Building Proprietary AI, Rethinking Legal Work, and the Future of the Law Firm

$500 million to build, not buy. What does Kirkland & Ellis’s massive AI investment signal about the future of law firms?
In this episode of AI Sidebar, Irene Liu talks with Erica Berthou, a member of Kirkland & Ellis’s Global Executive Committee and co-head of Global Fundraising and Fund Transactions, about the firm’s ambitious AI investment. Irene and Erica explore why Kirkland chose to build rather than buy, what that decision means for legal work, lawyer training, and client pricing, and whether proprietary AI could become a defining competitive advantage for law firms.
Learn more about the Stanford Law School AI Initiative
Irene Liu, Executive Director of the Stanford Law School AI Initiative
Connect with Erica Berthou.
Chapters:
(00:00:00) Introduction
(00:01:20) Kirkland’s Investment: Why Build Instead of Buy?
(00:05:15) Palantir’s Advantages
(00:06:48) Capturing Lawyers’ Expertise and Judgment in Graphing
(00:08:53) Building Proprietary Legal Technology
(00:10:47) Investing in Legal Engineers and Talent
(00:12:02) Leadership, Culture, and AI Strategy
(00:14:08) Firm-wide Adoption and Client Response
(00:15:20) Change Management and Junior Lawyers
(00:18:17) How AI Will Change Legal Training
(00:21:14) AI and the Future of the Billable Hour
(00:23:50) Competitive Advantages Across Law Firms
(00:26:42) Measuring the Success of Kirkland’s AI Strategy
(00:29:02) Conclusion
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