Swiss law firms and in-house legal teams searching for a Luminance alternative in Switzerland often share the same set of concerns: data sovereignty, Swiss legal context, and the practical fit for teams that do not have enterprise IT departments. This article compares Luminance with CASUS, a Swiss legal AI platform built specifically for the Swiss legal market, and outlines what to look for when evaluating alternatives.
What is Luminance?
Luminance is a British legal AI platform that applies machine learning to document analysis, with a focus on due diligence, contract lifecycle management, and automated contract review. It is widely used by large international law firms and multinational corporations.
Luminance is a technically sophisticated platform with a strong international profile. However, for Swiss law firms and in-house legal teams, several structural questions arise: Where are documents hosted? How does the platform handle Swiss data protection requirements? And does it reflect Swiss legal structures and conventions?
Why Swiss Legal Teams Look for Alternatives
Data Residency and Swiss Compliance
Swiss attorneys are subject to professional secrecy obligations, and Swiss organisations must comply with the revised Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP). Both frameworks place strict requirements on where client data can be stored and processed.
Platforms hosted outside Switzerland or the EU - particularly in the US - carry structural risk. The US CLOUD Act and related legislation allow US authorities to request access to data held by US-based companies, regardless of where the servers are physically located. For Swiss legal professionals, this is not a theoretical concern but a compliance issue with direct professional consequences.
Limited Swiss Legal Context
International legal AI tools are typically optimised for common law jurisdictions. Swiss contract law under the Code of Obligations (OR), the Civil Code (ZGB), and Swiss standard contract structures are often only partially supported. This affects both the relevance of risk flags and the quality of suggested drafting language.
Implementation Complexity
Enterprise platforms like Luminance are designed for large organisations with dedicated IT and legal operations teams. Smaller and mid-sized Swiss law firms, or in-house teams without extensive implementation resources, often face a significant onboarding burden before they see practical value.
Pricing
Enterprise-grade legal AI platforms typically come with enterprise pricing. Swiss firms looking for a cost-effective alternative that still delivers substantive functionality face a real gap in the market.
What to Look for in a Luminance Alternative for Switzerland
Before evaluating specific platforms, it is worth setting clear criteria:
Hosting in Switzerland or the EU - no data transfer to the US
Zero Data Retention - documents not stored for training or any other purpose
No Human Review - no manual access to documents by third parties
Integration with existing workflows - ideally, direct operation in Microsoft Word
Swiss legal context - understanding of OR, revFADP, and Swiss contract conventions
Practical modules - risk analysis, due diligence, benchmarking, and proofreading
Low onboarding threshold - no months-long implementation process
CASUS as a Luminance Alternative for Switzerland
CASUS, a Swiss legal AI platform, is positioned as a Swiss alternative to international platforms including Luminance, Harvey, Legora, and Spellbook. It is built for Swiss law firms and in-house legal teams, and covers the full contract workflow with specific, clearly defined modules.
Hosting and Data Protection
CASUS hosts exclusively in Switzerland and the EU. There is no data transfer to the US. Zero Data Retention means documents are not stored after a session, and No Human Review means no manual access by third parties. For Swiss legal professionals, these are structural requirements, not optional settings.
Further details on infrastructure and compliance are available on the CASUS security page.
Risk and Quality Review
The Risk and Quality Review module analyzes individual contracts for risks and weaknesses. CASUS identifies risks from the perspective of the relevant contracting party - not generically - and prioritizes each finding by severity: low, medium, or high. For each finding, concrete drafting suggestions are provided and can be applied directly in Microsoft Word, correctly formatted, without copy-paste.
This is particularly useful for quickly identifying negotiation potential and moving from analysis to actionable improvements. More on the AI contract review page.
Benchmark
The Benchmark module checks a document against a reference standard - such as an internal playbook or established best practices for SPAs, NDAs, or DPAs. It flags missing clause topics, incomplete provisions, and deviations from the standard. A percentage match score shows the overall alignment with the reference.
For each gap or deviation, CASUS provides recommendations and offers the option to insert a suitable clause at the right location with correct formatting. More on the Benchmark page.
AI Data Room
For due diligence projects involving large document sets, CASUS offers the AI Data Room. Dozens or hundreds of documents can be uploaded and analyzed in parallel. Extraction follows user-defined fields and prompts; output is tabular and suitable for Excel, due diligence reviews, or compliance tracking.
The module flags anomalies and deviations - for example, liability clauses without a cap, or notice periods exceeding 12 months - and prioritizes findings by risk. More on the AI Data Room page.
AI Chat with Agent Mode and Legal Research
The AI Chat allows users to ask questions about a document, locate specific passages, and generate summaries. In Agent Mode, CASUS executes changes directly in the document - inserting clauses, rewriting sections, adjusting content - while respecting document structure, numbering, and formatting.
The Legal Research mode within AI Chat uses statutes, case law, and legally reliable sources to produce structured, traceable first assessments. Outputs can feed directly into work product, including clause rationale, internal assessments, or text changes. More on the AI Chat page and the Legal Research page.
Proofread
The Proofread module checks contracts and pleadings for spelling, grammar, style, cross-references, definitions, numbering, formatting consistency, contradictions, and open placeholders - applying Swiss writing conventions. It is not a substitute for a legal review of the underlying legal position, but a structured quality and consistency check before sending. More on the Proofread page.
Comparison: CASUS vs. Luminance
Criteria | CASUS | Luminance |
|---|---|---|
Hosting | Switzerland / EU | International (UK/US) |
US Data Transfer | No | Possible |
Zero Data Retention | Yes | Not standard |
No Human Review | Yes | Not standard |
Microsoft Word Integration | Yes (Add-in) | Limited |
Swiss Legal Context | Yes | Limited |
Due Diligence (many documents) | Yes (AI Data Room) | Yes |
Single Contract Risk Analysis | Yes (Review module) | Yes |
Benchmark Against Playbook | Yes | Limited |
Legal Research | Yes | Limited |
Proofreading | Yes | No |
Target Audience | Swiss SME firms, in-house CH | Large firms, enterprise |
Note: Luminance information is based on publicly available data; features and pricing may change.
Who CASUS is Best For
CASUS is a strong fit for:
Swiss law firms (SME to mid-size) that want to deploy legal AI without a complex implementation process
In-house legal teams at Swiss companies that prioritize data sovereignty and professional secrecy compliance
Teams that work in Microsoft Word and want to avoid adopting an entirely new infrastructure
Legal teams with due diligence projects that require parallel analysis of large document sets
Firms focused on contract negotiation that need to identify negotiation leverage quickly and systematically
Try CASUS
CASUS can be tested directly in Microsoft Word or in the web app - without a lengthy onboarding process. For Swiss law firms and in-house legal teams looking for a legally focused, data-secure alternative to international platforms, CASUS offers a practical starting point. Hosting is in Switzerland and the EU, there is no data transfer to the US, and Zero Data Retention and No Human Review apply as standard.
Sign up at app.getcasus.com/signup.
FAQ
What is a Luminance alternative for Switzerland?
A Luminance alternative for Switzerland is a legal AI platform that provides comparable functionality for contract analysis, due diligence, and document work - with hosting in Switzerland or the EU, no data transfer to the US, and meaningful coverage of Swiss legal context. CASUS is a Swiss legal AI platform built specifically for this purpose, targeting Swiss law firms and in-house legal teams.
Where does CASUS store data?
CASUS hosts exclusively in Switzerland and the EU. There is no data transfer to the US. Zero Data Retention means documents are not stored after a session, and No Human Review means no manual access to documents by third parties. These are structural properties of the platform, not optional settings.
Can CASUS analyze many documents at once, like Luminance?
Yes. The AI Data Room module allows users to upload dozens or hundreds of documents and analyze them in parallel. Extraction follows user-defined fields and prompts; the output is tabular and suitable for due diligence, Excel-based review, and compliance tracking. The module also flags anomalies and prioritizes findings by risk.
Does CASUS integrate with Microsoft Word?
Yes. CASUS is available as a Microsoft Word add-in, allowing users to work directly in the document they are reviewing. Risk analysis findings, improvement suggestions, and proofread corrections can be applied without copy-paste, with correct formatting retained.
How does CASUS handle Swiss legal context?
CASUS is developed for the Swiss market and accounts for Swiss contract structures, Swiss writing conventions (ss instead of ss, consistent terminology), and the legal context of the OR and revFADP. The Legal Research mode uses statutes, case law, and legally reliable sources to produce structured, traceable outputs.
What is the difference between the Risk Review and the Benchmark module?
The Risk and Quality Review analyzes a single contract for risks and weaknesses from the perspective of the relevant contracting party, prioritizing findings as low, medium, or high severity. The Benchmark module compares a document against a reference standard - such as an internal playbook or best practices for NDAs, SPAs, or DPAs - and flags missing clauses, incomplete provisions, and deviations, along with a percentage match score.
Is CASUS suitable for legal research tasks?
Yes. CASUS includes a Legal Research mode within its AI Chat. It uses statutes, case law, and legally reliable sources to produce structured, traceable first assessments. Outputs are suitable for use in clause rationale, internal assessments, or as the basis for document edits. As with any AI-assisted research tool, outputs should be reviewed by a qualified legal professional; absolute completeness cannot be guaranteed.
How does CASUS compare to Luminance on pricing?
CASUS is designed to be accessible for Swiss law firms and in-house teams of varying sizes, including smaller and mid-sized organisations that may not have enterprise budgets. Specific pricing information is available on the CASUS website, and a free trial is available to evaluate the platform before committing.
