By Rob Lawson, Head of Sales & Partnerships at Legal Futures Associate Qanooni [1]
The conversation around AI in law has shifted from curiosity to expectation. Firms know they need to explore how AI can help, yet too often the tools on offer fail to meet lawyers where they work. That is where adoption falters.
At Qanooni, our belief is simple: AI should work the way lawyers do, not the other way around.
Built from experience, not theory
Our co-founder, Karim Shiyab, spent more than 15 years in practice, experiencing first-hand the inefficiencies and long hours lawyers endure. That perspective shaped Qanooni from the start: rather than reinventing workflows, the platform integrates directly into them.
Lawyers already work in Microsoft Word and Outlook. Instead of asking them to learn another standalone system, Qanooni sits inside those environments. Implementation is quick and intuitive, with most lawyers up and running in minutes.
The results are measurable: lawyers save six to eight hours each week. Drafting time falls by up to 50 percent, and contract reviews are completed 2.5 times faster.
An assistant that adapts, not dictates
As Co-Founder Ziyaad Ahmed explains:
“Our integration with Office allows users to download Qanooni and get started quickly. They don’t have to leave their environment to use it. We spent months in discovery to ensure the platform feels like a natural assistant, not a new system to learn.”
That philosophy runs through every feature, each one designed to reflect the firm’s tone, standards, and risk appetite:
- Draft Builder produces first drafts in line with the firm’s tone, style, and playbook, never generic templates.
- Review Assistant measures documents against precedent, surfacing risks, omissions, and deviations from the firm’s standards.
- Amend Document applies firm drafting conventions to edits, bulk changes, and refinements across entire documents.
- QCounsel serves as a 360° research assistant, searching trusted legal databases and the firm’s internal knowledge base, then delivering cited, synthesised answers.
- Matter History Summaries condense correspondence into structured timelines and milestones, supporting collaboration while preserving accuracy.
- Agentic Litigation Workflow (coming soon) will generate fact chronologies, memos, and exhibits, automating litigation prep so lawyers can focus on advocacy and client outcomes.
Preserving the lawyer’s voice
For lawyers, trust is as much about identity as it is about accuracy. Co-Founder Anuscha Iqbal puts it plainly:
“No two law firms operate the same way. They have unique processes, styles of communication, and risk appetites. By allowing Qanooni to reflect each firm’s voice and internal playbook, we’re not just offering technology, we’re offering technology that feels familiar, trustworthy, and aligned with how they already work.”
Security and trust at the core
Confidentiality is non-negotiable. Qanooni was built with security as a foundation: ISO 27001 and SOC 2 certified, fully GDPR compliant, and never using client data to train its models.
For firms entrusted with sensitive client matters, technology must meet professional standards of confidentiality as rigorously as it delivers efficiency.
Momentum in the UK mid-market
Since launching in the UK on 1 May 2025, Qanooni has gained rapid traction. The platform is already in live pilots with national and top 100 firms, while resonating strongly with progressive mid-sized practices seeking efficiency without disruption. Paying customers are in place, and the pipeline includes dozens of firms at various stages of evaluation.
This mid-sized segment, ambitious, resource-conscious, and under increasing client pressure, is proving especially receptive to Qanooni’s lawyer-first design. With partnerships across managed service providers, case management vendors, and specialist consultancies, Qanooni is becoming the solution firms turn to for efficiency that fits within existing workflows and client demands.
A different kind of AI Adoption Story
Qanooni’s story did not begin in a Silicon Valley lab, but in the realities of legal practice. Born from a lawyer’s frustrations, refined by deep product expertise, and tested against the needs of modern firms, it represents a different vision of legal AI: practical, personal, and lawyer-first.
As AI reshapes the profession, firms do not just need more technology; they need technology they can rely on every day, within the environments and processes they already trust. That is the gap Qanooni is filling.
For us, the future of legal AI is not about replacing lawyers. It is about giving them time back, protecting their standards, and letting them focus on what really matters: their clients.
If you’d like to explore how Qanooni could support your firm, feel free to reach out to me directly at rob@qanooni.ai [2]