The Law Firm AI Tracker

Sparke Helmore and Adaca launch AI venture targeting Australian government clients

Australian law firm Sparke Helmore partnered with tech services company Adaca to launch a new AI-focused venture specifically targeting government clients, combining legal and technical assurance for government AI adoption and risk. This is a notable APAC example of a law firm creating an AI-native subsidiary rather than simply deploying vendor tools. No financial terms were disclosed.

Watts Law Firm builds proprietary AI platform with Monks/S4 Capital targeting personal injury MSOs

Mass tort attorney Mikal Watts committed a seven-figure sum to build 'Watts AI' in partnership with Monks, the tech services arm of Sir Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital. The platform automates document analysis, litigation drafting, and case qualification for personal injury and mass tort matters. Watts plans to license the tool across PE-backed management services organizations (MSOs) aggregating personal injury firms, targeting a 70% reduction in case-development time.

Akerman appoints Michael Adler as Director of AI Governance and Data Protection

Akerman created a new Director of AI Governance and Data Protection role within its Akerman Intelligence unit, appointing Michael Adler (ex-Highspot, Autodesk, Amazon). Adler will develop governance and oversight frameworks for increasingly autonomous AI systems while advising clients on AI governance, data protection, and international AI regulation. The move reflects Akerman's view that enterprise attention is shifting from AI adoption to AI governance—particularly for agentic AI.

Ballard Spahr deploys Syllo Litigation Agent firmwide — eDiscovery through trial on one platform

Ballard Spahr

Ballard Spahr (Am Law 100, 750+ lawyers, 18 US offices) launched a firmwide rollout of Syllo's unified Litigation AI and Litigation Agent platform, extending AI capabilities across the entire litigation lifecycle — from eDiscovery through trial — and into staffing and pricing models for client matters. The firm tested Syllo's Litigation AI for more than two years before the firmwide rollout. The collaboration has earned two ILTA awards: Transformative Project Award (May 2026) and Trailblazers Award (April 2025). Ballard Spahr's litigation department has more than 400 lawyers across all its practices.

Ex-Quinn Emanuel partner Kercher launches AI-native litigation boutique Kercher Law PLLC

Christopher Kercher, a 17-year Quinn Emanuel partner who founded the firm's AI & Data Analytics Group and was dubbed its AI evangelist, launched Kercher Law PLLC—an AI-native Manhattan litigation boutique for high-stakes corporate disputes with a deliberately lean headcount. The platform is built on Anthropic's Claude (proprietary 'kerchbench' system) and uses Syllo AI for document review. The launch, covered widely in August 2026, is framed as evidence that the most radical AI-first legal practices are emerging outside traditional BigLaw partnerships.

Mourant takes PE minority stake from MML to accelerate AI and data infrastructure investment

Mourant, the Channel Islands–Luxembourg offshore professional services group, welcomed private equity firm MML as a minority shareholder in a deal announced August 4, 2026. The undisclosed investment will fund AI-based systems, data infrastructure, recruitment, training, and measured international expansion. CEO Jonathan Rigby stated the funds accelerate existing plans without changing direction.

Maiwald (Germany) enters enterprise partnership with Solve Intelligence for AI-supported patent and IP workflows

Maiwald, one of Germany's largest IP firms, formed an enterprise partnership with Solve Intelligence for 2026 following a structured evaluation period assessing multiple solutions. Solve's Charts tool supports the firm's contentious practice (invalidity charting, claim construction, EPO/UPC opposition work) while Solve Assistant handles everyday agentic tasks (portfolio searches, letter drafting, legal research). The platform's depth in life sciences — including embedded ChemDraw for biological and chemical structures — matches Maiwald's defining strength in biologics, small molecules, and diagnostics. The partnership is backed by Solve's Munich office and German-speaking team with UPC, German court, and EPO admission.

Watson Farley & Williams rolls out Laurel AI time platform to all 800 fee earners globally

Watson Farley & Williams (WFW), an international law firm specializing in energy, infrastructure, and transport, selected Laurel as its global AI time platform. Following a firm-wide evaluation, WFW will roll out Laurel to all 800 fee earners across its international network, creating a single, unified platform for automated time recording and operational insight.

Wilson Sonsini selects Laurel for AI time intelligence and billing automation

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a premier legal services firm for technology and life sciences companies, selected Laurel's AI time intelligence platform. Laurel automates time capture, supports compliance with client outside counsel guidelines, and provides real-time operational visibility into how work is performed across matters and practices — reducing administrative burden while improving billing accuracy and operational data quality for attorneys.

Katten CIO Speaks Publicly on Client Data Governance in AI Deployments

Katten Muchin Rosenman

Katten CIO Andrew Sprogis was quoted in an American Lawyer feature discussing how the firm approaches client data governance and confidentiality safeguards as it expands use of generative AI tools, reflecting an internal governance/risk framework rather than a specific new tool rollout.

Crosby (AI-native law firm) plans professional liability insurance for autonomous AI agent legal outputs

Crosby, a Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital Ventures-backed AI-native law firm, announced plans to purchase professional liability insurance for its AI agents so they can perform 'autonomous legal work' — a structural departure from the industry standard of mandatory lawyer review of all AI outputs. Founder Ryan Daniels stated that while lawyers currently review every work product, rapid improvement in AI agents makes full review 'unnecessary in the future.' Crosby will work with auditors, bar associations, and state regulators on the rollout.

Squire Patton Boggs Regional Leadership Reshuffle Highlights Internal AI Subcommittee

Squire Patton Boggs

Squire Patton Boggs named Francesca Crisera Ruiz, who leads the firm's global technology M&A group and serves on the firm's internal Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee, as managing partner of its Northern California offices, as part of a broader US leadership reshuffle. This is primarily a leadership appointment with an incidental AI-governance angle, indicating the firm maintains an internal AI governance body but has not disclosed a discrete AI product, vendor deal, or investment in the window.

Bae, Kim & Lee (Taepyeongyang) announces comprehensive AI work system — ChatGPT Enterprise, domestic AIs, and proprietary AI build

Maddocks

Bae, Kim & Lee (domestically known as Taepyeongyang/Pacific Law Firm), Korea's leading law firm, announced an enterprise-wide AI work system integrating multiple platforms: Harvey (rolled out firmwide July 1, previously logged); OpenAI's ChatGPT Enterprise for all 700+ lawyers from August 1; LBox and Superlawyer (domestic Korean legal AIs) for Korea-specific legal research, case searches, and compliance work; and a proprietary internal AI being built on the firm's accumulated knowledge and work data (internal beta September 2026, full-scale production November 2026). The system is designed for task-specific platform selection: Harvey for international work, domestic AIs for Korean law, ChatGPT Enterprise for general tasks, and the proprietary AI for institutional knowledge.

Mintz appoints John Koss as first Chief Innovation and AI Officer

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo (Mintz)

Mintz appointed John Koss as its first Chief Innovation and AI Officer, continuing the wave of AmLaw firms creating dedicated C-suite AI leadership roles.

Legora acquires AI litigation startup Wexler — 5th acquisition of 2026

Legora acquired Wexler, a London-based AI-powered litigation startup, marking its fifth acquisition of 2026. The deal expands Legora's capabilities into litigation workflows alongside its core legal research and drafting platform.

Thomson Reuters launches CoCounsel Practice Navigator

Thomson Reuters launched CoCounsel Practice Navigator, a new product within the CoCounsel suite. Vendor product launch, not a firm-specific adoption.

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin launches Office of AI and Innovation, hires John Keary as Director

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin

New York bicoastal midsize firm Tarter Krinsky & Drogin launched a firmwide Office of AI and Innovation and appointed John Keary as its Director, a newly created senior leadership role. Keary joins from NYU Langone Health where he led AI transformation in legal and finance departments, completing a 2-year AI compliance project in ~4 months. He will lead enterprise-wide AI strategy, overseeing design, implementation and governance of AI solutions and process improvement across legal and business operations, working with attorneys, practice groups, and professional departments including Finance, HR, Marketing, Operations, and IT.

Scott+Scott × Advocacy AI — design partnership for custom litigation AI, case identification and deposition prep

Scott+Scott

Scott+Scott, one of the US's leading antitrust and securities litigation firms (~150 attorneys), announced a design partnership with Advocacy AI, giving all Scott+Scott attorneys worldwide access to Advocacy's context- and memory-driven AI platform, plus custom solutions built for the firm's specific antitrust and securities practices. The partnership extends an existing relationship and will produce bespoke use cases including case identification (flagging potential claims from client data), deposition preparation, and automated production of ESI protocols and protective orders.

Veritas Legal (Mumbai) selects Legora after rigorous head-to-head evaluation of all major legal AI tools

Veritas Legal, one of India's leading corporate and dispute resolution law firms, has adopted Legora as its legal AI platform after a rigorous side-by-side evaluation of all leading AI tools across all practice groups. Legora was chosen for its accuracy, structured output quality, ability to handle large document volumes, and performance on complex multi-step tasks in both disputes and corporate work. Veritas Legal joins a growing cluster of Indian law firms on Legora, including Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Dua Associates, DSK Legal, and Chandhiok & Mahajan.

Legora opens Mexico City office — first Latin American presence

Legora opened a new office in Mexico City, its first in Latin America. The company now claims 100,000+ lawyers at 1,500+ firms across 50+ markets globally.

Scott+Scott enters design partnership with Advocacy AI for litigation

Scott+Scott, a litigation firm specializing in antitrust and securities class actions, entered a design partnership with Advocacy AI. The startup's 'Axiom architecture' litigation platform will be used for case work. Quote: Isabella De Lisi (COO, Advocacy AI).

Veritas Legal (Mumbai) selects Legora as legal AI partner

Veritas Legal, a Mumbai-based Indian law firm, selected Legora as its legal AI partner after a rigorous evaluation process. Continues Legora's expansion into the Indian legal market following Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas (Jul 2025) and Dua Associates (Jun 2026).

Harvey announces investments from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan funds

Harvey announced strategic investments from Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan funds, signaling deepening ties between legal AI and Wall Street. The investment expands Harvey's financial backing beyond traditional venture capital into major financial institutions.

BakerHostetler CIO Katherine Lowry featured in Bloomberg Law Q&A on responsible AI build-out

BakerHostetler

BakerHostetler Chief Information Officer Katherine Lowry was interviewed by Bloomberg Law on how law firms can responsibly build AI capabilities, train attorneys, and identify practical, client-facing AI use cases. The piece reflects continued public positioning of BakerHostetler's AI program (IncuBaker) as a differentiator, though it is thought-leadership coverage rather than a new discrete move.

Watts Law Firm launches AI Case Qualification Platform — case intake from hours to minutes

Watts Law Firm LLP launched an AI-powered Intelligent Case Qualification Platform built with S4 Capital's Monks Technology Services. The platform ingests claim documentation, extracts and validates critical data, evaluates eligibility against defined legal criteria, estimates recoverable damages, and assembles attorney-ready case files in minutes. Every case remains subject to attorney review. Built with AI document processing, configurable rules engines, workflow automation, and full auditability, the platform is designed to scale to mass torts, class actions, and personal injury — with the firm planning to extend to additional practice areas.

Watts Law Firm launches AI case qualification platform with S4 Capital/Monks

Watts Law Firm

Watts Law Firm launched an AI-powered 'Intelligent Case Qualification Platform' built with S4 Capital's Monks technology services division, automating mass-tort and personal injury intake. Quotes from Mikal Watts (Founder) and Karan Chetal (CGO, Monks Technology Services).

Fenwick associates evaluate Legora, Harvey, CoCounsel, Claude firmwide

Fenwick & West

An American Lawyer survey confirmed Fenwick associates actively evaluate and use Claude, CoCounsel, Harvey, and Legora as part of a structured multi-level evaluation program, alongside the firm's proprietary internal tools; AI usage is mandatory, unlike optional credit-based programs at some peer firms.

Orrick's Harvey AI usage surges: 187,000 queries in June 2026, 5.7x increase in six months

Orrick reported roughly 187,000 queries to Harvey AI in June 2026 alone, with usage up 5.7x over the preceding six months, indicating deep, expanding firmwide adoption of the Harvey legal AI platform.

Pillsbury Labs internal group builds custom AI tools; 83% daily AI usage

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

Law.com reporting revealed Pillsbury Labs, an internal group of lawyers and non-lawyers building and configuring custom AI tools in-house. Associates pilot vendor tools and give structured feedback informing investment decisions; 83% of lawyers use AI daily, with billable credit given for AI training and committee work.

KJK (Kohrman Jackson Krantz) launches firm-wide AI Strategy, Risk Management & Compliance practice

KJK (Kohrman Jackson Krantz)

Cleveland, Ohio firm KJK (Kohrman Jackson Krantz) launched its AI Strategy, Risk Management & Compliance practice, a firmwide group chaired by Partner Ted Theofrastous, advising businesses on the full AI adoption lifecycle — AI contracts, data governance, employee use policies, disclosure architecture, automated decision-making risk, regulatory monitoring, and AI-related litigation. The practice also offers AI crisis response (e.g., employees pasting confidential data into consumer chatbots, regulatory inquiries into training data) and fixed-fee AI readiness assessments.

Departure of AI Director Andrew Baker Reveals Simpson Thacher's Harvey and DeepJudge Deployment

Andrew Baker, Simpson Thacher's director of applied AI who built a roughly 20-person AI and innovation team, left to become chief AI & data strategy officer at Entegrata. Trade press coverage of the departure revealed that his AI program had driven adoption of Harvey and DeepJudge across the firm, offering rare public confirmation of Simpson Thacher's AI vendor stack.

Mayer Brown launches client-facing AI Resource Center

Mayer Brown announced a client-facing AI Resource Center offering cross-disciplinary guidance on AI governance, data privacy, IP, employment, and disputes issues. This is a knowledge/thought-leadership resource rather than a software product.

Microsoft CELA division rolls out Harvey for legal and compliance operations

Microsoft's Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (CELA) division rolled out Harvey internally for its legal and compliance operations. This deepens the Harvey-Microsoft partnership and represents a major corporate legal department adoption, not a law firm deployment.

Crowell & Moring Marks Six Months of Firmwide Legora Integration with Transformative Results

Crowell & Moring reported results six months after formally launching Legora firmwide (piloted late 2025 by 40+ power users of the firm's proprietary CrowellAI, launched January 2026): more than 2 million platform interactions, 82% of the firm and 91% of its 700+ attorneys onboarded, and nearly 70% weekly active usage. The rollout included mandatory firmwide AI training and governance requirements.

Crowell & Moring marks 6 months of Legora with 2M+ interactions, 91% adoption

Crowell & Moring

Crowell & Moring reported transformative results after six months of firmwide Legora integration: 2M+ interactions, 82% firm adoption, 91% of 700+ attorneys using the platform, ~70% weekly active users. Quotes from Alma Asay (Crowell CIVO) and Max Junestrand (Legora CEO).

Willkie Farr partners with OpenAI to build proprietary AI platforms — ChatGPT Enterprise rollout + Wendell Intelligence suite

Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Willkie Farr & Gallagher announced a collaboration with OpenAI to accelerate development and deployment of next-generation AI platforms across legal and business operations, including a firmwide ChatGPT Enterprise rollout. Operating through Willkie Works (the firm's internal AI build shop), the partnership gives Willkie access to OpenAI frontier models and Codex. The firm's existing proprietary portfolio includes: Wendell Intelligence (unified AI front-end), Wendell Financial Insights (matter/financial analytics), Wendell Horizon (professional development/attorney training), and specialized Wendell tools for private funds secondaries and class action claimant analysis. Willkie is also an Harvey Innovation Partner and has deployed LexisNexis Protégé, with ChatGPT Enterprise and OpenAI models powering the next generation of these platforms. The firm recently achieved ISO/IEC 42001:2023 AI governance certification.

Record financial results attributed partly to Jylo AI rollout and tiered AI training

Travers Smith reported record turnover of £229m, attributing part of the growth to having rolled out its Jylo AI platform across the firm and introduced tiered AI training for new lawyers, experienced lawyers and partners, with AI literacy now treated as a baseline competence firmwide.

Clark Hill expands enterprise adoption of Thomson Reuters CoCounsel firmwide

Clark Hill

Clark Hill signed a firmwide enterprise agreement for Next Gen CoCounsel, Westlaw Advantage, and Practical Law as part of its generative AI strategy, following 2+ years of AI governance work. Quote: CEO John Hensien.

Bass, Berry & Sims completes inaugural Summer AI Lab — 43 associates build AI prototypes with Vanderbilt Law School

Bass Berry & Sims

Nashville-based Bass, Berry & Sims completed its inaugural Summer AI Lab on July 21, bringing together 43 summer associates to develop AI prototypes addressing real-world legal workflow challenges, using a human-centered design methodology in collaboration with Cat Moon, co-director of Vanderbilt Law School's AI in Law Lab. Teams identified friction points through attorney interviews, then built and pitched AI prototypes in a Shark Tank-style format. The winning team built an AI agent to standardize reusable prompts and precedents, creating pre-populated vaults to improve deal transaction efficiency. The program expanded the firm's documented, lawyer-validated AI models portfolio and is designed as a replicable model for future innovation.

Bart Gabler hired as Chief Legal Operations and Practice Innovation Officer

Jackson Lewis hired Bart Gabler, formerly Chief Officer of Legal Operations at K&L Gates, as Chief Legal Operations and Practice Innovation Officer, overseeing legal operations, knowledge management, practice support, and innovation, following recent COO and CIO hires.

Milbank posts hiring for 'Practice Support AI Analyst' founding role in new AI function

Milbank

Milbank posted a job listing for a 'Practice Support AI Analyst,' described as a founding member of the firm's AI function. The role involves supporting and deploying AI tools (including Harvey) across practice groups, building an internal AI portal, and tracking usage/ROI.

Clifford Chance launches AI Knowledge Bank — 400,000+ documents, built with Microsoft and Epiq Advisory

Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance launched its AI Knowledge Bank, a new knowledge management platform developed over six months in partnership with Epiq Advisory for Law Firms and Microsoft. The repository holds more than 400,000 reclassified and AI-summarised firm documents, built entirely within Microsoft 365 and Azure (SharePoint, Power Platform, Graph API, Azure AI Studio), and features permissioned natural language search with metadata-driven access controls to protect client confidentiality. The platform gives the firm control over its own KM roadmap rather than relying on third-party software, and is designed to feed trusted internal knowledge into generative AI tools.

Norm Law appoints ex-Sidley Global Head of Real Estate Alan Weil as Partner, deepening AI-native firm leadership bench

Kirkland & Ellis

Norm Law LLP, the AI-native affiliated law firm operating alongside AI infrastructure provider Norm Ai, appointed Alan Weil — formerly Global Head of Real Estate at Sidley Austin — as Partner and Head of Real Estate. Weil will lead the firm's real estate practice and collaborate with attorneys, legal engineers, and AI engineers to build AI-native workflows for complex real estate transactions and financings. The hire follows Norm Ai's $120M Series C (led by Khosla Ventures, valuing the company at ~$1.2B, with strategic investors including Blackstone, Bain Capital Ventures, Vanguard, Coatue, New York Life, and TIAA) and continues a pattern of senior Am Law leadership joining Norm Law, including Chairman Mike Schmidtberger (former Sidley Austin Executive Committee chair) and partner John Budetti (ex-Kirkland & Ellis, Paul Hastings).

Harvey acquires Benchmark, expanding into asset management

Harvey acquired Benchmark, an AI-powered investment/asset management platform. This is Harvey's third acquisition of 2026, following Lume in March, and signals expansion beyond legal departments into Wall Street and asset management.

BakerHostetler becomes early adopter of Intapp's Celeste AI coworker for conflicts/intake

BakerHostetler

BakerHostetler was named an early-adopter firm (alongside private equity firm Hg) of Intapp's Celeste, a governed 'AI coworker' that automates deal/matter intake, conflicts clearance, business development, and lateral-hire workflows using each firm's proprietary knowledge base. BakerHostetler CIO Katherine Lowry said Celeste is expected to speed up the firm's intake and conflicts-checking process amid a period of significant lateral growth.

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin launches Office of AI and Innovation

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin launched an Office of AI and Innovation, appointing John Keary as Director. Quotes from Alan Tarter (Managing Partner) and John Keary.

BakerHostetler among first law firms in early access for Intapp Celeste, now generally available

BakerHostetler

Intapp announced general availability of Celeste, an agentic "AI coworker" designed to run business operations for professional firms — deal screening, conflicts clearance, business development, and end-to-end lateral hiring. BakerHostetler was named as one of Celeste's early-adopter law firm customers during its limited release (alongside private equity firm Hg), roughly five months after Intapp first previewed the product. Celeste can invoke Harvey's practice-of-law workflows under compliance/ethical-wall controls and runs Anthropic's Claude models within Intapp's governed environment.

Morgan & Morgan hires ex-Amazon engineering leader Kaushik Chakraborti as first Chief AI Officer

Morgan & Morgan

Morgan & Morgan, America's largest personal injury law firm, hired longtime Amazon technologist Kaushik Chakraborti as its first Chief AI Officer, based in Irvine, CA. Chakraborti spent nearly 12 years at Amazon in senior engineering leadership, integrating agentic AI and LLMs into workflows and playing a key role launching Alexa+. He will lead AI strategy focused on optimizing operations, driving revenue growth, and enhancing client experience, joining a technology leadership team that includes the firm's Chief Transformation Officer, CTO, CIO, and Head of Product. The firm emphasized its long-standing investment in proprietary in-house technology to standardize and scale operations nationwide.

Fieldfisher FY2025/26 results cite AI/Fieldfisher X investment as growth driver

Fieldfisher's FY2025/26 financial results (revenue £398m, +4%) confirmed substantial ongoing investment in Fieldfisher X and a new firmwide AI strategy as a core growth driver, alongside European office expansion and a 300+ person Belfast business-services centre. Profit per equity partner dipped 3% to £975,000, partly reflecting technology investment scale.

Bird & Bird publishes AI Governance: A Practical Guide for Organisations

Bird & Bird published a client-facing guide by a cross-jurisdiction AI specialist team covering enterprise, product, and operational AI governance, risk assessments, vendor assurance, and agentic AI considerations.

Ice Miller continues use of Westlaw and Everlaw AI offerings alongside Harvey/Legora pilots

Ice Miller LLP

An Ice Miller attorney (Dave Marston) publicly confirmed the firm is piloting both Harvey and Legora while continuing to use existing AI-enabled features within Westlaw (legal research) and Everlaw (eDiscovery/litigation), soliciting peer feedback on use cases, system accuracy, and user engagement strategies — indicating an active, multi-tool AI evaluation program spanning several practice categories.

AG innovation leaders detail AGPT lessons and agentic AI outlook

Director of Innovation Elliot White discussed AGPT build lessons and flagged that agentic AI workflows are reshaping the firm's build-vs-buy calculus, along with token pricing and knowledge portability considerations.

Baker Botts selects Entegrata data lakehouse as enterprise data foundation for AI

Baker Botts

Baker Botts selected Entegrata's Azure data lakehouse platform as the foundation of its enterprise data strategy to power firmwide AI. Baker Botts is Entegrata's 20th customer and 10th AmLaw 200 firm signed in 2026. Quote from CIO Rick Boulin: 'Investing in sophisticated AI tools without addressing the underlying data is like driving a sports car down a gravel road.'

Klinedinst PC adopts StrongSuit firmwide for litigation workflows

Klinedinst PC, a corporate litigation and transactional firm serving the Western US, announced firmwide implementation of StrongSuit, an AI platform combining a proprietary case law database with agentic litigation tools. The firm selected StrongSuit after a multi-vendor evaluation for its research capabilities and ease of integration into existing workflows, deploying it across attorneys and paralegals for document analysis, case chronologies, and discovery responses in professional liability, employment, business, and construction disputes.

Torkin Manes names Sondra Rebenchuk inaugural AI and Innovation Director, poached from Blakes

Torkin Manes

Toronto firm Torkin Manes appointed Sondra Rebenchuk as its inaugural Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Director, having left Blakes, Cassels & Graydon LLP where she was part of the firm's strategic AI working group and helped design and roll out generative AI pilots across practice groups. At Torkin Manes she will lead AI, legal technology, and innovation strategy firmwide. Rebenchuk previously taught emerging-technology law and governance at Osgoode Hall Law School and was an AI practice consultant for Kira Systems.

Paul Hastings hires Anya Tarasova as Chief Innovation Officer

Paul Hastings

Paul Hastings hired Anya Tarasova, a 20-year McKinsey & Co. veteran, as Chief Innovation Officer to drive AI adoption across the firm. A notable hire from outside the legal industry.

Reed Smith Legal Solutions launches Aquarius platform for EU crypto-asset compliance

Reed Smith

Reed Smith Legal Solutions — the firm's consolidated alternative legal services division spanning consulting, investigations, litigation, regulatory compliance, transactional work, and contract lifecycle services — launched Aquarius, a platform helping crypto-asset issuers comply with the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA). Aquarius automates portions of the compliance process, including categorizing crypto-assets, generating white papers, and running due diligence, while routing bespoke needs to Reed Smith lawyers for formal legal opinions. The firm plans to extend Aquarius's logic to crypto-asset regimes in other jurisdictions, including the UK, UAE, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Johnson Stokes & Master builds governance-first Microsoft Copilot agents, led by client-specific Employment Legal Advice Agent

Johnson Stokes & Master (JSM), a leading independent Hong Kong law firm, has developed a growing suite of internal AI agents built on Microsoft Copilot, emphasizing a governance-first, human-led approach. The flagship is an Employment Legal Advice Copilot Agent built for Microsoft (as a client) to support high-volume employment advisory work, with plans to replicate the model for other corporate clients under their own policies. The agent organizes matter context, identifies key issues, and generates first-pass drafts of risks, options, and recommended next steps — all outputs are reviewed and approved by qualified lawyers before external use, with no autonomous legal advice generation or bypass of professional oversight.

Charles Russell Speechlys adopts Harvey after structured five-vendor head-to-head evaluation

Charles Russell Speechlys

Charles Russell Speechlys (CRS) ran a structured two-week, five-vendor head-to-head AI evaluation with 46 lawyers (trainees to partners), generating 7,000 structured data points across real (non-confidential) case work. The exercise — prompted by the March 2025 acquisition of its former custom-AI vendor Springbok AI by US firm Cleary Gottlieb — found that legal competence and conceptual understanding mattered more than speed, and that Harvey was the clear top performer across all task categories. CRS has since used Harvey on a Swiss Basketball regulatory overhaul, a workplace harassment investigation, and preparation for a criminal fraud trial. The firm published its methodology and findings publicly in partnership with TLW Consulting.