Handelsblatt special publication Digital Law 2026

AI handles routine tasks. People make decisions. It sounds simple — but it is not.

In the legal sector especially, the question is how people and machines genuinely work together in day-to-day client matters: who bears responsibility? Who reviews, who decides, who is liable?

The Handelsblatt special publication Digital Law 2026 brings together the most important perspectives on tomorrow’s legal market: from AI in law firms and the Data Act to the future of the legal profession. These are subjects we deal with every day. We are delighted to be part of this publication with an interview with our Management Board members Dr. Georg Berger and Nils Oberschelp on “Managed services between people and AI”.

You can find the complete issue here.

For anyone wishing to start reading straight away, here is our contribution to Digital Law 2026:

Dr. Georg Berger and Nils Oberschelp, the heads of the rapidly growing managed services provider Clarius Group, discuss the opportunities and limits of artificial intelligence, the interaction between technology and advice — and why their services appeal to companies of every size

Dr. Berger, Mr Oberschelp, you offer Legal and Financial Services. How much is AI changing this business model?

Dr. Georg Berger: We help companies make their legal, compliance and finance processes more efficient — as a managed services provider with our own technology platform. That context is important, because AI can automate many things today, but software does not accept responsibility for its results. In our fields — Legal, Compliance and Financial Operations — someone has to stand behind the accuracy of a result. We therefore combine AI-supported technology with expert knowledge appropriate to each case. Where the client requests it, we assume full responsibility for the outcome, including professional liability as lawyers. The client determines the balance between maximum efficiency and maximum protection.

Nils Oberschelp: Standard legal advisory matters can be automated. We have seen this for some time, and it will increase considerably. We are witnessing the industrialisation of law, something lawyers do not much like to hear. But that is precisely why a model combining both elements is needed.

Dr. Georg Berger: High-tech with high-brain — that is the formula for the future of advisory services in Legal and Finance. Today, clients naturally expect good AI-supported software, along with genuine process integration and what is known as a “human in the loop”.

What exactly does Clarius Group do?

Nils Oberschelp: We support companies in outsourcing and optimising their support functions in two major areas: Legal and Compliance on the one hand, and Financial Operations on the other. In finance, for example, we take over complete receivables management, credit risk assessments or claims management. We provide the entire Finance Operations function for a major international group. Today, that is one of our largest business areas. This makes us just as relevant to heads of legal departments as to chief financial officers.

Dr. Georg Berger: As a technology-driven managed services provider, our speciality is exactly what we discussed at the outset: closely combining technology — our proprietary, AI-driven software solution — with personal advice. Clients determine the scope of the services, whether individual tasks or the complete takeover of entire departments, such as finance and accounting.

Nils Oberschelp: We are one of the few independent managed services providers in Germany to offer Legal, Compliance and Financial Operations from a single source using our own technology. We currently have around 200 clients, and the number continues to grow.

Which services do companies typically request?

Dr. Georg Berger: Companies’ legal and compliance departments need extensive legal expertise to meet all regulations, evidence requirements and reporting duties correctly. That is not easy, particularly as changes and new developments occur frequently. There is strong demand here. Through our consultants, we offer expertise in all relevant areas of law, including commercial, employment, civil and contract law. We also provide the knowledge of compliance experts, TÜV-certified data protection officers and occupational safety specialists.

Nils Oberschelp: Examples of our work include the Cyber Resilience Act, implementation of NIS 2 and the General Data Protection Regulation. When clients engage us, we ensure that everything is handled correctly.

Legal and Finance Operations need both: people and AI.

For which companies does working with Clarius Group make sense?

Dr. Georg Berger: Size does not matter. We work for major international groups that entrust entire areas of responsibility to us, as well as medium-sized clients that value not incurring high costs afresh for every legal problem, because we offer them a fair and reliable pricing model. Above all, our technology makes us very fast.

Nils Oberschelp: Self-employed professionals go to our subsidiary janolaw. It offers fully automated, software-based solutions for standardised legal questions — cases in which individual advice or personal liability is not required. Thousands of small businesses in Germany rely on it.

You emphasise how important the connection between people and machines is. What does that look like in practice?

Dr. Georg Berger: Our software, the “Solutions Suite”, brings together the tasks we perform for a client in a single interface, providing transparency and control. We automate standard tasks as far as possible, but never leave anyone alone with the technology: our colleagues provide support and advice wherever individual solutions, complicated cases or demanding special tasks are involved. We see this combination as the future not only of legal advice, but essentially of all tasks in Legal and Financial Operations. Our ambition is to be one of the technology pioneers in this field in the German market.

Could this type of service eventually become fully automated?

Dr. Georg Berger: We already do that today, but only in areas where errors are acceptable, because a degree of tolerance for error is a basic prerequisite for fully automated solutions. By contrast, for the foreseeable future no client will accept pure AI solutions where legal requirements, data protection or compliance are concerned. Legal advice is bound by law to personal responsibility. AI cannot assume that liability. Our lawyers can. That is a structural advantage that cannot simply be digitised. The same applies to data protection and compliance rules.

Nils Oberschelp: That is why we use AI-supported software solutions but deliver far more than a tool. We work directly within our clients’ processes. Our teams are often integrated like an external department. This creates considerable mutual trust. The combination of Legal and Financial Services will play an even greater role in the market in future.

What does your pricing model look like?

Nils Oberschelp: What matters to clients is that their tasks are completed reliably. That is why we work with fixed fees and outcome-based pricing. In other words, we are paid for results, not for the number of users connected to the system on the client side.

Your Financial Services division is also growing particularly strongly. Why?

Nils Oberschelp: Because this is precisely where the combination of AI and human expertise is decisive. AI can perform many routine tasks, for example in claims management or credit scoring. But complex cases require experience and sometimes negotiating skill.

What role does the size of a managed services provider play?

Dr. Georg Berger: More clients mean more expertise and even better systems, which benefits both sides. We have shown that an independent managed services provider can succeed and grow strongly in the market. In the long term, we want to evolve from a technology-driven service provider into a platform infrastructure supported by our experts in Legal, Compliance and Finance. We are ready for the next steps. And we are convinced that the market is too.