A&O Shearman to invest $1.1billion in AI strategy
updated on 09 November 2026
Bethany Wren (she/her) is head of content and events at LawCareers.Net.
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A&O Shearman has committed $1.1 billion (£816 million) to its AI strategy over the next five years, with lawyers expected to dedicate some of their billable time to developing new AI tools. The investment represents more than 5% of the magic circle firm’s annual revenue.
Under the plans, each of the firm’s practice areas will be expected to dedicate at least 3% of its billable hours to building specialist AI tools and services relevant to its area of law. The firm said the investment is intended to change how legal work is designed and delivered to clients, as well as how its people are trained.
David Wakeling, A&O Shearman’s global head of AI, said the firm takes an “open and transparent” approach to designing AI solutions, working with clients during their development. The firm said that, after testing different approaches over the past four years, AI has had the greatest impact when lawyers’ specialist expertise is embedded into systems that can be used across a particular area of law.
The move builds on A&O Shearman’s previous investment in the technology. The firm, which reported turnover of $3.7 billion (£2.8 billion) in its latest financial year, was the first law firm to become a customer of legal AI company Harvey.
Other major firms are also investing in AI. Freshfields announced a multi-year agreement with Anthropic earlier this year, while Hogan Lovells Cadwalader recently selected both Harvey and Legora as part of the firmwide AI strategy.
