AI-Enabled Firms’ Unbundled Offerings to Split the Legal Market

A third way is emerging in legal services: tech-first platforms building law firms from scratch, targeting the high-volume, process-dense “industrial legal” work that has long been a profit engine for traditional firms. Part one of this series examined how these new entrants are forming and the structural advantages they bring. The question now is how traditional firms respond—and what the legal market looks like as a result.

Big Law has navigated disruption before—adapting to the rise of large-scale in-house departments, adjusting to alternative fee pressures, integrating technology across practice areas. The assumption that they will simply be displaced underestimates both ...