Wake Up Call: The Legal Tech Boom Could be Heading for a Bubble

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

• Legal tech is booming, fueled by a wave of funding, AI-driven startups, and growing interest from Big Law, but some in the industry are worried it may be headed for a bubble. With long sales cycles, customer churn, and growing competition from general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT, the sector may face a “reckoning” within the next 12 to 18 months. (Business Insider)
  
• Edward Blum, the conservative legal activist behind the landmark Supreme Court case that struck down affirmative action in college admissions, is now targeting a federal program that funds Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Blum’s group, Students for Fair Admissions, filed a lawsuit with the state of Tennessee, arguing that the HSI program is unconstitutional because it ties funding eligibility to race-based enrollment thresholds. (The Wall Street Journal)
  
• Mississippi State Public Defender André de Gruy is leading a push to reform the state’s long-neglected public defense system through a pilot program aimed at providing early legal representation to poor defendants. Under a bill awaiting the governor’s signature, nearly $700,000 would fund a one-year test in the state’s rural 5th Circuit Court District, hiring three or four new attorneys to work with local defenders. (The Marshall Project)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Carolyn Vardi joined Kirkland & Ellis as a partner in its corporate practice group. She joins from Ropes & Gray.
• Jenny Lee joined McDermott Will & Emery as a partner in its litigation practice group in New York. She joins from Kirkland & Ellis.
• John Holley, Blair Jacobs, and Christina Ondrick joined Boies Schiller Flexner as partners in its intellectual property litigation practice in Washington.
• Eugene Goryunov joined Brown Rudnick as a partner and co-chair of its Patent Trial and Appeals Board practice in Washington. He joins from Haynes Boone.