Latham puts $1m behind its associates’ best AI ideas

Latham & Watkins has launched a $1 million awards programme to reward associates who help develop and expand the firm’s use of artificial intelligence.

Announced on Tuesday, the US firm said the Associate AI Impact Award will recognise "associates who lead or materially contribute to AI initiatives that create value for clients, practice groups, matter teams or the firm as a whole."

Qualifying work includes AI tools, workflows, knowledge resources, and training and mentoring.

Latham confirmed that the $1 million is the total award pool for 2027, with tiered payments reflecting the significance and scalability of each contribution.

Bringing the strongest ideas to scale

Alll associates firmwide are eligible. Submissions are expected to close in late spring 2027, with recipients selected through a firmwide nomination and review process. A date for announcing the first winners has not been specified.

Michael Rubin, a San Francisco partner, global chair of Latham’s AI practice and chair of its AI Strategy Committee, said the programme would help bring associates’ strongest ideas to scale.

“Our associates bring firsthand insight into where AI can make a meaningful difference, and this award is designed to foster that ingenuity and help identify and scale the ideas that can create the greatest value for our clients and our firm,” he said.

Building on wider AI investment

The award builds on Latham’s wider investment in preparing associates for changes to legal work, including its AI Academy, launched in 2024 for associates in their first four years at Latham. Speaking at the launch, London partner Fiona Maclean said: “AI will impact every area of law in the future.”

Latham has also been investing in its own AI infrastructure, buying servers equipped with Nvidia chips so it can run and customise AI models within its own systems.

Other firms’ AI incentives

Simmons & Simmons introduced a policy effective from May 2026 allowing "meaningful" use of generative AI to count towards fee-earners’ bonus recognition.

Ropes & Gray gave summer and first-year associates billable-hour credit for its 2026 TrAIlblazer Cup, a competition to build AI solutions for legal workflows.

Orrick has supported AI experimentation through its innovation time programme, which offers up to 100 hours of creditable time for innovation.

Shoosmiths last year offered a firm-wide bonus tied to AI usage, offering staff a share of a £1 million pot if they collectively hit one million Microsoft Copilot prompts - a milestone it subsequently reached.