Filing This Under Hmmmm…
Law firm Latham & Watkins has bought its own Nvidia GPU servers and started customising AI models, an expensive and technically demanding set-up that shows how much the technology is changing Big Law’s business model.
Latham, the US’s second-largest law firm with $8.3bn in revenue last year, has in recent years purchased several servers, each of which holds multiple GPUs, the powerful computer chips that run AI models.
It is the first public example of a big law firm buying its own AI hardware and fine-tuning models. It makes Latham responsible for cyber security and operating the servers but gives it the ability to keep clients’ sensitive data entirely within its own systems…
The move stands in contrast to other law firms’ approaches. Latham’s larger rival Kirkland & Ellis is working with Palantir to develop AI tools, while A&O Shearman has worked with legal tech start-up Harvey, and Freshfields this year announced a deal to work with Anthropic.
Latham is still using AI products and services from large tech companies alongside building its own technology. It declined to say how much it has invested or is planning to invest in the new approach, which it has been working on for the past few years.
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