Vancouver legaltech startup Walter has announced that McCarthy Tétrault LLP has joined its AI Joint Innovation Program—a collaboration with law firms to co-design AI tools tailored for live transactional workflows.
The initiative focuses on practical deployment, governance, and responsible adoption of AI in legal practice.
Walter, founded by non-lawyer tech entrepreneur Ryan Wilson, is built to simplify the fragmented legal ecosystem. The platform consolidates client records, contracts, minute books, and cap tables from systems like Carta, DocuSign, and iManage into a unified digital “source of truth” for law firms and their corporate clients..
Earlier this month, we covered Walter’s launch of its AI Agent—designed to operate natively within Microsoft Word and Outlook, tracking changes, preserving formatting, handling references, and even drafting reply emails to clients—all without stripping data or relying on “sparkly demos”.
McCarthy Tétrault, one of Canada’s largest and most forward-thinking national law firms, is working directly with Walter’s product and engineering teams to co-design AI workflows that fit seamlessly into live matter handling.
The firm is trialing new features in real working environments, helping to build governance frameworks that address risk, accuracy, and compliance, while also providing structured feedback rooted in day-to-day legal practice rather than controlled lab conditions.
As Matt Peters, National Leader of Transformation at McCarthy Tétrault, put it: “Partnering with Walter enables our teams to shape how AI supports real legal work, not in a lab but inside the actual environment that our lawyers operate in. … We evaluate tools in context, measure actual value for clients, and build capabilities our lawyers can trust.”
This partnership marks a significant moment—legal AI is moving from theory and isolated demos to tangible, workflow-embedded tools. The emphasis is no longer on flashy prototypes, but on real-world utility, client value, and trust.
Ryan Wilson, Walter’s Co-Founder and CEO, highlights this shift: “McCarthy Tétrault’s involvement speaks volumes about their commitment to delivering value for clients.… We’re excited to support … exploring how AI can enhance legal service delivery and client experience.”
Walter’s AI Agent, built for legal professionals, integrates seamlessly with Outlook, iManage, and Word to manage drafting, editing, blacklining, playbook checks, and document retrieval—turning slow manual steps into efficient, governed workflows.
With McCarthy Tétrault now part of its AI Joint Innovation Program, Walter is accelerating its push from promise to practice—putting AI directly into the hands of lawyers and paving the way for broader, purposeful adoption across the legal sector.
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