Claude Cowork – Legal Tech Ally

Will general LLMs and their associated tools, in particular Anthropic’s Claude Cowork, as well as its new Plugins, end up eating into legal tech? Or do these new AI developments create an incredible ally for our sector? AL explores these questions with DeepJudge’s CTO, Yannic Kilcher.

In a nutshell the argument is this: ‘Should you buy a legal tech solution off the shelf to solve X need, or use a general LLM directly, perhaps with some DIY / vibe-coded aspects via Cowork and Plugins?’ The counter argument is then in two parts: ‘First, general LLMs are not specialist software, and second, their new capabilities, such as Cowork, can be fused with legal tech tools to provide a net gain.’

If that sounds interesting, then to watch the short video discussion please press Play. You can also watch over 200 other interviews and product walk throughs on the dedicated AL TV Channel here.

—

Kilcher is no stranger to combining Claude Cowork with legal tech. As seen in this recent AL article, he has already used it in connection with DeepJudge with very promising results. See here.

Ultimately, what this discussion shows is that generative AI is moving rapidly, so rapidly that it can understandably seem like it will topple the very same vertical-specific companies it helped to create – and legal tech is no different in that respect to many other parts of the software economy.

However, as Kilcher explains, although we cannot know where we will be with LLMs and their related tools even in the near term, that for now at least Cowork is an ally of legal tech, enabling specialist software developers to do more. Moreover, as Kilcher notes in our discussion, the Plugin for legal is simply not sophisticated enough – yet – to really make an impact. That said, and as AL concludes, ‘Big AI’ moving into a specific vertical, no matter how limited it is for now, remains a significant step.

We are in uncharted territory, and ‘Big AI’ is still a massive benefactor of the legal tech vertical. Will that remain the case? We have no choice but to adapt to whatever changes come down the road and where possible – as Kilcher sets out – see the benefits, rather than any potential threat. Thanks to him for sharing his thoughts.

—

Legal Innovators Conference News

Legal Innovators California, the landmark West Coast legal tech event, will take place on June 10 and 11, in the heart of the Bay Area, the home to many of the world’s leading AI businesses – and plenty of legal tech pioneers as well! More information and tickets here.