Welcome to the June Orange Rag. This month was anchored by our latest Gen AI and the Practice of Law report, which marks a clear turning point. After several years of rapid experimentation, the focus is no longer on what generative AI can do, but on what firms can defend and how they govern it, end to end.
That shift runs throughout this issue. We’re seeing vendors move decisively into workflow, as illustrated by Relativity’s acquisition of Gavel and its push into Word-based drafting and review. I spoke with Relativity’s CEO Phil Saunders and the senior team about what it means.
There’s been significant moves among the frontier AI providers. We look at the latest news, including OpenAI launching a legal division and – while we’ve yet to receive official confirmation but we’ve seen it – a ChatGPT legal plugin. Microsoft launched its own large language model as it diversifies its AI strategy.
What emerges is a market entering a more operational phase: one where access to AI is no longer the constraint, but control, accountability, and integration are. Governance is no longer a brake, it is the key.
In this issue we bring you some of the key talking points of a Chatham House lunch we hosted with Litera in June, bringing together law firm and legal operations leaders. If you were in any doubt that in-house teams plan to bring more work inside their organisation, have a read.
Alongside that, we highlight key product developments and practical use cases that show how firms are beginning to embed AI into everyday work.
As ever, I hope you find this issue useful and thought-provoking.
