Breaking News: Elite New York firm Cleary Gottlieb has announced today the acquisition of Springbok AI, a generative AI product development company focusing on technology supporting legal service delivery. It has worked in the past with firms such as Dentons.
It was also quick to see the opportunities afforded by genAI for legal tech and worked with many law firms as a result.
The team will form Cleary’s AI Acceleration team and develop custom AI builds for practices where the workflows benefit from use of data analytics, AI-powered summarization, automation in data gathering, and insights on that data. The group will work directly with clients and practice groups to identify opportunities to build high-value use cases.
The move builds on Cleary’s development and launch of ClearyX, its pioneering ALSP – making it one of the only New York elite law firms to make such a move.
So, why buy this consulting group?
Cleary Managing Partner Michael Gerstenzang, said: ‘Cleary’s innovation strategy is focused on the integration of AI and data analytics into our workflows, as a means to elevate our delivery of legal services to clients. The acquisition of Springbok immediately enables us to create custom AI-powered solutions – something that sets us apart from many of our competitors.’
While Ilona Logvinova, Director of Practice Innovation, said: ‘Springbok is an industry leader and the firm’s investment underscores Cleary’s commitment to meeting our clients’ most sophisticated needs.’
In addition to onboarding Springbok’s proprietary platform, SpringLaw, the firm will welcome Victoria Albrecht, co-founder and CEO, and a team of 10 data scientists and AI engineers. Springbok was founded in 2017 and has a proven track record in creating bespoke AI builds and products.
Commenting on the deal, Albrecht said: ‘While others waited to see how AI would reshape legal workflows, Cleary stood out to me as a firm that acts. The firm shares our core vision that AI technology isn’t just a tool, but a fundamental shift in how premium legal services will be delivered: faster, smarter, and more transparently. We’re excited to bring our technology and capabilities in-house at Cleary and provide leadership in their AI journey.’
So, is this a big deal? Yep, you bet!
When Simmons & Simmons in the UK bought Wavelength, the tech consulting group, people were surprised, but didn’t fall off their chairs. The deal made sense. Simmons wanted to get rapidly into legal tech provision and support to its clients and the deal was a fast-track way to do this.
For Cleary it seems like the same kind of logic to the deal.
But…..but……! Cleary is a NY elite firm. Such firms have tended not to worry too much about getting really into providing legal tech tools to their clients. But, Cleary has form here – such as launching ClearyX, and also backing their award-winning e-Discovery and Litigation Technology (DLT) group, which develops and leverages AI tools to build and adapt products and processes to meet client litigation needs.
But, even so, this is a major cultural shift for a firm in that segment of the market.
So, will others in that bracket of the legal world respond…? A few years ago, this site would have said the other elite NY firms would ignore the move. Now…..as clients, including top investment banks, adopt genAI tools, maybe things will be different this time.
Hmmm…..interesting times.
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