Will Anthropic’s Claude Partner Network Impact Legal Tech?

Anthropic has launched a new ‘Claude Partner Network’, a program designed to help enterprises adopt Claude, which includes $100m in funding to help those AI implementation partners. Members on the services side currently include Deloitte, Accenture, and a host of other consulting businesses.

All well and good, but will this impact legal tech? AL’s view is that this goes to the heart of the tension that Anthropic is causing by both supporting vertical-specific companies with its LLMs and AI tools, while at the same time appearing to want to directly capture commercial spend on AI. I.e. they’re trying to have it both ways.

Thomson Reuters, LexisNexis, and others, are all working with Anthropic on developing new offerings. Simultaneously, Anthropic is seeking to sell to large companies with legal needs – see the legal plug-in, for example, which was not perfect, but certainly shows they are not worried about entering such markets as well.

But, will getting chummy with lots of partners make a difference?

Here’s what they say: ‘We … work with large management consultancies, professional services firms, specialist AI firms, and similar agencies. These organizations help our enterprise customers identify where Claude can provide the most value to their work, and then help them get started with our AI tools.’

So, that’s very clear, they want you to use their tools directly. There is no mention here of encouraging you to work with other tech companies that use Anthropic’s wares, such as legal tech companies.

Steve Corfield, Head of Global Business Development and Partnerships, Anthropic, commented: ‘Our partners are instrumental in getting enterprises from proof of concept to production with Claude, and we’re making sure they have everything they need to do it.’

Again, it’s clear: ‘Production with Claude’. There is no ambiguity there.

And the US-based company added: ‘We’re also scaling our partner-facing team fivefold, so that we can provide dedicated Applied AI engineers to partners working on live customer deals, technical architects to scope more complex implementations, and localized go-to-market support in international markets.’

And once more, this is all about you using their tech directly, albeit with consulting support from Anthropic and their partner network, which includes Deloitte, among others.

So, what do legal tech companies do here?

Joining this partner network would seem like an act of cannibalism, given that Anthropic states that ‘those who join… will have access to our….sales playbooks used by our own go-to-market team, and other co-marketing documentation….’ I.e. it’s all about leveraging your own contacts to help sell Claude.

Should legal tech walk away?

Well, that seems unlikely given the fact that so many legal tech companies are now reliant on Anthropic’s technology.

So, where is this heading?

As noted, Anthropic is playing a double game. They want you, the legal tech vendor, to use their AI capabilities to enhance your product, and at the same time – at least for those who engage with corporates – they’re trying to sell directly to your customers at the same time.

It’s a bit like hiring a great goal scorer for the football team who insists on scoring at least one own-goal in every match, but who everyone still agrees is a great player. Hmmm…….it’s tricky.

It all underlines the predicament legal tech is now in. Our sector both needs the foundational AI companies to operate, yet those giants have no loyalty to the vertical-specific tech companies that now depend upon them.

For now, most law firms and corporates will continue to buy legal tech applications directly from legal tech providers, rather than rely on Claude in general and/or customise Claude for specific use cases. But, one cannot ignore the inherent tension in this scenario, nor not wonder how and when this all changes at some point in the future.

More about Anthropic’s Claude network here.

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And, if the above was interesting, wait until you see these events: 

A Legal Tech Conference For All of Europe

Legal Innovators Europe – Paris – June 24 and 25.

There will be more news about the conference and key speakers as we get closer to June.

Look forward to seeing you there!

Richard Tromans, Founder, Artificial Lawyer and Legal Innovators conference Chair.

Note: the conferences are organised by Cosmonauts – please contact them with any queries. 

If you would like to be a speaker at Legal Innovators Europe, especially if you are at a law firm or inhouse legal team in Europe – whether based in France, Belgium, Spain or Germany, or beyond…..then please contact Phoebe at Cosmonauts:  phoebe@cosmonauts.biz

Note: if you are a legal tech company, please contact Robins: robins@cosmonauts.biz or Anjana anjana@cosmonauts.biz

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And if you’re in the US and looking for the next major event to join after Legal Week, then see you in California this June!

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.