Microsoft has hired multiple former engineers and product specialists from failed legal tech company Robin AI to join its Word team, helping to bolster Word’s AI and other capabilities for legal professionals.
The tech giant’s hires include Gabrielle Montet, former legal engineer at Robin AI, who has joined the tech giant as a product manager; Anna Vines, previously a technical operating partner and now a software engineer; John Muskett, previously lead front end engineer and now principal software engineer; Joseph Enguehard, previously lead applied scientist manager and now principal applied scientist; Kitty (Catherine) Boxall, previously legal engineering manager and now principal product manager; Jack Savage, previously junior legal and product specialist and now product manager; and Carina Suzana Negreanu, previously VP of AI and now partner group manager.
This is widely regarded as a good outcome for a raft of talented people, who found themselves out of a job after Robin AI failed to raise funding last year and was put up for a distressed sale. Its managed services business was acquired in December by Scissero, leaving its technology business and staff with an uncertain future.
Lawyers overwhelmingly use Word as the primary tool for drafting and reviewing documents and Robin AI built legal AI workflows specifically for Word to accelerate those tasks. Its Word Add-In integrated its AI assistant directly into Word, delivering AI contract review, drafting, proof reading and analysis directly within a lawyers’ everyday workflow. With these hires, Microsoft is tapping into Robin AI’s expertise and it fits with Microsoft’s strategy to embed AI deeply into its Office apps. It remains to be seen if the strategy extends beyond this.
A spokesperson for Microsoft told Legal IT Insider: “Microsoft has hired several employees from Robin AI. Microsoft has no plans to acquire Robin AI. We have nothing further to share.”
Commenting on LinkedIn, Boxall said: “For the past few years, I’ve been working on turning AI’s potential into practical tools that help people work smarter and get more out of their documents. It’s something I find deeply rewarding and I’m looking forward to taking that mission forward in Word.”
See also:
Scissero’s acquisition of Robin AI – The combined offering fits “hand-in-glove”
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