Anthropic Hires Legal-Tech Founder to Bring Claude into Law Firms

Anthropic has hired legal-tech founder Robert Mahari as its first 'Head of Claude for Legal', making him responsible for deploying and expanding the AI model Claude in the legal sector. Mahari holds a doctorate in the field of legal AI and founded the legal-AI startup Akiva AI. Earlier in May, Anthropic introduced twelve legal plugins for Claude and announced partnerships with more than 20 legal-tech firms, including LexisNexis and Relativity. The legal market is becoming increasingly attractive for major tech companies: OpenAI brought in Ironclad founder Jason Boehmig, Amazon launched Amazon Quick for legal tasks, and Microsoft introduced a legal agent in Word. Previously, AI systems for legal work were not reliable enough, as they could invent false sources and rulings, while data protection and confidentiality further complicated their use. Now models are more powerful and more strongly connected to legal sources and existing specialist software, allowing them to integrate better into the workflows of law firms and legal departments.