Big Law lawyers are leaving for Harvey, OpenAI and Anthropic

Harvey hired 22 lawyers from Am Law 200 firms in the first half of the year, as fast-growing AI companies continued to draw talent from Big Law.

New data from legal talent intelligence company Firm Prospects identified 46 moves from Am Law 200 firms to AI companies in the US during the first six months of 2026.

Harvey accounted for almost half of them. Anthropic hired eight lawyers, while OpenAI and Legora each hired five.

The vast majority of those making the move were associates. Of the 46 lawyers, 40 were associates at their previous firms, five held partner-level titles and one was counsel.

Non-legal roles

The numbers remain small compared with the wider lateral market - Firm Prospects tracked nearly 16,000 moves into and out of Am Law 200 firms during the period, about half of which were moves between law firms.

“Typically we see lawyers move into other legal roles,” Firm Prospects CEO Adam Braveman told Non-Billable. “It would not be that surprising to see lawyers leave top law firms to go to top technology companies in the general counsel's office.

“The data unequivocally shows that the tech companies focusing on legal are hiring top talent to do non-legal roles,” he said.

Fifteen of the 46 moved into roles carrying the increasingly prominent “legal engineer” title, with others taking positions spanning research, product, go-to-market and strategy.

This career route is distinct from the traditional move out of private practice into an in-house legal department. Legal engineering, in particular, is becoming more established. Harvey launched its own legal engineer certification in August, an attempt to put a more formal definition around the role.

All the major legal AI players have been aggressively expanding their legal engineering ranks. Legora currently has nearly 50 open positions, while Harvey also has dozens of openings.

Competing for associates

The findings suggest AI companies could increasingly compete directly with law firms for associates who have spent their early careers developing legal expertise.

“There are these new roles and archetypes, where five years of legal training at a top law firm is very valuable,” Braveman said.

The shift comes as the companies themselves expand rapidly. Harvey, which was valued at $15.5 billion in September, now works with 80% of the top 100 US law firms and has also been expanding in Europe. Legora is reportedly in talks to raise at an $8.5 billion valuation, while Anthropic is increasingly edging into legal territory.

OpenAI, meanwhile, moved deeper into the sector last month with the launch of Astra for Law, developed specifically for legal work.

Braveman said the growth of these companies raises a new question for firms: whether their technology suppliers are also becoming competitors for their people.

A different skillset

There are also questions about what happens to lawyers once they take the leap.

Legal engineering has only recently developed into a more widespread role, leaving little track record of whether lawyers stay in technology, move between AI companies or eventually return to law firms.

“Their day-to-day is very different in one of these roles than it is as a fourth-year associate or working in a GC's office,” Braveman said.

“It's a different skill set that is informed by your legal background, but there’s aspects of product development, sales and customer success,” he added.

“There's a lot of different ways this could go. We’ll have to see, but it's clearly happening.”