Buy, Build, or a Third Way? KNavigate's Approach

Kingsley Napley, the internationally recognised London law firm, and Kalisa, the AI knowledge and experience platform for regulated industries, have announced a strategic collaboration, with Kingsley Napley launching KNavigate - an AI-driven service for internal and external stakeholders.

KNavigate is built on the Kalisa platform, extended with Kingsley Napley’s own knowledge, expertise, custom guardrails, and brand. KNavigate gives lawyers and staff easier access to trusted knowledge and expertise, as well as firm policies and procedures, all underpinned by a safe, responsible, and firm-shaped approach to AI. In addition, the service is being beta-tested with select clients to give them access to baseline legal knowledge 24/7, alongside their more bespoke human-led legal advice.

Since its rollout in January 2026, KNavigate has already been actively adopted by almost 80% of Kingsley Napley’s legal and business services teams.

The traditional choice for law firms seeking to embed GenAI has been binary: buy an off-the-shelf vendor product with limited firm-specific shaping, or build an internal system from scratch. Kingsley Napley’s collaboration with Kalisa represents a middle way. 

Kalisa gives regulated-sector organisations the speed and support of an enterprise-ready platform while allowing them to extend it deeply with their own knowledge, professional standards, and client-facing use cases, integrated through close collaboration with the Kalisa team. Security, safety, grounding in each customer’s intellectual property, and protection of that intellectual property are central to how the Kalisa platform is designed.

Multi-cloud and multi-AI model support ensure the platform has access to the latest technology and is future-proofed. Zero data retention, a no-AI training guarantee, and GDPR compliance as standard mean firms can trust Kalisa with their most sensitive information from day one.

Sarah Harris, Director of Innovation and Knowledge and a Partner at Kingsley Napley, said, “Using Kalisa as the basis of our AI platform has been truly groundbreaking for our firm. What sets this partnership apart is the rare combination of bold innovation and practical, real-world delivery. The team has empowered us to push boundaries and explore new possibilities whilst remaining firmly grounded in what actually works in practice.”

As an independent law firm, we had the opportunity to think differently about how we would approach the AI question. It was important to us that we did not - certainly at this early stage - follow the crowd. By working with Kalisa, we have demonstrated that there are cost-effective ways to access powerful AI technology through the right collaborations and outlook. In addition, we have been able to create a service that is unique to us and tailored to us. The workflows and knowledge of our internal experts are extremely precious to us, and these have been elements we can preserve for ourselves and for our clients.” 

Adam Roney, Kalisa Founder and CEO, said, “Kingsley Napley has been a brilliant partner. Thoughtful, ambitious and clear on what good looks like in a legal and client experience setting. This has been a real collaboration from the start. Together, we have shown that organisations do not need to choose between innovation and control. They can have AI that is secure, responsible, grounded in their own expertise, and shaped around the real needs of their people and clients.”

KNavigate is used by Kingsley Napley’s lawyers and business services teams alike for tasks such as automating initial document analysis; comparing clauses and generating structural outputs across multiple files; summarising, rewriting, and analysing text; early-stage thinking, drafting, and ideation; and to streamline internal operations and processes, such as accessing HR policy and practice management information; reducing time spent on routine enquiries.

Kingsley Napley Managing Partner Matt Meyer added, “It is important that we bring generative AI to the heart of the firm to harness the efficiency opportunities it can offer, whilst at the same time ensuring we responsibly approach this. This is not about replacing professional judgment, but about freeing our people to deliver the real value-add of their advice and legal expertise. I am delighted by KNavigate’s success so far and by its enthusiastic adoption across the firm. Without doubt, there is further exploration to be done about the advantages it can deliver, and how our clients work with us using it, but teams are actively engaging in the journey and helping shape how the platform evolves through real use.”

Kalisa and Kingsley Napley will continue to evolve KNavigate based on real use and client feedback, with an expansion of the client beta programme planned for the year ahead.