AI × Law

King & Spalding has introduced a new 'Tech Torts' practice group to defend technology companies, including those involved with AI chatbots, against novel tort claims. The team integrates expertise in product liability and class actions to navigate litigation challenging traditional tort principles against online content and emerging technologies.

Fireflies.ai is being sued in Illinois under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) over its AI-powered meeting transcription and note-taking services. This highlights the growing legal risks for AI tools that process biometric data, especially in states with strict privacy laws.

Apple has sued OpenAI and former employees, alleging trade secret theft to advance OpenAI's hardware ambitions. The case highlights critical legal questions about intellectual property and the distinction between employee knowledge vs. stolen documents, with broader implications for user data, device control, and the future of AI hardware platforms.

Chinese courts are beginning to rule that worker displacement due to AI is unlawful, marking a significant development in labor law in the age of automation.

A new class action lawsuit, Chamberlain v. Granola, Inc., has been filed against AI note-taking tool Granola, alleging it covertly records meeting participants without consent and uses their communications for AI model training by default. This case joins similar litigation against Otter.ai and Fireflies.ai, highlighting growing legal challenges for AI conversation capture tools regarding privacy and consent.

Major entertainment companies are opposing Midjourney's attempt to narrow their copyright infringement lawsuit. Midjourney argues a recent Supreme Court ruling on secondary copyright liability should limit the case, but the plaintiffs contend the decision doesn't preclude claims of intentionally promoting infringement.

Relativity has unveiled claiR, a conversational AI experience allowing lawyers to query complete RelativityOne matter records using plain language without moving sensitive data out of the system. Three major law firms—A&O Shearman, Foley & Lardner, and K&L Gates—are piloting the tool through an early access program ahead of its planned general availability in early 2027.

Legal AI startup Harvey is reportedly in talks to raise at least $500 million in a new funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round would value the company at $15.5 billion, driven by annualized revenue that has surpassed $350 million.

LexisNexis has acquired specialist legal publisher Globe Law and Business. The deal adds practitioner-authored titles to the company's content library, which is used to power its legal AI solutions.

White & Case teamed up with Toshiba America and technology company Eudia to build and deploy a closed, custom-trained AI platform during a six-week jury trial. The tool provided the trial team with rapid document retrieval, instant transcript summaries, and preliminary strategy insights while operating under strict siloed confidentiality controls.

AI developer Anthropic has appointed legal-tech startup founder Robert Mahari to lead its strategy for integrating Claude into professional legal workflows. The move signals a focused push by Anthropic to tailor its flaghip AI model's text comprehension and reasoning capabilities for law firms and corporate legal departments.

New York-based legal tech startup SmartEsq has relaunched its compliance and fund management platform to further centralize fund formation workflows. Powered by multiple LLMs including Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude, the platform builds on the company's tool for reviewing Limited Partnership Agreements.

The Supreme Court of India set aside tribunal orders that relied on fabricated AI-generated judgments, ruling that citing unchecked fake precedents constitutes professional misconduct. The Court directed the Bar Council of India to establish guidelines and disciplinary measures for AI misuse in legal practice.

John Brigagliano has joined Jones Day's Atlanta office as of counsel in its Cybersecurity, Privacy & Data Protection Practice. He brings expertise in AI compliance and development, biometric technologies, transactional data issues, and cross-border data privacy.

An article discusses the ethical implications of AI use by lawyers, focusing on the unreliability of AI outputs and the challenges of protecting client data. It examines how these issues intersect with core ethical rules like competence, diligence, communication, and fees, cautioning that AI is not yet ready for uncritical adoption in legal practice.

New ethics rules from the ABA, EOIR, and several state bars (Florida, Texas, New York, California) provide specific guidance for immigration attorneys using AI, covering competence, confidentiality, candor, and billing. This coincides with research showing high hallucination rates in both general and legal-specific AI models, emphasizing the need for independent verification.

L40° advised Chilean AI company Elipse.ai on its acquisition by Runtime Enterprises. This highlights M&A activity in the AI sector, particularly for cross-border software deals in Latin America.

The National Association of Women Judges' 2026 annual conference will include breakout sessions on "Assessing the Impact of AI in Courts," "From Ecosystem Vulnerabilities to Bad Actors: Understanding AI-Driven Risks in Modern Courts," and "Ethics With a Focus on AI." An "AI in Action" lunch and learn session, featuring a Lexis+ with Protégé demo, is also scheduled.

The Tennessee Workers' Compensation Appeals Board has adopted a new order requiring parties to disclose the use of AI in drafting legal documents. This move by a state administrative body highlights a growing trend of courts and legal entities implementing rules around AI use in legal proceedings.

ZSG, a manufacturing company, is actively looking for an Associate General Counsel with at least 5 years of experience, specifically requiring expertise in leveraging AI-powered tools, including generative AI, for legal tasks. This indicates a growing trend of in-house legal departments seeking legal professionals proficient in AI to enhance efficiency and manage associated risks.