As one of Atlantic Canada’s largest law firms, McInnes Cooper knew they needed to explore AI to stay ahead of client expectations and keep pace with a rapidly changing profession. That exploration led them to Spellbook, featured here in the first episode of our New Precedents series.

Ready to use from day one

For James Mosher, Chief Innovation Officer, Spellbook stood out immediately:

“From the moment we started a very short pilot, the most impressive thing is it was ready to be used.”

Other technology pilots had “a lot of starts and stops,” James admitted. With Spellbook, adoption stuck right away. The team found safe, practical ways to bring AI into their workflows without ever putting client data at risk — proof that innovation can move quickly while staying secure.

A new dimension for contracting

Spellbook quickly became more than a way to accelerate review. Julie Robinson, Partner and Lead of Emerging Companies, found it invaluable:

“Spellbook is a really great blind spot detector. Even with 10, 15, 20 years of experience, it finds something I might have missed.”

By catching risks even seasoned lawyers might overlook, Spellbook helps reduce costly errors and strengthens the guidance McInnes Cooper delivers to clients. It also creates space for new thinking. Associate Patrick Kahn shared: “More than speeding up my work, I find that it adds another dimension. It helps me think outside of the box.” That creativity translates directly into more strategic solutions for clients.

Elevating client value

For Kate Greene Stanhope, Manager of Information Services, Spellbook’s biggest impact is how it enhances client service:

“It has the potential to help you provide better guidance to clients, help reduce turnaround time on deliverables, and give lawyers more time for creativity.”

With faster turnaround times, lawyers at McInnes Cooper can spend less time on repetitive review and more time applying high-level judgment to solve client problems. As James Mosher put it, tools like Spellbook allow lawyers to “spend more time focusing on the real value that they bring” — understanding a client’s challenges and shaping the right solution.

Looking ahead

For McInnes Cooper, Spellbook isn’t a passing experiment — it’s the future of practice. Patrick Kahn believes “in the next five to ten years, there’s not really going to be any practice of law without this type of software. It would be like sticking with the typewriter once word processing became available.”

By embracing AI, McInnes Cooper is setting a new precedent for the profession — proving that with Spellbook, innovation doesn’t just save time, it elevates the work lawyers are valued for most.