At the close of February, we welcomed George Hannah for a wide-ranging discussion on the biggest developments in legal AI over the past month. In just 28 days, the market delivered volatility, bold branding moves, insurance innovation, and renewed questions about value, trust, and the future of junior lawyers.

Market Shock: The Claude Legal Plugin

The headline story was the launch of the Claude Legal plugin by Anthropic. The product enables high-volume legal tasks, including document review and NDA triage directly within the Claude interface. Its arrival triggered a sharp market reaction, with share prices of major legal data providers such as RELX (LexisNexis’ parent company) and Thomson Reuters temporarily falling.

For years, dominant incumbents positioned proprietary data as their competitive moat. Yet the stock market response suggested that infrastructure-level AI integration may be a more powerful differentiator than data ownership alone.

The reaction was swift. LexisNexis announced plans to integrate Claude into its own AI offering, signalling a pragmatic “if you can’t beat them, join them” strategy. Meanwhile, Harvey and Leya introduced MCP (multi-context protocol) functionality, enabling interoperability with Claude and reinforcing the broader shift towards ecosystem integration rather than isolated tools.

Hannah described Anthropic’s ambition as positioning itself as backbone infrastructure for knowledge work, not just legal, but across finance, HR, and operations. Notably, OpenAI and Google have been quieter in public positioning, though this does not imply inaction.

Education as Strategy

A significant trend is the move to capture future lawyers early. Harvey’s partnership with BPP, where Hannah studies, provides law students with direct access to the platform. Genie AI has pursued similar collaborations. Leya has yet to announce comparable partnerships.

The strategic logic is clear: lawyers trained on a platform are more likely to advocate for it as they progress into senior roles. Over a 10–20 year horizon, early familiarity may influence partnership-level procurement decisions.

Branding Moves: From Legal Tool to Lifestyle Brand

Harvey appointed Gabriel Macht, who portrayed Harvey Specter in Suits, as its first brand ambassador. The launch coincided with a new Instagram presence under “Ask Harvey”. Shortly before, Leya secured a sponsorship deal with professional golfer Ludvig Åberg.

These moves reflect a shift from positioning as functional vendors to becoming recognisable brands. Rather than selecting practising lawyers, both companies opted for cultural figures. The discussion explored whether this appeals primarily to younger lawyers inspired by popular legal culture, or to decision-makers who watched Suits a decade ago and now hold purchasing authority.

The consensus: visibility and brand recognition are becoming as important as technical capability.

Insurance: The Emerging Constraint

Outside of core legal AI, voice AI company ElevenLabs announced an insurance-backed policy covering hallucinations or incorrect outputs from AI voice agents. The concept insuring AI behaviour could soon reach legal AI.

Insurance and professional indemnity emerged as a critical issue. Law firms remain ultimately responsible for verifying AI outputs. If insurers exclude AI-generated work from cover, vendors may need to embed insurance within products, potentially increasing costs.

The allocation of risk between the firm, the vendor, and the insurer remains unresolved.

The Verification Bottleneck

Hannah highlighted a “value verification paradox”. AI enables junior lawyers to produce work more quickly, yet senior associates and partners must still review outputs before client delivery. If verification takes as long as drafting from scratch, efficiency gains evaporate.

The issue is not purely technical but operational. Workflow timing, matter management, and internal discipline become central to extracting value from AI adoption.

Redefining Value

Audience contributions challenged the assumption that speed and efficiency are the primary value drivers. Instead, AI may enable greater transparency, compliance, and trust.

If firms frame AI adoption around risk management and trust rather than simply faster turnaround, they may differentiate themselves more effectively. Trust, brand positioning, and perceived credibility may outweigh raw productivity metrics.

The Hype Cycle Perspective

Hannah referenced the Gartner Hype Cycle, suggesting legal AI remains in an upward trajectory toward peak expectations. Venture capital investment remains strong, and adoption has not yet reached maximum penetration.

However, the discussion acknowledged the possibility of multiple “mini” hype cycles rather than one singular peak. February demonstrated volatility, but also rapid stabilisation, suggesting maturation rather than collapse.

Outlook

February reinforced three themes:

• Infrastructure integration is accelerating.
• Branding and visibility are becoming strategic weapons.
• Insurance, verification, and workflow discipline may shape the next phase of adoption.

The legal AI landscape remains dynamic, and the coming months will test whether sustained value can be delivered beyond market excitement.