BakerHostetler just announced a “strategic three-year partnership” with vLex to integrate the company’s Vincent AI platform across its 18 offices. By itself, this is another straightforward sign-of-the-times story about a major law firm bringing its lawyers an artificial intelligence product designed specifically for the legal industry. It’s a pretty standard announcement these days, whether a firm is adding Vincent or Harvey or CoCounsel or HAL 9000 or Legora… firms are looking for legal AI so attorneys aren’t tempted to shadow IT the firm into malpractice by asking ChatGPT to make up good caselaw.
“Our partnership with vLex is a natural fit: Its legal data and workflows will enrich our environment, amplifying our ability to deliver intelligent, transformative solutions for clients,” said Katherine Lowry, Chief Information Officer at BakerHostetler. “We’re entering a phase where AI isn’t just a tool – it’s part of operations. We’re focused on connecting AI to the data we already trust, both internally and externally, to drive better decisions and outcomes.”
But this deal smuggles in a little extra baggage when you remember that vLex is on the verge — pending almost certain regulatory approval — to become part of Clio.
We’re a couple weeks removed from Clio’s big announcement that it intends to enter the enterprise market, adding a whole new division to work with Biglaw and major corporate departments, and basically all we’ve talked about ever since is “can they really pull this off?”
Biglaw is a different animal. Biglaw moves slower. Biglaw doesn’t purchase software the way small law does. It’s a bold vision, but can they execute? And on and on.
But Clio already has an in with some of the bigger firms and legal departments. There are Clio point solutions out there. They acquired ShareDo, bringing those relationships under their roof. And while vLex already had relationships with bigger teams, we now we have a Biglaw firm signing a deal fully aware that vLex is about to join Clio.
As an observer, that seems like a significant fact lost in a more routine story. Knowing that vLex is about to undergo a big change, BakerHostetler leaned in. It’s a testament to Vincent as a product, sure, but also to the firm’s assessment that building an ongoing relationship with a company just now entering Biglaw in earnest is in the firm’s interest.
It will take years to know if Clio’s new strategy pans out, but this is an important early milestone on that journey.