Wake Up Call: Law Firms Lag Behind In-House Departments in AI

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

• Law firms lag behind in-house legal teams in adopting AI, with only 55% of firm attorneys using AI tools compared with 81% of in-house lawyers, according to Ironclad’s State of AI in Legal report. The gap likely stems from differences in incentives, exposure, and roles, as in-house teams face more pressure to innovate alongside broader enterprise AI use. (Law.com)
  
• British lawyer Seamus Andrew, who stood to gain up to $3 billion from Nigeria in a collapsed gas project dispute, lost his bid to overturn court findings that he acted corruptly out of greed. Andrew represented Process & Industrial Developments in a long-running legal battle over an $11 billion arbitration award against Nigeria, which was later dismissed after London’s High Court found the award was secured through bribery. (Reuters)
  
• Ice Miller is relocating its flagship office in Indianapolis to a new building in the Bottleworks District. The firm will occupy five floors of the 85,000-square-foot build-to-suit office building, which is scheduled for completion in 2028. (Ice Miller)

Laterals, Moves, In-House

• Michael Rohr joined Sidley Austin as a partner in its emerging companies and venture capital practice in Boston. He joins from Cooley.
• Alexandra Steinberg Barrage and Matthew Bornfreund joined Morrison Foerster as partners in its financial services and fintech groups in Washington.
• Ryan Tharp joined Frost Brown Todd as a partner in its private equity and venture practice in Denver.
• Michael Kurzer joined Vedder Price as a shareholder in its intellectual property practice group in New York. He joins from Vinson & Elkins.