LawTech Weekly Briefing - Apr 6 - Apr 11, 2025

Here's what happened in LegalTech this week.

Welcome to this week’s legal tech recap. Strategic partnerships, AI rollouts, and innovation programs dominate the headlines, with law firms increasingly leaning on tech collaborations to transform service delivery and operational efficiency.

Key Stories

A&O Shearman partners with Harvey to launch practice-based workflow tools (Legal IT Insider)

A&O Shearman has joined forces with Harvey to co-develop legal workflow tools across four key areas: antitrust filing analysis, cybersecurity, fund formation, and loan review. Unlike firms building in-house, A&O Shearman is leveraging Harvey’s technology and its lawyers’ subject matter expertise to deliver practical solutions internally and to clients. The initiative complements existing tools like ContractMatrix and reflects a broader strategy of scaling innovation through strategic partnerships.

Dentons UKIME launches Office Hours legal tech assessment programme (Legal IT Insider)

Dentons UKIME has launched "Office Hours," an innovation program designed to evaluate and implement new legal tech. Led by Rowena Rix, it focuses on knowledge management and data analytics, requiring MVPs from tech providers to ensure real-world applicability. This initiative underscores Dentons’ focus on fostering meaningful collaboration with the legal tech community to solve practical challenges across the firm.

Freshfields + Google Partner For Major GenAI Roll-Out (Artificial Lawyer)

Freshfields has partnered with Google Cloud to integrate Gemini LLM and Vertex AI into its operations. This GenAI rollout aims to enhance legal and business processes, embed AI into Google Workspace tools, and create bespoke agents for client services and internal efficiency. The collaboration is a significant move for Freshfields and reflects a growing trend of top-tier firms pursuing systemic AI integration.

AI Regulation

• EU AI Act – Spotlight on Emotional Recognition Systems in the Workplace: Emotion recognition AI is classified as "high risk" in employment and education settings, requiring GDPR-aligned governance by 2026.
• Thomson Reuters signs multi-year contract to provide US Federal Courts with access to CoCounsel: U.S. Courts adopt Westlaw Precision and AI tools to streamline judicial processes.
• Legal AI Vendor Satisfaction Survey: Skills.law launches a Net Promoter Score-based survey to assess legal AI vendors on performance and service.
• ‘Ministry of Justice Building Murder Prediction Tool’ – Charity: UK Ministry of Justice faces ethical scrutiny over a predictive algorithm aimed at identifying potential offenders.
• Trial Postponed To Allow Appeal In Thomson Reuters’ Lawsuit Against Legal Tech Startup ROSS: Ongoing litigation between Thomson Reuters and ROSS Intelligence could reshape AI and copyright law.

Legal Technology Innovation

• Dentons launches “Office Hours” sandbox for legal tech: Dentons expands its innovation pipeline with a new sandbox connecting legal experts and tech startups.
• How It Works: 2025 Demo of the LINK App by Mobile Helix: LINK app demo showcases secure mobile access to legal documents and emails.
• The Legal IT Insider Document Management System Report is out now!: A new report benchmarks top DMS platforms and explores their AI-powered capabilities.
• Freshfields joins forces with Google Cloud – Is this a turning point in their tech strategy?: Analysis of Freshfields' evolving, multi-platform AI strategy following the Google partnership.
• Universal Migrator Automates Data Migrations into SimpleLaw: New connector enables seamless data migration for law firms transitioning to SimpleLaw.
• Stanford and L.A. Superior Court Unveil Blueprint for Court Modernization: A new blueprint recommends tech-driven reforms to improve court accessibility and efficiency.
• Nine Components of Law Firm Legal Operations: A practical guide to legal ops, from knowledge management to business intelligence.

Legal Tech Funding

• Dealstack raises $5.5m seed funding: Dealstack secures funding to enhance AI-powered private capital workflows.
• Dealstack, Co-Founded By Ex-Kirkland Partner, Bags $5.5m: The platform simplifies complex private equity processes through automation.
• Solve Intelligence Bags $12m – Microsoft + TR Invest: Solve Intelligence raises Series A to scale GenAI tools for IP teams.
• Walk Through: Canotera – Litigation Outcome Prediction: Canotera uses LLMs to forecast litigation outcomes with transparent reasoning.

Legal Industry Events

• Why Legal Innovation Leaders Are Heading to Amsterdam This June: Lexpo'25 promises actionable insights over vendor pitches.
• The 2025 ABA Techshow Startup Alley Pitch Competition Ended In A Tie: Case Crafter and Querious share top honors at this year’s ABA pitch contest.
• ABA Techshow Experiences Growing Pains: Attendance was high, but the venue drew criticism for hindering networking.
• On Legaltech Week Today: Techshow Post-Mortem & More: Journalists review the week’s top legal tech stories live.

AI and Behavioral Science in Law

• Kingsley Napley announces collaboration with behavioural science AI company Let’s Think: Aims to codify legal expertise using behavioral science-driven AI.
• UK Law Firm Uses Behavioural Science For ‘Knowledge Amplification’ Tool: Kingsley Napley develops conversational AI to capture and share tacit legal knowledge.
• How AI Is Empowering Small Law: Small and mid-size firms embrace AI to boost productivity and remain competitive.