Following initial validation, Akin executed a global rollout in partnership with NetDocuments Professional Services that included in-person and virtual training sessions across New York, Dallas, Washington, and Houston, reaching hundreds of lawyers.

Working closely with the NetDocuments team, Akin co-designed tailored, legal-specific live training sessions that met the needs of both advanced AI users and early-stage adopters. These sessions created space for instruction and dialogue, encouraging conversation and exploration about practical uses, expectations, and responsible deployment across every level of the lawyer base.

Early impact has been felt across practices:

• An Energy partner saving up to 4 hours when processing 400-500-page reports
• Litigation teams creating client briefings for newly filed matters within hours
• Knowledge counsel automatically completing complex document comparisons, term extractions, and summarizations

Rather than replacing legal expertise, the embedded NetDocuments AI tools reduce friction, which is giving lawyers more time to focus on strategy, judgment, and client outcomes.

Activating 65+ Million Documents

Beyond summarization and document review, Akin is deploying AI auto-profiling to populate more than 40 metadata fields across docketing files, significantly improving searchability and structured knowledge reuse.

By enriching metadata at scale, the firm is evolving its document management system into a structured intelligence platform — enabling concept-driven discovery and more consistent classification across matters.

For a firm operating at Akin’s scale, unlocking insight across 65+ million documents represents a foundational shift in how institutional knowledge is surfaced and applied.

AI in Service of Client Excellence

“Our clients come to Akin for judgment, experience, and quality,” said Westcott. “Embedding AI into our secure document environment allows us to deliver insight faster while maintaining the trust and governance our clients expect.”

As AI adoption accelerates across the legal sector, firms are increasingly recognizing that sustainable innovation depends on embedding intelligence directly into governed systems of record.

Akin’s deployment demonstrates how global firms can move beyond experimentation and operationalize AI responsibly; scaling capabilities across practices and geographies without compromising security or professional standards.

For more information, visit netdocuments.com.

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About NetDocuments

NetDocuments helps legal professionals do their best work with an intelligent document management system (DMS) that goes beyond getting organized and brings to life seamless AI, powerful workflows, and smarter experiences. The #1 trusted cloud-native DMS for 25+ years, NetDocuments delivers tools to make work easier throughout the document lifecycle — from award-winning automation and AI to email management, search, collaboration, document bundling, advanced security, and more.

Supporting more than 7,000 law firms, corporate legal departments, and public sector organizations worldwide, the platform integrates with 150+ other technologies, including Microsoft 365 and DocuSign, making it a core solution that meets users wherever they work. To learn more, visit netdocuments.com.

Media Contact:

Alex Crawshaw
Spark Communications
netdocuments@sparkcomms.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7436 0420

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