Big Law’s AI Threat to Harvey, Legora

Despite fears that advanced tools from Anthropic and OpenAI would soon make legal apps like Harvey and Legora irrelevant, recent revenue milestones at those startups suggest they are doing just fine. But a fresh assault on their business is brewing: Some law firms now want to develop their own AI apps with frontier model companies like Anthropic or OpenAI rather than just purchase apps from smaller legal startups.

Kirkland & Ellis, the biggest law firm by gross revenue last year, said this week that it plans to spend $500 million to develop its own AI apps for a wide range of tasks while continuing “to spend on licences to use third parties’ AI tools,” the Financial Times reported Wednesday.