Integrated legal tech concept for supply chain compliance wins award

The German government estimates implementation costs for companies at EUR 109,000,000. CLARIUS.LEGAL wins the Best of Legal Compliance category with a legal tech platform that reduces costs.

Companies face an ever-increasing burden of statutory compliance, reporting and monitoring duties. As requirements rise, attention is consequently turning to legal tech solutions that combine legal expertise with technical efficiency. Legal tech therefore also received particular attention at this year’s Best of Legal Awards ceremony on 29 November 2022. The winner of the Compliance category, CLARIUS.LEGAL Rechtsanwaltsaktiengesellschaft, impressed the judges with an integrated advisory approach and a targeted legal tech solution for complying with the current German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG).

The recently adopted German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (LkSG) is another obstacle for companies seeking to remain compliant despite persistent workloads. “Legal and compliance departments currently face a serious problem: they certainly do not lack legal expertise, but they generally lack the capacity and interdisciplinary expertise bridging law and technology needed to manage the many new and existing compliance duties,” reports Dr Ernst Georg Berger, lawyer and CEO of CLARIUS.LEGAL. For the current Supply Chain Act, the German government estimates annual costs of around EUR 43.47 million and a one-off cost to the economy of around EUR 109.67 million (see Bundestag printed paper 19/28649). The next compliance duty, due by the following year at the latest, is a whistleblower protection regulation that effectively creates an obligation to introduce a whistleblowing tool. This is where CLARIUS.LEGAL comes in, offering a comprehensive solution for meeting the statutory obligations. Companies benefit from the combination of legal services and technical expertise.

The proprietary ComplyChain platform provides a precisely tailored tool for collecting data, automatically analysing it and using AI to monitor the data and update it from publicly available sources. “This use of artificial intelligence to monitor public information is a particularly important element and offers users enormous benefits beyond optimised data management,” says Berger. This is because the Supply Chain Act requires not only supplier audits, but also ongoing reviews. It is essential to keep an eye on press reports in order to stay informed about publicly reported abuses.

ComplyChain platform from Clarius.Legal

With the ComplyChain platform, CLARIUS.LEGAL has created the centrepiece of an integrated solution for supply chain compliance. The legal service provider can supplement this tool with further legal tech solutions, such as a whistleblowing platform or contract generator. Above all, however, the concept benefits from the legal expertise of the law firm. “CLARIUS.LEGAL clients are therefore not simply presented with a tool that handles the technical side but leaves users alone with the content. Instead, they receive support throughout the entire process, from data collection and analysis to advice on amending supplier contracts — tailored entirely to the client’s needs,” Berger assures.