New York-based law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher has announced a partnership with tech giant OpenAI to accelerate the development of the firm’s AI-powered platforms and capabilities.
It is one of the first law firms to collaborate directly with OpenAI in this way as the tech giant gears up to step up its direct engagement with the sector.
The deal will be structured through the firm’s AI and innovation organisation, Willkie Works, which creates custom AI tools and incorporates AI into legal workflows, for example to improve research and document review.
Willkie Farr plans to use OpenAI’s frontier models to boost Willkie Works' output. Under the arrangement, the firm's programmers will have access to the software development tool OpenAI Codex, while ChatGPT Enterprise will be rolled out across the firm.
Willkie Works' programmes include Wendell Intelligence, which helps lawyers find information, analyse legal issues and draft documents, and the Wendell Class Action Claimant Platform.
John Elbasan, chief digital and information officer at Willkie, said: “Through Willkie Works, we have invested in the people, governance frameworks and engineering capabilities necessary to transform frontier AI technologies into proprietary platforms that support legal and business workflows across the firm.
“The organisations that realise the greatest value from AI will not be defined by access to technology alone. They will be the ones that can combine frontier AI capabilities with expertise, workflows and trusted governance to create differentiated solutions.”
Kaylin Voss, vice president of Americas enterprise and industries at OpenAI, said Willkie had demonstrated “a thoughtful and ambitious approach” to bringing AI into law practice.
She added: “We're proud to collaborate with the firm as they advance their AI strategy, expand the use of ChatGPT Enterprise, and develop new AI-powered platforms that empower their professionals and deliver greater value to clients.”
In June, OpenAI signalled its intention to move into legaltech when it hired Jason Boehmig, the co-founder of AI contracting platform Ironclad, as product leader for its new legal vertical.
In May, it secured a partnership with legaltech start-up Eudia to support legal teams in the Department of War and other US federal agencies
Like many of its rivals, Willkie Farr is forming relationships with an array of AI providers. In March, it adopted LexisNexis’ AI assistant Protégé following the global rollout of Harvey in August last year. Both products are integrated into Wendell Intelligence.
In April, Freshfields unveiled an agreement with Anthropic to jointly develop legal AI tools.
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