MTS, one of Russia’s top four mobile telecom operators, launched sales of its “virtual lawyer” system, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported. Based on an advanced artificial intelligence technology, the Norma has been designed to help corporate lawyers reduce the time they typically spend on routine operations, and automate documents turnover and agreements lifecycle control.

The mobile operator began using the system last year; now the firm wants to sell it. The cost and economic efficiency of the Norma have yet to be disclosed.

It’s MTS’ AI Center that developed the Norma. Since 2018 the “virtual lawyer” has been learning how to process internal MTS docs, including the preparation of claims, disclaimers and lawsuits, the computing of fines under terms of specific agreements, and the entry of data into MTS’ ERP systems. As it was learning, the system would highlight the spots in a document which it “believed” it might misinterpret, for a human lawyer to verify and endorse.

MTS claims its Norma can currently cope with 90+% of legal docs all on its own. The system is also reported to be able to automatically identify contracts that near expiration, generating notifications to be sent out to the stakeholders.