There is no universal tool. The right choice depends on the need: legal research, document analysis, practice management or communication with the courts.
In Switzerland, you also need to take into account federal and cantonal law, professional secrecy and data protection.
To compare artificial-intelligence solutions more precisely, read our guide to legal AI alternatives.
Swiss law creates particular needs
The Swiss legal system combines federal law and rules specific to the cantons. A tool designed mainly for another country can miss certain important particularities.
Confidentiality matters just as much. Legal professionals work with sensitive information that cannot be sent to any service without checking the processing conditions.
The choice of a legaltech must therefore take into account both the quality of the sources, how the tool works and how the data is protected.
The main categories of legaltech
Legal research rests first on the sources
A legal research tool must make it possible to find a statute, a decision or a reliable piece of legal literature.
Artificial intelligence can make this research easier by allowing a question to be asked in natural language or by ranking the results according to their relevance.
It does not, however, remove the need for verification. The professional must be able to open the source cited and check that it actually matches the question asked.
Our comparison Swisslex or Silex presents the difference between a classic document database and an assistant that produces an answer from Swiss legal sources.
Analysing your own files requires more security
Querying a public legal database and analysing a client file are two different things.
When a tool works with contracts, internal notes or procedural documents, the confidentiality requirements become more important.
You need in particular to know where the documents are stored, who can access them and whether they are used to train the models.
With Silo, Silex makes it possible to analyse the organisation’s internal documents in a dedicated space and match them with the legal sources used in the research.
Our article on AI-assisted legal analysis presents this method in more detail.
Practice-management software meets another need
A legal AI does not replace practice-management software.
The management of files, deadlines, billing or exhibits rests mainly on structured processes.
AI can complement these tools, for example to prepare research or analyse a document, but it does not replace their main function.
The partnership between Silex and MCR Solutions illustrates this logic: AI legal research complements the management tools already in use.
Justitia and electronic signature are part of the infrastructure
The digitisation of Swiss justice does not rest on artificial intelligence alone.
Projects such as Justitia mainly concern electronic communication and the digital management of court files.
Electronic signature and secure transmission tools are part of the infrastructure needed for digital legal work.
These tools meet a different need from that of a research or analysis AI.
Data hosting
Where the data is processed is one of the important criteria when a firm works with confidential files.
The Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP) does not require all data to be hosted in Switzerland, but it does regulate its disclosure abroad.
Hosting in Switzerland can make it easier to manage certain sensitive data, but you also need to check access rights, processors and any use of the files to train the models.
The applicable framework is set out in our article on AI and data protection.
The criteria to check before choosing
- The data: where is it hosted and who can access it?
- Training: are the firm’s documents used to train the models?
- The sources: can every legal answer be checked?
- Integration: does the tool work with the software already in use?
- The applicable law: does the solution take the particularities of Swiss law into account?
These answers need to be sufficiently clear before the tool is used on real files.
Test the tool before rolling it out
A demonstration is not enough to know whether a legaltech really suits your organisation.
Start with a precise need, such as case-law research or contract analysis, then test the tool on a few cases that you already know.
Compare the results with your usual method. Check the sources cited, measure the time saved and note the errors encountered.
Teams also need to know in which situations they can use the tool and when human validation is necessary.
The most frequent errors
One of the main errors is to send a client file to a service without having checked its confidentiality terms.
Another is to buy an AI to solve a problem that in fact belongs to document management or practice-management software.
It is also necessary to avoid judging a solution solely on the apparent quality of its answers. A well-written answer is not necessarily legally correct.
Checking the sources and training users remain essential.
Who uses legaltech in Switzerland?
Uses vary according to the profession.
Lawyers use these tools in particular for research, case-law summaries or contract analysis. In-house lawyers can use them for regulatory monitoring, internal notes and the management of large volumes of contracts.
Notaries can use them to prepare certain files or extract information from complex documents. Law students use them mainly for research and learning.
For personal use, see our guide on legal AI for individuals.
Organisations outside law firms also use these tools. Bordier & Cie has for example adopted Silex for its legal research, while the partnership between Silex and EXPERTsuisse concerns in particular audit, tax and fiduciary professionals.
The solutions by practice present these various uses.
How Silex meets these criteria
Silex is designed for research and analysis in Swiss law.
With Silo, professionals can work on their internal documents in a dedicated space and match them with the legal sources used in the analysis.
According to Silex, data is hosted in Switzerland by Infomaniak and client files are not used to train the models.
The features are presented on the Silex product page and the protection measures on the security and professional secrecy page.
The Solo, Team and Enterprise plans are priced at CHF 149, CHF 490 and CHF 895 per month. Details appear on the Silex pricing page.
The integration of Silex into WinLex and SkyLex also makes it possible to use legal research from certain existing work environments.
In short
A good legaltech must meet a precise need rather than try to do everything.
For legal research, check above all the quality of the sources. For file analysis, add strong requirements on confidentiality and the use of data. For practice management and court communications, choose tools designed specifically for those functions.
Before rolling out a solution, test it on known cases, check the sources and verify the data-processing conditions.
To test Silex on a concrete case, you can book a demo.
