Ringier accelerates data processing agreement review up to 65% with Legartis AI

Following the introduction of the EU GDPR and tightened rules on processing personal data in third countries, workload in Ringier's legal department increased significantly, especially around reviewing data processing agreements (DPAs). The large time expenditure and repetitive nature of DPA review tied up significant legal resources, with uncertainty over whether all contract clauses were being consistently checked.

Ringier implemented Legartis' AI-assisted contract review tool specifically for DPA review, chosen for its AI standards in both German and English. The tool reviews contractual provisions and provides formulation suggestions in German and English for incomplete or missing contract clauses, aiming to accelerate review, guarantee contract quality and compliance, and reduce legal risk.

Over a three-month observation period plus before/after surveys of the legal department, simple DPA total review duration dropped from 45–50 minutes to 15–20 minutes (60–65% faster), and complex DPA initial review duration dropped from 50–75 minutes to 40–50 minutes (20–33% faster). Self-reported personal effort for DPA review fell from 4.5 to 3 on a 1–5 scale, a 33% reduction in perceived effort.

• AI-assisted review delivers larger time savings on simple, repetitive DPAs (60–65%) than on complex agreements (20–33%), where more nuanced judgment is still required.
• Measuring both objective review time and subjective effort/satisfaction surveys gives a fuller picture of adoption impact than time metrics alone.
• Bilingual (German/English) clause-suggestion capability was a deciding factor in vendor selection for a multinational legal department.