Iconic Publisher Tags 12,000 Contracts via Axiom Team, Monetizes IP

Challenge

A globally renowned university press faced a critical challenge: preparing a vast library of IP licensing agreements for a strategic overhaul of its contract management system (CMS). To maximize the value of its intellectual property (IP) portfolio, they need precise legal coding of thousands of complex agreements to enable informed business decisions.

Approach

Frustrated with inaccurate AI outputs and sky-high law firm rates, the publisher switched gears and engaged a flexible Axiom team to take over the CMS project. Axiom broke the project down into four distinct phases, with the attorney team scaling up from 6 all the way up to 19 lawyers at its peak. As non-standard and complex agreements surfaced, Axiom integrated attorneys with specialized subject matter knowledge to properly tag and categorize upwards of 12,000 agreements, creating a maximally effective and usable IP database for the business and legal teams alike.

Impact

• Scalable Axiom team untangled 12,000 contracts from different locations, uploading and standardizing inputs into a state-of-the-art CMS.
• Newly structured, searchable database of agreements empowered leadership to make data-driven decisions about how to best monetize their IP.
• Stayed under allocated budget and avoided estimated budget overrun of over 1 million from outside provider by pivoting to Axiom support.

*Cost savings estimates are based on actual Axiom rates compared to equivalent law firm rate averages as listed in Wolters Kluwer’s Real Rate report.