Law firm Kirkland to spend $500 million developing its own AI platform

Kirkland & Ellis, a global law firm based in Chicago with $10.6 billion in revenue last year, will invest $500 million over the next three to four years to build its own AI platform. The firm announced the plan on May 28, with $100 million allocated for 2026, focusing on legal workflows informed by 250 lawyers and over 180 technology professionals. The platform will integrate internal expertise but may still rely on third-party AI tools, though Kirkland did not disclose whether it will use a specific generative AI model. The initiative follows similar moves by competitors like London-based Freshfields, which partnered with Anthropic’s Claude AI team to develop legal applications. Law firm leaders have noted rising demand for custom AI solutions to handle specialized tasks, reversing earlier skepticism about in-house development. Andrew Johnson, chief information officer at Brownstein Hyatt, stated that firms now widely embrace tailored AI tools, though risks remain, including data breaches and AI-generated errors in legal filings. Recent cases highlight these dangers: Sullivan & Cromwell apologized in May for submitting flawed court documents created with AI, while judges have sanctioned lawyers in multiple instances for failing to verify AI-assisted research. Kirkland’s platform aims to mitigate such issues by leveraging its own data and expertise, though challenges in accuracy and security persist across the industry.