AI × Law

IP law firm Knobbe Martens has appointed Harnik Shukla and Bryan McWhorter as co-chairs of its Artificial Intelligence Practice Group.

An outside lawyer for a Deutsche Bank subsidiary apologized in D.C. Superior Court after using a Google AI program that generated a non-existent court citation in a filing. The court ordered the attorney to explain the error after opposing counsel was unable to locate the cited decision.

A new Harvey-commissioned report by RSGI surveyed 25 in-house legal teams to analyze how AI adoption alters corporate legal operating models. The findings show that 92% of surveyed teams reported faster work turnaround, while 65% achieved measurable benefits within one month.

San Francisco startup Eve raised $103 million in a Series B round led by Spark Capital, bringing its total funding to $164 million at a $1 billion valuation. The company provides AI workflows specifically for plaintiffs' firms, including case evaluation, demand drafting, medical chronologies, and discovery.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in Manhattan federal court arguing that OpenAI and Microsoft's training of AI models on New York Times articles constitutes transformative fair use. Marking the government's first intervention in an AI copyright suit, the DOJ asserted that maintaining a competitive American AI industry is a matter of national security.

Cleary Gottlieb has acquired Springbok AI, bringing its proprietary SpringLaw platform and a team of 10 data scientists and engineers in-house. The team will form Cleary's AI Acceleration team to build custom AI solutions for litigation summarization, data analytics, and transactional workflows.

Clio has acquired AI-powered legal research platform vLex for $1 billion. The acquisition integrates vLex's Vincent AI engine and case law database into Clio's widely used law practice management platform.

Law firm management software provider Aderant has agreed to acquire the legal technology assets of HerculesAI. The carve-out deal includes HerculesAI's Apollo time-capture platform, Athena email management tool, and Verify pre-bill review engine, along with approximately 20 employees.

Thomson Reuters announced CoCounsel Legal, featuring agentic guided workflows and a 'Deep Research' tool integrated with Westlaw and Practical Law. The system generates multi-step research plans, traces its reasoning, and automates tasks such as drafting complaints, discovery responses, and deposition transcript reviews.

The California legislature approved SB 574, a first-of-its-kind state law setting strict rules for lawyers using generative AI. The legislation prohibits delegating the practice of law to AI, requires verification of AI outputs and citations, mandates disclosure in court filings, and bars entering confidential client data into public AI systems.

New research from Deloitte Legal reveals that 61% of corporate legal departments are actively deploying AI, with budgets rising by an average of 67%. Additionally, 85% of legal leaders expect AI to disrupt traditional law firm pricing, predicting the share of hourly-rate billing will drop from 72% to 44% within three years.

Baker McKenzie is focusing on firmwide AI training for partners and associates to ensure tools are fully utilized and deliver clear value. The initiative comes as law firms struggle to measure return on investment while legal tech providers finalize their long-term pricing models.

The founders of mass tort firm Keller Postman and litigation funder Gerchen Capital Partners have launched Atticor Group, an AI-enabled management services organization (MSO) for personal injury firms. The 80+ employee platform allows law firms to take on outside investment to finance AI upgrades and back-office operations while complying with attorney ownership regulations.

Clio's latest Legal Trends Report shows AI adoption among legal professionals jumped from 19% in 2023 to 79% in 2024. The data highlights a major business impact, estimating up to 74% of hourly billable tasks could be automated and driving a shift toward flat-fee billing models.

A&O Shearman has expanded its work with legal tech startup Harvey to target complex, high-value legal analysis traditionally done by senior associates and partners. The system is now being applied to sophisticated tasks in antitrust, cybersecurity, loan review, and fund formation.

A new LexisNexis UK survey of over 500 legal professionals reveals that 15% of large firm lawyers and 13% of in-house counsel are now completely dependent on AI for daily work. Additionally, 34% of respondents use AI tools daily, primarily for contract drafting, legal research, and document review.

London-based legal AI startup Robin AI is laying off employees and losing key executives, including CTO Tramale Turner, after missing 2025 revenue targets and failing to secure a major funding push. The downsizing highlights mounting pressure on legal tech vendors amidst market competition from rivals like Harvey and in-house AI adoption.

Anthropic released a legal workflow plugin for Claude Cowork, causing major legal tech stocks like Thomson Reuters, RELX, and Wolters Kluwer to plunge up to 20%. The launch directly challenges high-valuation legal AI startups like Harvey by offering native contract review, NDA triage, and compliance workflows directly from the foundation model provider.

AI legal platform Legora secured $150 million in Series C funding to expand its global product footprint and double its team. The company now serves over 400 organizations, including Am Law 100 firms like Linklaters, Cleary Gottlieb, and Goodwin.

Brazilian legaltech company Jusbrasil has acquired MinutaIA, a local AI platform focused on drafting complex legal documents. Cescon Barrieu advised Jusbrasil on the transaction.