Automating legal grunt work: How Allen & Gledhill cuts citation errors, speeds up analysis with secure Gen AI
Developed through IMDA’s GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative, the law firm’s customised tool can summarise 100-page documents and produce first drafts in minutes, helping its lawyers address clients’ needs faster
SEVEN in 10 legal professionals in Singapore and Malaysia believe firms that do not adopt generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) risk falling behind. Over two-thirds already use its tools in their work.
These sentiments were captured in a 2025 LexisNexis survey, which also found that over half now face client pressure to work faster and smarter using Gen AI.
With these demands in mind, Allen & Gledhill (A&G) – one of Singapore’s largest law firms – custom-built a Gen AI-enabled knowledge management system called A&GEL (pronounced “Angel”).
The system automates tedious manual work that has plagued the profession for decades, such as lengthy document reviews and drafting case summaries. As a result, lawyers now have more time to counsel clients and prepare for hearings.
Tham Kok Leong, partner and head of A&G’s technology and corporate intellectual property practice, explains: “A core guiding principle we adopted at the start of the project was encapsulated by the phrase ‘Always let subject matter experts be subject matter experts’.
“The AI solution was designed to enhance lawyers’ skills, expertise and experience, not replace them.”
That is why A&G opened the pilot to everyone in the company – from paralegals and junior lawyers to directors – across various practice groups, such as banking, corporate real estate, maritime and aviation.
The firm wanted real-world feedback from those handling the work every day, so the system could learn from domain nuances and fit naturally into workflows. A&G’s technology lawyers also chipped in by coaching colleagues on Gen AI techniques to accelerate adoption.
The payoff was clear. Lawyers who once spent hours sifting through over 100 pages of documents now use A&GEL to draw up summaries with accurate citations within minutes, and quickly flag non-compliant clauses against statutes and prior cases.
“With A&GEL supporting them, our lawyers can focus on providing more effective solutions to legal issues and cutting-edge legal advice for today’s demanding and complex business environments,” says Tham.
Tackling Gen AI’s two biggest weaknesses
To realise these benefits, A&G had to first address two major concerns regarding Gen AI for it to work in the legal field: data confidentiality and accuracy.
Client documents must be handled under strict controls, so using public large language models (LLMs) via a cloud service was not an option. Accuracy was just as critical – without control over the underlying LLM, firms risk “hallucinations”, where Gen AI generates answers that look plausible but are wrong.
With these considerations, the firm joined the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative in 2024, and gained access to the right expertise and resources to overcome these issues. With IMDA’s support, A&G was introduced to several suitable and credible vendors, before deciding to work with Pand.AI.
Both companies began prototyping an on-premise Gen AI system, which ran on A&G’s own servers built with stringent access controls and data encryption. This ensured that client data was not exposed to the public cloud.
To minimise hallucinations, both firms experimented with multiple large language models, including Meta’s Llama, Microsoft’s Phi-4, DeepSeek’s R1 and Alibaba’s Qwen 3.
The choice of AI model, however, was only part of improving A&GEL’s accuracy.
Explains Tham: “We discovered that to make Gen AI truly effective in a professional setting, the key is not the raw power of the model, but having a deliberate process built around it and clear ideas as to what we want to optimise it for.”
To further reduce ambiguity and errors, the team analysed more than 100 use cases and focused A&GEL on the most impactful ones. Then, they structured the way the system responds.
For example, when drafting a legal contract, A&GEL uses a fixed template (containing clauses, headings and jurisdiction) and references key contexts (client policies, governing law and risk thresholds). It then fills in relevant data for a lawyer to review and approve.
“A&GEL allows our lawyers to confidently leverage AI as a powerful accelerant for tasks ranging from drafting to analysis, because the process is crafted to ensure that they can easily direct and validate the output, maintaining ultimate control,” says Tham.
The firm is continuing to develop and customise new AI solutions for more legal use cases, and incorporate AI as an integral part of their toolkit, driving smarter decision-making across the board.
Shares Jerry Koh, A&G’s managing partner: “Lawyers who embrace AI would have a competitive edge over those who don’t. We see AI adoption in A&G as a crucial step forward to better serve our clients and future-proof our growth in the years ahead.”
For teams who are thinking of embarking on a similar journey, Koh adds: “Take small steps and experiment with a small number of use cases so you can gain confidence for wider digital adoption. Most importantly, enjoy the learning experience.”
Turning experimentation into impact with IMDA
Allen & Gledhill (A&G) embarked on their digital transformation journey when the pandemic struck in 2020, forcing everyone to work from home.
Explains Tham Kok Leong, head of A&G’s technology and corporate intellectual property practice: “Covid-19 made digitalisation a non-negotiable, but two years later, the ground shifted under our feet with ChatGPT’s arrival.
“It was clear to us that lawyers who prepared for and embraced artificial intelligence (AI) would almost definitely have a competitive edge over those who didn’t.”
In 2024, the firm joined IMDA’s GenAI x Digital Leaders initiative, the same year the initiative was introduced. It is designed to help digitally mature enterprises outside of the ICT (info comm tech) industry build customised generative AI (Gen AI) solutions with technology partners. A&G worked with Pand.AI to build its customised Gen AI solution, A&GEL.
The initiative provides participants with access to the right expertise and resources from tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. It helps leadership teams understand Gen AI’s potential, supports them in scoping high-impact projects with the right guardrails, and eventually builds internal competencies to maintain and scale these projects within their enterprise.
The goal is to help them enter new markets, develop new products and strengthen in-house AI capabilities. To date, the programme has benefitted over 200 enterprises.
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