Wake Up Call: AI Gains Ground in Legal Education, Investment, and Hiring
Harvey plugs into UK law schools
Harvey is launching a law school program in the UK with Oxford's Faculty of Law, King's College London, BPP University, and the University of Law. More than 25 US law schools already use the platform, and UK programs are reassessing how they prepare students for practice.
Expect faster exposure to AI-driven research, drafting, and review in clinics and skills courses. If you hire trainees from these schools, your onboarding will likely include AI policies and workflows from day one. For context, see Oxford Law's program overview at Faculty of Law, University of Oxford.
LegalTech Fund closes $110 million Fund II
LegalTech Fund closed a $110 million second fund, a sharp jump from its first $29 million vehicle. The fund cites strong demand for tools that automate tasks once handled by junior lawyers across firms, in-house teams, and consumer applications.
LPs include McDermott Will & Schulte, Orrick, and Thomson Reuters Ventures. The focus: early-stage startups using AI to streamline legal workflow-think intake, triage, research, drafting, review, and matter management. If you're evaluating vendors, expect faster product cycles and more point solutions vying for your stack.
Seattle elects Erika Evans as city attorney
Erika Evans, a former Justice Department attorney who resigned in protest in March, won Seattle's city attorney race with nearly two-thirds of the vote and takes office Jan. 1. Evans said she was motivated by what she viewed as the Trump administration's dismantling of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division and directives targeting diversity initiatives.
Watch for policy shifts on prosecution priorities, diversion programs, and data transparency in Seattle. For background on the division at issue, see the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.
Laterals, Moves, In-House
- Exclusive: Mike Gordon joined Kelley Uustal as a partner. He joins from the Justice Department.
- Matt Guarnieri joined Gupta Wessler as a principal in Washington. He joins from the Justice Department.
What this means for your practice
- Talent pipeline: Graduates will arrive with hands-on AI exposure. Update training, supervision, and QA so junior work product includes clear AI-use disclosures and citations.
- Vendor vetting: With new capital flooding legal AI, standardize procurement: security (SOC 2/ISO 27001), data handling, confidentiality, model provenance, audit logs, and indemnities.
- Workflow impact: Map tasks by risk and repeatability. Start AI pilots on high-volume, low-risk work (summaries, standard clauses, document compare) with human review.
- Hiring and staffing: Rebalance junior roles: more client-facing and analytical assignments; less rote review. Update evaluation metrics to reward judgment, not just volume.
Quick actions
- Issue a clear AI policy (approved tools, data use, confidentiality, and review requirements).
- Run a 60-day pilot in one practice group; measure turnaround time, accuracy, and cost per task.
- Set up training for partners, associates, and legal ops with role-specific playbooks.
Skills and training
If you're standing up internal upskilling, curated AI coursework by role can accelerate adoption. A useful place to start: AI courses by job.
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