A conversation with C.H.BECK and Noxtua about the partnership between the specialist publisher with centuries of tradition and the AI company.
The legal world is facing profound change – driven by technological innovations, above all the use of AI. With the Legal AI Workspace “Beck-Noxtua,” C.H.BECK, Germany's leading legal publisher, and Berlin-based AI company Noxtua have launched a partnership that has the potential to fundamentally change the way lawyers work. In this interview, we talk to Dr. Leif-Nissen Lundbæk (CEO & Co-Founder, Noxtua) and Dr. Roland Klaes (Member of the Management Board, C.H.BECK) about the background to the collaboration, how Beck-Noxtua works, and how legal work will change in the coming years.
How did a publishing house with more than 260 years of tradition and an AI scale-up that is already “old” by AI standards at eight years old, but still very young compared to C.H.BECK, come together in the first place? What was the decisive reason for the strategic partnership between C.H.BECK and Noxtua?
Roland Klaes:
Although C.H.BECK and Noxtua have a very large age difference, they complement each other perfectly in many ways. We became aware of Noxtua in 2024, shortly after they launched the first version of Europe's sovereign legal AI. The starting point for the first concrete discussions was the shared vision of combining content excellence and AI excellence in a legal application. It quickly became clear that both companies apply similarly high standards of quality and security. Our values also harmonize convincingly with each other: as a family business with a long history, we are particularly committed to strengthening the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary—beliefs that are highly consistent with Noxtua's understanding of European digital sovereignty.
Leif-Nissen Lundbæk:
I couldn't agree more. A little background information helps when it comes to the sovereignty aspect: Noxtua was developed in 2017 as part of my doctoral research at Oxford and Imperial College London. Even back then, the basic idea was that it should be possible to develop powerful AI based on European values such as data protection. And a glance at the current news shows how much the topic of European digital sovereignty has gained in importance.
That is why we deliberately decided to focus on Europe as part of the Series B financing announced in early 2025 and led by C.H.BECK. This investment round, which at around €81 million is one of the largest of its kind for European Legal AI, is not, in our view, a classic start-up financing, but rather a strategic partnership that combines expertise in law, AI, and computing. As Germany's leading legal publisher, C.H.BECK is therefore the perfect partner, and we are delighted that Beck-Noxtua enables us to combine tradition and innovation.
What specific goals are you pursuing with the joint Legal AI Workspace Beck-Noxtua?
Roland Klaes:
For us, Beck-Noxtua is the next logical step in our development—in a way, it's comparable to the transition from printed works to beck-online, which fundamentally changed our legal work more than twenty years ago. Back then, the focus was on making information available digitally. Today, we are taking a decisive step further: we are integrating artificial intelligence not only as a research tool, but as an integral part of a fully-fledged digital legal workplace.
With Beck-Noxtua, we are pursuing the goal of mapping legal work as a continuous workflow for the first time – from information gathering (“research”) to understanding and classifying complex legal content (‘understanding’) to the independent creation of texts and documents (“drafting”). In doing so, we are merging the individual work steps, which until now have often been isolated and manual, into a coherent and intelligently supported process. Beck-Noxtua is therefore not simply a new tool, but the first consistent step toward a digital workplace that meets the actual requirements of legal practice. What distinguishes the Beck-Noxtua Legal AI Workspace from other legal tech solutions, particularly with regard to specialized legal applications?
Leif-Nissen Lundbæk:
Beck-Noxtua differs fundamentally from other AI solutions in the legal field in several respects. For users, the close integration of reliable content and intelligent technology is particularly crucial: the AI does not rely on an anonymous knowledge model or the free internet, but works directly with the quality-assured content from C.H.BECK. This results in answers that are not only well-founded, but also transparent and traceable – a prerequisite for high-level legal work.
Another key difference lies in the technology itself: Beck-Noxtua is a complex, multi-layered AI system consisting of its own infrastructure, language models trained with C.H.BECK's exclusive legal data, and an interface tailored to the specific needs of legal experts. Beck-Noxtua was therefore developed specifically for legal applications and tailored to the German legal system. This ensures significantly higher accuracy, better wording, and a deeper understanding of legal contexts — especially where precise use of terminology and systematics are important.
Last but not least, Beck-Noxtua sets standards in security: professional secrecy, data protection, and compliance are not just contractual promises for us, but are comprehensively implemented both technically and organizationally.
How do you ensure that Beck-Noxtua meets the high requirements for data protection and professional secrecy (Section 203 German Criminal Code, Section 43e German Federal Code for Lawyers)?
Leif-Nissen Lundbæk:
Unlike other providers on the market, we are also responsible for the AI infrastructure and model level, which means we can meet much higher security standards. Confidential documents are neither used for model development nor stored on servers outside Europe. To this end, we have set up our own AI infrastructure and work closely with Deutsche Telekom's Open Telekom Cloud and IONOS. Together with IONOS, we recently opened Germany's first sovereign Legal AI Factory in Munich. This makes us completely independent of US hyperscalers.
Those who work with Beck-Noxtua can rest assured that legal requirements for confidentiality and integrity are consistently maintained. And so that you don't just have to take our word for it, we have obtained extensive certification. We were the first German company to receive the new international ISO 42001 certification for the responsible development and use of AI systems. We are also certified according to ISO 27001, 9001, 27018, 27017, and BSI C5.
What role does C.H.BECK's legal content play in Noxtua's AI training?
Leif-Nissen Lundbæk:
Without data, nothing works! Data makes all the difference, especially in the legal field. C.H.BECK’s legal content is crucial in improving the quality of Noxtua as legal AI. Think of it this way: AI is designed to recognize patterns in a set of data and, when necessary, call on them to produce new data and perform defined tasks.
On the one hand, the quality of the data is relevant—in other words, whether or not its content is correct. On the other hand, how the data is prepared is also crucial: Is it a chaotic hodgepodge, or is it sensibly structured and prepared data from which the AI can draw the right conclusions? Thirdly, there is also the question of quantity: Is there a sufficient amount of high-quality and sensibly structured data? C.H.BECK and beck-online are convincing in all these respects.
The enormous amount of high-quality data available to us through beck-online for training AI is a massive leap forward for the legal sector and also has a massive impact on the quality and capabilities of AI.
Take the analysis of contract data, for example: Until now, AI solutions, if they were good, could perhaps point out which clause was incorrect in case of doubt. But they could not “understand” why a clause was correct or incorrect. With the extensive Beck data, our AI can now “learn” what is correct/incorrect, why this is the case, and can also prove it – for example, by referring to relevant commentary literature and pointing out the sources. This is truly a game changer.
How will legal work change with the use of Beck-Noxtua?
Roland Klaes:
Beck-Noxtua will become a constant companion in legal work—not as a replacement for legal expertise, but as intelligent support across all phases. Especially for recurring standard tasks, such as initial legal classification, drafting simple pleadings, or evaluating documents, Beck-Noxtua will be able to take over a large part of the work largely independently. This saves time, reduces manual routines, and significantly increases throughput speed.
When it comes to more complex issues, however, humans remain crucial – but even here, Beck-Noxtua can provide significant support, for example through structured preliminary analyses, suggested arguments, or the identification of relevant sources. This gives legal experts more freedom to focus on what really sets their work apart.
Overall, Beck-Noxtua offers the opportunity to make legal work not only more efficient, but also of higher quality—because in the future, the focus will be more on the aspects that bring the greatest added value and the highest professional standards. Legal expertise remains central—but it is specifically enhanced and unleashed by digital assistance.
How important are authors to Beck-Noxtua, and how do you position yourself in this regard compared to other AI providers?
Roland Klaes:
It is thanks to our numerous authors that we are able to provide high-quality legal content in Beck-Noxtua. At the same time, however, we also feel a responsibility to protect their copyrights and fulfill their legitimate interests in terms of reach, visibility, and appropriate remuneration, even in the age of AI.
We have the impression that most AI providers do not really have these interests in mind and, to put it diplomatically, sometimes interpret copyright law very flexibly. Noxtua has stood out very positively from the outset because they do not rely solely on their impressive AI expertise, but pursue a collaborative approach and are convinced that the best developments arise from a fair partnership with publishers and authors.
For us, Beck-Noxtua is not a final destination, but a process—and that also means that we are continuously looking at how we can further improve the Legal AI Workspace.
How important is European sovereignty to you?
Leif-Nissen Lundbæk:
I sometimes say that we at Noxtua see ourselves as a beacon of sovereignty—because we are also demonstrating that it is possible to develop powerful AI based on European values such as data protection, transparency, and the rule of law.
And if there is one area besides defense and medicine where sovereignty is important, it is the legal sector. After all, a free and independent, i.e., sovereign legal system is one of the cornerstones of our constitutional state and thus our democracy.
When did Beck-Noxtua become available, and who is it aimed at?
Roland Klaes:
Beck-Noxtua has been available since November 26, 2025. Prior to this, the solution was extensively tested by selected pilot customers—primarily from commercial law firms and legal departments—and brought to market maturity jointly by C.H.BECK and Noxtua. There is considerable interest in Beck-Noxtua, including from the judiciary and the public sector. Accordingly, a considerable waiting list had already formed before the official market launch. In addition to Noxtua's powerful AI technology and unique security architecture, the exclusivity that Beck-Noxtua offers in terms of content is particularly decisive for interested parties. This is because no other AI provider will have access to C.H.BECK's content – neither now nor in the future. Anyone who wants to work with the depth and quality of C.H.BECK's content must use Beck-Noxtua.
Thank you for the interview!
