Linklaters launches 20-lawyer AI squad to push tech deeper into client work

Linklaters has launched a 20-strong global squad of "AI Lawyers" - a new hybrid role that blends legal expertise with hands-on AI implementation - as it steps up efforts to use AI to reshape how client work gets done.

The group is made up of external hires and Linklaters lawyers who’ve opted to add to their legal expertise with specialist AI knowledge. They will undergo an internal AI "bootcamp" covering the firm’s AI strategy, how its AI tools are being used, prompt engineering, workflow design and change management.

It’s a role that looks a lot like in-house legal engineering, but embedded directly in practice groups and focused on client delivery rather than sitting in a separate innovation team. The aim, according to Sarah Barnard, the firm’s director of AI delivery, is to embed people who understand both the legal work and the operational friction points.

Speaking to Legal IT Insider, Barnard said the lawyers will "identify use cases and implement them into the processes that already exist to reduce friction as much as possible," adding that the firm intentionally picked people with recent client experience.

On the front foot

Linklaters has been one of the most forward-thinking UK law firms on AI adoption.

The firm’s internal chatbot, Laila, is used more than 200,000 times a month. It has rolled out AI tools for tasks like due diligence and contract management, and even bottom-up innovation: disputes associate James Phoenix built an AI-powered time-recording tool on the side that is now rolled out across the firm.

The new team of AI lawyers arrives shortly after a global rollout of Legora’s legal AI platform across the firm.

What they said

"We are excited to launch our first cohort of dedicated AI Lawyers to drive our ambitious programme of work globally," Barnard said.

"By combining recently practising Linklaters lawyers and highly skilled tech experts in a single collaborative team, we will gain the versatility and depth of knowledge to deliver even more innovative solutions for our clients and our people."