{"id":4109,"date":"2026-05-13T00:10:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.co.nz\/legal\/?p=4109"},"modified":"2026-05-13T00:10:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T00:10:39","slug":"spark-legal-scales-in-house-support-with-cocounsel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insight.thomsonreuters.co.nz\/legal\/posts\/spark-legal-scales-in-house-support-with-cocounsel","title":{"rendered":"Spark Legal scales in-house support with\u00a0CoCounsel\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

About\u00a0Spark\u00a0and\u00a0Spark Legal\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Spark New Zealand is New Zealand\u2019s largest telecommunications and digital services company,\u00a0delivering\u00a0mobile, broadband, cloud, IT, and digital solutions to consumers, businesses, and government\u00a0agencies. As a critical national infrastructure provider, Spark\u00a0operates\u00a0in a fast-moving, highly regulated, and technology-driven environment.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spark Legal\u2019s in-house team supports the entire Spark Group. The team works closely with senior leaders across commercial, technology, network, regulatory, sales, marketing and corporate functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its areas of expertise include commercial contracting in large technology, network, and outsourcing agreements, as well as corporate governance, regulatory and public law, privacy and data, and dispute resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spark has been on an active AI journey, with the Legal team deliberately involved from an early stage to help adopt AI responsibly and improve efficiency, consistency, and the quality of legal advice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Challenge\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Spark Legal manages a high volume of complex matters, while supporting a fast-moving business that expects timely, commercial advice. Significant time was being spent on first-pass contract reviews, comparing document versions, summarising lengthy materials, and getting up to speed on unfamiliar subject matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team was looking for a legal-specific AI tool that could reliably assist with document analysis, integrate into existing workflows, and be used with confidence in an enterprise legal environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“CoCounsel\u00a0was selected because it is purpose-built for legal teams, grounded in trusted legal content, and\u00a0well suited to the\u00a0practical\u00a0needs\u00a0of an\u00a0in-house legal team.”\u00a0states Justine Gunn, General Counsel at Spark New Zealand. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Solution\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

CoCounsel\u00a0has become a practical day-to-day support tool for Spark Legal, particularly in document-heavy and time-sensitive\u00a0situations. It\u00a0enables rapid\u00a0summarisation\u00a0of\u00a0lengthy documents, structured issue\u00a0spotting\u00a0during early-stage reviews,\u00a0and\u00a0analysis\u00a0of contract databases to identify contractual positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has reduced\u00a0the\u00a0time spent on\u00a0manual\u00a0document handling and\u00a0allowed\u00a0lawyers to focus\u00a0more\u00a0on commercial judgment, stakeholder engagement, and risk management. The team has seen improved turnaround\u00a0times,\u00a0particularly\u00a0when responding to questions\u00a0across large contract populations or\u00a0working through\u00a0complex\u00a0and lengthy\u00a0agreements.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“CoCounsel\u00a0has become a genuine productivity multiplier for our legal team. It helps us get to the heart of complex documents quickly, so we can focus our time on commercial judgment, risk, and supporting the business \u2014 rather than reading and re-reading documents.”\u00a0comments Justine.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As\u00a0Spark\u00a0Legal\u2019s\u00a0understanding of AI has matured,\u00a0the team has\u00a0expanded\u00a0its use cases\u00a0to include preparing executive summaries, stress-testing issue lists, and supporting internal knowledge-sharing and training. What the team values most is that\u00a0CoCounsel\u00a0feels like\u00a0a trusted legal assistant rather than a generic AI tool.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary of key use cases<\/strong>\u00a0<\/h4>\n\n\n\n