Anthropic and Freshfields partner to build AI tools for lawyers

In short: Anthropic and Freshfields have agreed to work together to build AI tools that help lawyers draft documents and review contracts.

What happened

Anthropic, the company behind the Claude chatbot, has signed a deal with Freshfields, a major UK law firm, to create legal-focused AI tools. The tools are meant to help with common legal tasks like drafting documents, checking contracts, and doing due diligence, which is a deep background check on a company.

Freshfields will roll out Claude across its global offices. In return, it will get early access to Anthropic’s future AI models and tools, meaning it can try new versions before they are widely available.

Anthropic says it may later sell some of the tools built with Freshfields’ input to other law firms, including Freshfields’ rivals. Freshfields will pay Anthropic an undisclosed amount, and Anthropic will not be allowed to use Freshfields’ data to train its AI models.

The companies did not share key business details, such as who will own the intellectual property (who legally “owns” what they build) or whether Freshfields will earn revenue if the tools are sold.

Why it matters

More law firms are testing AI, but mistakes can be costly. The Financial Times notes that Sullivan and Cromwell recently apologized to a US judge after an AI-assisted filing included errors, sometimes called “hallucinations” (when an AI confidently makes something up). Freshfields says it will require lawyers to check work before anything is sent out, which is like using a calculator but still double-checking the math.

Source: Financial Times