This week, Google Cloud announced that it is joining forces with global law firm Freshfields to drive AI innovation across the legal industry. As part of the partnership, Freshfields said it will roll out Gemini with Google Workspace across the firm and will also create AI products to transform its processes.
In an industry in which large private practice firms are almost invariably – and increasingly – wedded to Microsoft 365, the announcement immediately begged multiple questions. Is Freshfields planning to move away from Azure and Microsoft products? And what does it say about their wider tech strategy?
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The partnership with Google Cloud is being led by Freshfields’ Global Innovation Office, headed by global chief innovation officer Gil Perez (pictured above), who joined from Deutsche Bank at the start of last year. Perez is based in San Francisco Bay, but tells Legal IT Insider that the Google partnership is very much firm wide.
“Freshfields follows a tech-agnostic innovation strategy, and we are using Gemini with Google Workspace alongside existing tools,” Perez says. “Our Global Innovation Office is leading this collaboration on behalf of the firm and working closely with colleagues around the firm to ensure that what is rolled out is fit for purpose.”
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Freshfields employees will be able to benefit from AI that is embedded in tools like Docs, Sheets, and NotebookLM. In addition to Workspace, Freshfields says it will be using Google’s enterprise AI platform, Vertex AI, to create bespoke AI agents for its legal and business processes. It also plans to use Agentspace and NotebookLM. As for use cases, Gemini will power Dynamic Due Diligence, Freshfields’ proprietary tool for legal reviews and due diligence.
In terms of Freshfields’ Microsoft roadmap, we’ve heard rumbles that a shift away from Azure has been mooted internally, but Perez is clear. “No, we are not moving away from Microsoft and will continue to take advantage of their products in line with our tech-agnostic innovation strategy,” he says.
He notably adds: “This is not an innovation short-term project, but a multiyear collaboration. We will run and operate both a Google Cloud Platform stack and a Microsoft Azure stack.”
Make no mistake that this is unusual for a law firm. The only other firm that we’re aware of in this dual Google/Microsoft camp is UK law firm Radiant Law, which, flipping things somewhat on their head, uses Google for internal collaboration but Microsoft because that’s where its large financial institution clients live.
Perez tells us: “This partnership with Google Cloud supports our tech-agnostic innovation strategy by allowing us to tap into Google’s generative AI expertise for the benefit of our clients. We are focused on using the right tool for the right client, with the right technology provider. With this Google Cloud partnership, we are enhancing our ability to collaborate more closely with clients to find the best solutions for their business and ours.”
Client-centric innovation and tech agnostic strategy are the key themes that Freshfields wants us to take away, but Perez’s last observation is important: law firms are increasingly having to up their game and meet clients where they want to work.
In terms of adoption, it’s a case of watch this space. But Freshfields has worked with Google for years and this move will bring them closer in an advisory capacity and make them something of poster child for the tech giant. It already features in an updated GenAI use cases article from Google Cloud – see here: https://cloud.google.com/transform/101-real-world-generative-ai-use-cases-from-industry-leaders
Does this move from Freshfields indicate a shift away from ‘legal tech’? Perez says: “In line with our tech-agnostic innovation strategy, we continue to tap into a variety of different legal tech products to deploy the most appropriate tool for each clients’ unique requirements.”
There’s no doubt, though, that large firms are squarely focused on building capabilities with big tech companies.
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