Do you think the big players in the Legal AI space will eventually try to be their own AI firm?
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I've been hearing chatter about that being the end goal for a lot of these companies. I know there has been a big push to get laws changed to allow ownership of a firm without being a licensed attorney, which worries me. A few states already allow it to some degree. That seems like one of the first steps necessary if your goal is be your own firm. Have any of you been hearing those rumors?
Top comments · 7
- 11↑u/Ordinary_Musician_76The opposite, firms will make their own AI. most major firms are in the process of doing so now.
- 5↑u/ajax81Of fucking course they will. Did Amazon stop at selling books? Did Netflix stop at mailing DVDs? Did Google stop at linking to websites? Did Facebook stop at connecting college students? Did Apple stop at computers? Did Microsoft stop at operating systems? Did LinkedIn stop at professional profiles? The answer is No They Did Not. At some point the only option is vertical. The legal ai companies are levered to the hilt, and those billion-dollar valuations won’t service themselves. Wolves in sheep’s clothing, like every other venture-backed tech giant. Anthropic and OpenAI and Grok hoovered up all the text they could get their hands on, to sell it back to you in different combinations. It’s a proven model and all the wrappers, Harvey clones, and the next wave of "AI innovators" will surely follow suit.
- 3↑u/carly1273all these companies are just AI wrappers that will eventually get replaced by Claude's own legal team. Did you see Claude recently hired ironclad's founder to build out their legal offerings?
- 2↑u/PizzaOutrageous6584Nah
- 2↑u/tulumtimes2425Firms will not make their own AI, and no firm is in the process of doing that. Not even Kirkland. It’s a naive assumption to think that, read the f***n articles. The big players will not become their own firms, but the tech will enable firms to replace lawyers, including partners. Lawyers are literally commoditizing themselves by using things like Harvey’s vault. Firms will look different in 5-10 years. More top heavy matter partners, fewer non equity or non matter partners, fewer associates.
- 2↑u/Traditional-Bet1321I work in legal tech, and I think this misunderstands what most legal tech companies are actually trying to do. Lawyers aren't valuable because they can read documents faster or search case law faster. They're valuable because they exercise judgment, manage risk, advise clients, negotiate outcomes, and take responsibility for that advice. Legal tech is designed to make those lawyers more efficient, not replace them. A company that builds contract management software, document automation, or AI tools is solving a very different problem than a law firm. One provides technology; the other provides legal advice and representation. I don't see legal tech companies becoming lawyers any more than accounting software companies become accountants.
- 2↑u/PromptNotCounselif legal ai firms try to be their own law firm, watch out. ownership laws can bend, but ethics, liability, and actual legal reasoning aren’t plug-and-play. someone’s gonna get burned.