Key Takeaway: At least 16 major law firms, including Latham & Watkins, Gibson Dunn, and Pillsbury, are chasing more than 25 AI leadership hires, with pay running from $200,000 to $440,000. The problem is not the budget, but the fact that lawyers with real AI implementation experience barely exist yet. Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor
BigLaw’s $440,000 Problem -The AI Director Job Nobody Can Fill Read More »
In its final set of financial results before the highly anticipated transatlantic union with US giant Perkins Coie, Ashurst has posted a formidable swan song. But behind the headline figures lies some major obstacles that may create major issues for the merged firm such as a complex web of legal AI integration, mounting pressure in the associate pay wars, and the ever-present threat of lateral poaching.
Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor The battle for top lawyers shows no sign of easing as A&O Shearman’s exodus continues with the firm suffering another senior casualty with global fund finance co-head Fiona Cumming leaving to join Weil Gotshal & Manges in London. The move gives Weil another heavyweight in one of the fastest-growing areas
A&O Shearman’s Talent Drain Continues as Weil Lands Global Fund Finance Co-Head Read More »
Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor An AI-only law firm, Garfield, has just notched up what is being billed as the first courtroom win by an “AI lawyer” against human opposition in England in a story made for law marketing, legal tech and AI-watchers. An AI-only law firm that once made headlines for sending “polite chaser”
Samantha Wellington, eBay’s senior vice president and chief legal officer, thinks the profession is panicking about the wrong people. AI will not gut the graduate ranks, she argues, because the AI-native juniors are the ones teaching firms how to rebuild their workflows. The lawyers who should be nervous are the mid-career middle managers, and anyone
AI Won’t Hollow Out the Graduates, Says eBay’s Legal Chief Read More »
Legal technology startup Turbo Law has secured USD 3.8 million in seed funding as investors continue to back AI tools built specifically for complex defence litigation and insurance work. The round was led by Revo Capital, with participation from existing backers Treeo VC, BridgeX Ventures, Alchemist Accelerator, prominent technology executive Gokul Rajaram, and a cohort
Turbo Law’s USD 3.8m Raise Signals Next Wave of AI Defence Litigation Tools Read More »
Tom Borman, LawFuel contributing editor The confirmation of Justin Smith to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit is a major moment in Donald Trump’s second‑term judicial strategy. The Senate voted along party lines to hand Smith a lifetime seat on a key federal appeals court that covers seven states. To much
The Rise of Justin Smith – How a Missouri Boutique Cornered the Federal Judiciary Read More »
Law.com International’s latest UK revenue‑per‑lawyer rankings add to growing evidence that London’s top‑end legal market is no longer defined by the Magic Circle alone. Instead, a small group of elite US firms have carved out a parallel “New York–style” market in the City, where profit per partner and revenue per lawyer for firms like Lathams sit at levels most UK rivals struggle to match.
For years, the line in London was that City lawyers billed like New Yorkers but were paid like Londoners. That joke looks increasingly dated.
How US Heavyweights Hijacked London’s Legal Economics Read More »
The legal tech arms race just moved up a weight class. Kirkland & Ellis, the world’s highest‑grossing law firm, has set aside an eye‑watering $500 million to build its own proprietary generative AI platform, rather than relying on the same off‑the‑shelf tools everyone else can buy.
The strategy, revealed by firm chair Jon Ballis and first reported by the Financial Times, marks a deliberate pivot away from simply licensing commercial software. Ballis says the firm expects to spend more than $100 million this year alone on custom AI services, with hundreds of millions more to follow over the next three to four years – roughly 1% of Kirkland’s annual revenue.
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For Pamir Ehsas (pictured), co-founder of AI-powered law firm Moritz, a tech-trained former Oxford lawyer who advised Open AI among others, Moritz Legal is the fast-turnaround, non-billable hour perfect law firm.
Moritz is pitching itself as an AI‑native, YC‑backed alternative to Big Law: fixed fees, fast turnaround, senior lawyers only, and software claiming to do most of the heavy lifting so humans focus on judgment.
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Inside Moritz: The AI‑Native Law Firm Taking Aim at Big Law’s Business Mode Read More »
