Legal tech · Industry brief

Chariot Claims, a legal tech platform matching consumers to mass arbitration and class action cases, raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Silverton Partners, with participation from Indicator Ventures, Lightbank, Neon Fund, ZVC, and Rosecliff. Microsoft launched Copilot for Legal with over 20 legal-specific skills integrated into Word and Copilot, partnering with more than two dozen legal technology firms, marking the fourth major AI company entry into legal tech within five months. Control Risks announced an agreement to spin off its Discovery + Data Insights and Forensics businesses into a standalone company operating as Control Risks – Compliance, Investigations & eDiscovery. Harvey and Midpage announced a connector enabling customers to access Midpage's AI legal research platform directly within Harvey's drafting interface, while Legora and Blue J Legal launched an integration allowing tax research access from within Legora. A former Greenberg Traurig M&A lawyer launched useABI, a legal AI platform designed as a deal team member for M&A lawyers, offering purchase agreement markup and diligence reports.

Freshfields is exploring plans to spin off its in-house AI division, Freshfields Lab, into a separate technology company potentially valued at billions of dollars, according to internal emails reported by the Financial Times. Senior partners including global managing partner Alan Mason and US corporate practice co-head Ethan Klingsberg discussed the move, which could attract outside investors and lead to an IPO, offering law firms a new revenue stream beyond traditional legal fees. The proposal reflects broader industry interest in legal AI valuations, with companies like Harvey raising $550 million at a $15.5 billion valuation and Legora reaching $5.6 billion, though the discussions remain preliminary with no formal announcement or confirmed valuation from Freshfields. The spin-off would require Freshfields Lab to compete independently against established legal technology providers and address challenges including client data protection, potential conflicts if selling to competing firms, and uncertain financial returns from AI adoption. A recent PwC survey found that while two-thirds of UK law firms adopted AI, only 8% reported financial gains, highlighting the gap between investment and demonstrated returns that could affect investor appetite for such ventures.