Partner Spotlight: dsm-firmenich

dsm-firmenich is a global leader in health, nutrition, and beauty — leveraging cutting-edge science to deliver many of the world’s best-known nutrients, flavors and fragrances.

Created as a result of a merger in 2023, dsm-firmenich has a strong global footprint, with annual revenues of more than $13 billion and is dual-headquartered in Switzerland and Netherlands.

The firm’s leaders want innovation woven into the fabric of all teams — and have turned to AI as a driver of those changes. This appetite to innovate is embodied by its Singapore-based Legal team who have been embracing cutting-edge technology to become even faster, smarter and more efficient.

By partnering with Robin AI, dsm-firmenich is redefining its legal workflows and outpacing its competitors. We sat down with Doris Chen, VP of Legal (APAC, China and India), to explore how she sees the future of legal and the role that AI plays in it.

About dsm-firmenich’s Legal Team’s Vision and Approach

At dsm-firmenich, innovation drives every aspect of the business, and Chen ensures her legal team embodies this ethos.

This commitment to progress is evident in the company’s significant investments in upgrading internal systems to support the business, enabling teams to leverage legal AI to gain a competitive edge.

“Whatever team or industry, if you’re not keeping up with AI innovation, you will very soon be left behind by your competitors.”

Doris Chen, VP of Legal (APAC, China and India), dsm-firmenich

From CLMs to Cutting-Edge AI

After the 2023 merger, Chen faced the challenge of unifying tools and processes across teams. DSM had already been working with Robin AI, while the Firmenich side relied heavily on Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) tools.

Chen shares: “You want technology that you can adopt without causing more trouble than you are solving. It was personally quite impressive to me when I was introduced to Robin AI. It was easy to get started, but I still made sure I invested quite a bit of time to really understand how it works so that I could get the maximum benefits from it.”

Her curiosity and focus on seamless collaboration drove her journey with Legal AI. Diving in is the best way to overcome knowledge gaps, she shares: ”Compare products, get opinions from your peers, and book demos to see what meets your needs.” She adds, “Make sure you compare different products serving the same function.”

Transforming Workflows with Robin AI

Robin AI’s managed services have smoothed dsm-firmenich’s legal workflows — with a median turnaround time of six hours and 45 minutes, senior lawyers can focus on strategic tasks.

The median turnaround time for Robin managed services on dsm-firmenich documents is 6 hours and 45 minutes.

“With Robin AI it’s so easy to get responses very quickly. That means our senior lawyers can do higher level negotiations, or analysis of legal changes in some jurisdiction, so that we move quickly to align all our stakeholders on how to implement the new law. It gives us time to take our anti-trust and anti-corruption obligations seriously, and it lets us move faster on M&A.”

The impact of Robin AI was clear as Chen and her team saved time, streamlined contract review processes, and improved cross-border coordination. “AI really personally helps me a lot, including helping me report our outcomes to my headquarters, in language they understand. It helps coordinate across offices and languages and formats. For example, with translation and structuring data into slides or tables”

“I’m personally just a huge fan of Robin AI. It saves time and cost, and I just couldn’t think of any reason not to use it.”

Empower Legal Teams with AI

By adopting Robin AI, dsm-firmenich has unlocked opportunities to boost efficiency and improve team satisfaction.

“Using AI like Robin gives our talent more opportunities. Giving talent ways to grow and reasons to stay is a good argument to convince headquarters of the need to invest in the legal department.”

Chen emphasizes the critical role of AI in addressing talent challenges. “For in-house teams, headcount is the most important challenge. We don’t have a lot of staff, including not many paralegals. Robin AI allows us to level up the entire legal team, resolve basic issues, and give senior lawyers space for strategic work.” She adds, “it’s definitely going to increase retention.”

Measurable Outcomes and ROI of AI

Chen underscores that measuring the ROI from any AI investment is critical to maintaining that investment, and ensuring legal teams are seen as business enablers.

“As a cost centre we have to prove that our use of AI brings short-term efficiencies, and that it also helps bring down long-term costs for the company.”

Together with dsm-firmenich, we’ve delivered tangible benefits, from cost savings to enhanced confidence within the legal team. Junior legal counsels and paralegals, the primary users of Robin AI, benefit from tools that accelerate contract reviews and enforce compliance with contractual policies, even for third-party templates.

Looking Ahead

Chen envisions even greater possibilities for legal AI: “I’m looking forward to when AI can learn from all our past decisions to recommend or directly apply changes to redline amendments in contracts. AI could even reference commonly accepted terms or changes when making suggestions.”

She reflects on the broader implications of AI in legal practice:

“I’m an AI advocate now. You’ll be amazed at the range of things legal AI can do.”

A Message to Peers

As dsm-firmenich continues to innovate, its partnership with Robin AI demonstrates the power of embracing transformative technology. Doris’s advice to peers considering legal AI?

“This is the future, and you can’t deny it. You can choose to catch the AI bus, or not, but it’s leaving the station whatever you decide.”

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