The Brief:
OpenAI launches Astra for Law, joining Google and Anthropic in the race to build legal AI for law firms.
US BigLaw firms Latham, Sullivan & Cromwell, Ropes & Gray and Cooley are already working with OpenAI.
OpenAI is making major moves into law. The AI company has launched Astra for Law, a legal-focused offering for law firms and legal tech companies to build their own AI products and workflows on.
What is it
Astra for Law pairs GPT-6 Astra, OpenAI’s latest and most powerful model, with tools, settings and context tailored for legal work.
It includes a new legal search index. It’s US-centric, covering US case law, statutes, regulations, court rules and administrative decisions across 230m+ URLs, with sources added daily.
OpenAI tested it on 200 US legal research questions. With both systems set to the highest reasoning effort, Astra for Law’s answers passed the correctness check on 54.0% of them. GPT-6 Astra using web search alone passed on just 38.7%.
Who’s building
BigLaw is already on board.
Latham & Watkins is working with OpenAI on information permissions, ethical walls, client instructions and firm oversight.
Other firms have built tools with OpenAI:
Sullivan & Cromwell built an agreement analyser that flags risks and proposes redlines by drawing on its precedents and playbooks.
Ropes & Gray built a deal diligence system around how its lawyers work through a data room.
Cooley built GO Public to help with IPO prep.
Harvey and Legora are both OpenAI API customers. They’ll be able to build on Astra for Law too. Niko Grupen, Head of Applied Research at Harvey, said:
“In our early testing, Astra for Law showed strength across key aspects of legal research: grounding answers in on-point authorities, citing with precision, and offering practical, advisory guidance.”
OpenAI also launched 26 plugins that connect ChatGPT to tools firms already use, including iManage, Clio and Relativity.
The backdrop
OpenAI isn’t alone. Google launched Gemini Enterprise for Legal just weeks ago. Anthropic launched Claude for Legal in May.
They all want the same thing: to be the one platform lawyers work in every day. Harvey, Legora, Thomson Reuters and LexisNexis want it too.
Lawyers now have more places to do their work than ever, and every platform wants to be the one they pick.
Source: OpenAI, Artificial Lawyer