ACC next week, a firm with zero associates, and California's new AI disclosure law

This week's digest with the latest Legal.io trends, insights, and updates to help you navigate your legal career.

Happy Friday!

Next week, Boston! ACC Annual runs Oct 4-7, and here's where to find the Legal.io team:

Booth #728, with complimentary headshots right next door (no appointment needed)
TD Garden, cheering on the Bruins
The Liberty Hotel, for our cocktail hour, a 10-minute walk from the ACC closing party

Wondering whether your outside counsel rates are in line for 2027? Stop by and we'll show you where your firms sit against the market, plus the free panel management tool that keeps track of them.

Not in Boston? Our next stop is Atlanta for the Consero Legal Ops Forum, Oct 21-23.

— Pieter Gunst

CEO & Co-Founder, Legal.io

In partnership with Wolters Kluwer

Extended: 2025 Real Rate Report

Missed the Sept 30 cutoff? The Legal.io community discount now runs through end of day today. The 2025 edition is built on more than $230B in approved invoices, with filters to tailor the benchmarks to your own needs.

Legal.io members get 20% off through today →

📊 Data-Driven Legal

0

Associates at Pierson Ferdinand, a firm launched in January 2024 that has now reached 300 partners and uses AI tools like Harvey for the work juniors would usually do.

$300M

Worth of Nvidia-powered servers a California man is charged with smuggling to China, routed through Singapore and Malaysia to get around export controls.

91%

Share of fee earners in Thomson Reuters' 2026 Future of Professionals research who say their organization falls short of what AI could deliver, while only 18% track ROI systematically.

📰 Industry Snapshot

California's AI law hits lawyers with tough disclosure decisions

SB 574, signed Sept 30, requires attorneys to disclose any generative AI use in a court filing, with no exception for minor uses. Firms have until January 1 to decide what counts as using AI.

Clio buys Learned Hand to deepen its push into the courts

Learned Hand helps judges and clerks prepare bench memos and draft orders, including at Los Angeles County Superior Court, the country's largest trial court. Clio's CEO says that without it, the bottleneck simply shifts to the courts.

AI training on copyrighted material not fair use: Third Circuit

Thomson Reuters wins against ROSS Intelligence, which trained a rival research tool on Westlaw headnotes. ROSS plans to take the case to the Supreme Court.

Kirkland tops Big Law M&A dealmakers with 'get it done' approach

The firm advised on more than $570 billion in deals through the first three quarters, ahead of Sullivan & Cromwell and Gibson Dunn. It got there in a quarter when M&A activity fell 10%.

General counsel can build the architecture for lasting alignment

TermScout CEO Olga V. Mack's test case: a data-deletion promise that Sales, Product, Engineering and Support each track in a different place. Her starting point for untangling it is a single customer commitment.