iManage to launch governed AI legal platform in October

iManage has announced the general availability of its next-generation platform in October, following an early access programme with law firms, corporate legal departments and financial institutions.

The platform centres on what iManage calls the Context Fabric, which brings together documents, communications, parties and relationships linked to a matter or project. It also pulls in context from practice management and financial systems, with access governed by existing permissions and information barriers.

iManage is launching the product as legal and professional services organisations try to move beyond limited AI pilots and embed the technology into daily work without losing control of client data and internal records. For firms handling sensitive documents, that issue has become central to technology buying decisions as lawyers and advisers seek tools that can search, analyse and draft using trusted internal information rather than public or isolated data sets.

The platform is designed so AI-generated answers are grounded in an organisation's own knowledge and can be traced back to it. Information is not exported, and AI models only see what a user or software agent is permitted to access.

That approach reflects a broader shift in the legal technology market. Suppliers are increasingly trying to show that AI products can operate within the same governance structures that already control documents, audit trails and ethical walls, rather than sitting outside them.

Neil Araujo, Chief Executive Officer of iManage, described the company's view of that shift. "Every business is going through a transformation enabled by AI. It's reshaping how they manage their data, the tools people use, and how they operate," he said.

He added: "The organisations getting it right know AI has to reinforce their unique differentiation - while enabling safe and governed use, grounding it in rich context, optimising token costs, and driving pervasive usage across the business. This is the foundation that we have built and will be available in October."

Connected tools

A key element of the product is an open connection layer intended to link an organisation's governed knowledge to third-party AI applications. Its MCP Server connects compatible AI systems to documents and context held in the platform while respecting permissions, information barriers and audit controls already configured by customers.

The next-generation version expands that server to support agentic actions, including creating workspaces and folders, filing documents, moving them and linking them. In practice, that means AI-generated output can be written back into the same governed record as other matter or project material, carrying the same permissions, audit trail and lifecycle controls.

The platform can connect to tools chosen by customers, including Microsoft Copilot, Harvey, Legora, Thomson Reuters, Spellbook, ChatGPT Enterprise and Claude. That interoperability matters in a market where many legal teams now use a mix of specialist and general-purpose AI tools rather than relying on a single supplier.

Use cases

AI features now run throughout the platform and extend beyond chat-based assistance. iManage described a context-aware assistant that can answer questions across a matter's documents, build chronologies, analyse documents against internal playbooks, conduct tabular review across large sets of documents, and file the resulting work product back into the system.

For legal practices, those functions map to routine but labour-intensive tasks that often determine whether AI delivers measurable productivity gains. Reviewing drafts against negotiated precedents, checking new evidence against pleadings and prior analysis, and surfacing earlier advice on similar issues all depend on finding the right internal context quickly.

Feedback from the early access programme showed those patterns across different customer groups. Deal teams used the system to compare current drafts with negotiated precedents and playbooks, while litigation teams assessed how new evidence or expert reports aligned with existing case materials. Advisory teams drew on prior advice and work product on similar issues before giving counsel to clients.

The broader commercial case is that institutional knowledge becomes more useful if AI can reach it safely and consistently. Rather than requiring professionals to search multiple repositories manually, the system is intended to present connected information within the flow of work while preserving established controls over who can see what.

Market position

iManage has long focused on document and email management for legal and professional services organisations, and its latest product push suggests it sees governance as its strongest point of difference in the AI market. Rivals and partners are also racing to tie generative AI to trusted work product, but legal buyers have tended to demand clear answers on access controls, auditability and data residency before broad roll-outs.

Some features tied to the platform are already available, including playbook-based review, tabular review and MCP read-and-write actions. General availability of the next-generation platform itself is set for October.

iManage said it is relied on by more than one million professionals at more than 4,500 organisations worldwide.