AT&T Expands LegalEdge Work With OpenAI

AT&T is working with OpenAI to expand its LegalEdge initiative, connecting expertise accumulated across the company to the work handled by its in-house legal department, which has hundreds of lawyers and legal professionals around the world. David McAtee, AT&T’s senior executive vice president and general counsel, says the partnership will build infrastructure for a company-wide knowledge layer that staff can draw on. LegalEdge brings together attorneys, legal professionals, technologists and project managers to apply AI to major legal matters.

One planned initiative is a natural-language intake system for requests arriving from across AT&T’s business. Bill Ryan, the company’s chief compliance officer, says the system would classify and prioritize requests, connect them with relevant precedent, research and past work, then give the responsible legal professional historical context and recommended first steps. Legal teams need to understand each issue, gather context and decide what needs attention while responding quickly and avoiding overlooked risks.

The system is intended to give lawyers a more informed starting point and reduce time spent gathering material to assess a matter. Ryan says the opportunity is to extend the department’s legal judgment to more business needs. McAtee says decision-making will remain with lawyers; the partnership aims to put better information within their reach so they can spend more time applying their expertise.

AT&T is working with OpenAI to expand its LegalEdge initiative, connecting expertise accumulated across the company to the work handled by its in-house legal department, which has hundreds of lawyers and legal professionals around the world. David McAtee, AT&T’s senior executive vice president and general counsel, says the partnership will build infrastructure for a company-wide knowledge layer that staff can draw on. LegalEdge brings together attorneys, legal professionals, technologists and project managers to apply AI to major legal matters.

One planned initiative is a natural-language intake system for requests arriving from across AT&T’s business. Bill Ryan, the company’s chief compliance officer, says the system would classify and prioritize requests, connect them with relevant precedent, research and past work, then give the responsible legal professional historical context and recommended first steps. Legal teams need to understand each issue, gather context and decide what needs attention while responding quickly and avoiding overlooked risks.

The system is intended to give lawyers a more informed starting point and reduce time spent gathering material to assess a matter. Ryan says the opportunity is to extend the department’s legal judgment to more business needs. McAtee says decision-making will remain with lawyers; the partnership aims to put better information within their reach so they can spend more time applying their expertise.