Wake Up Call: Law Firms Are Building AI Twins of Top Partners

Welcome to Bloomberg Law’s Wake Up Call, a daily rundown of the top news for lawyers, law firms, and in-house counsel.

• Lawyers are getting AI twins. Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease is rolling out AI personas modeled on 19 partners, designed to answer questions and edit drafts in each lawyer’s style. The firm developed the tools with a Stanford Law School innovation lab by using interviews about attorneys’ judgment, values, and approach to practice, rather than training the system on their work product. Vorys says associates and partners are already using the personas to refine drafts, test legal theories, and spot risks in deals, though the firm stresses the tools don’t replace human lawyers and still require review. (Reuters)
• A Dutch mob case has become a test of whether the legal system can function when no lawyer is willing to step in. Every criminal defense lawyer in the Netherlands declined to represent convicted drug boss Ridouan Taghi in his appeal after years of violence tied to the Marengo trial, including the killings of a lawyer and journalist and the arrests of several of Taghi’s own attorneys for allegedly passing messages from prison. The result is an appeal process now stalled amid broader fears about intimidation, self-censorship, and strain on the Dutch justice system. (High Times)
• George Floyd family lawyer Antonio Romanucci was part of a Chicago delegation that met with Pope Leo at the Vatican. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson led the group, which included political, business, and labor figures, during a visit in which the mayor invited the pope to come to Chicago and presented him with city-themed gifts. (Fox News)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Tom Peabody joined Cooley as a special counsel in its global litigation department in Chicago.
• Steven Hill joined Winston & Strawn as a partner in its international trade practice in Washington, DC.
• Peter Choi rejoined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani as a partner in its employment practice in Los Angeles.

(Corrects Tom Peabody’s title.)