Orbital, an artificial intelligence platform specialising in legal work for the real estate sector, has signed a multi-year licensing agreement with the American Land Title Association (ALTA). This marks the first time the national trade association for US title insurers has released its official content for use within an AI-supported environment.
Under the cooperation, ALTA policy forms and endorsements, along with the 2026 ALTA and National Society of Professional Surveyors standards, will be available on the platform. System users will gain direct access to documents covering title protection and survey matters that affect more than 250,000 real estate transactions each year.
Standardised wording for the US commercial property market
Justin Lischak Earley, responsible for legal content and real estate partnerships at Orbital, emphasised the importance of the initiative. He noted that ALTA content forms the legal foundation on which title risks are handled in the United States, with the association's forms underpinning virtually every commercial real estate transaction across the country. London-based and US-operating Orbital is an associate member of ALTA.
The association's policy standards provide the framework for financing across the US commercial real estate market, the volume of which is estimated at nearly 27 trillion dollars. In future, legal professionals will be able to review commitments, policies, endorsements and survey data directly against authoritative ALTA templates within a single workspace.
Technology and legal expertise working in tandem
Lischak Earley, himself a real estate attorney and former member of the ALTA Forms Committee, highlighted that Orbital focuses exclusively on property law. The agreement with ALTA marks the start of further partnerships with professional bodies and specialist committees that play a key role in shaping the practice of real estate law.
Chris Morton, Chief Executive Officer of ALTA, explained that the forms and survey standards represent the common professional language of the title industry in the US. He noted that these serve their purpose best when practitioners work with current and reliable texts. Licensing to a technology firm has been structured to safeguard the association's copyright. While artificial intelligence can boost working efficiency, it in no way replaces the human expertise and judgment required to secure property rights.
