Login | May 15, 2026
Am Law 100 firm’s unique approach to AI legal services revolution
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: May 15, 2026
As legal professionals continue to debate how generative artificial intelligence (AI) will impact the delivery of services in the future, one Am Law 100 firm is taking a different approach, maintaining its billable-hour model, while starting a subsidiary that offers clients tools to handle some of the work on their own.
As Above the Law Senior Editor Joe Patrice discusses in an April 29 post (https://abovethelaw.com/2026/04/clearyx-bets-that-biglaw-disruption-is-inevitable/), Cleary Gottlieb’s ClearyX was initially unveiled as an alternative legal services provider to complete tasks that clients prefer to avoid paying firms to perform.
But in April ClearyX launched its own AI software products, branded as CX+, which are now being marketed to clients.
One of the products is CX+Insights, which is designed to help in-house teams assess what’s actually in their contract portfolios, while another—CX+Transact—provides AI-powered M&A due diligence and contract review.
“ClearyX claims these tools delivered 40-60 percent time and cost savings based on more than 150 deals,” says Patrice, co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer.
While that’s good news for clients, he says it’s not necessarily great for the firm, “unless Cleary Gottlieb is right that AI is poised to steal away huge chunks of billable time over the next few years no matter what.
“In that case, the firm is hedging its bets by bringing its credibility to the disruption party.”
In the story, Patrice notes that ClearyX Chief Executive Officer Carla Swansburg admits the business has an unconventional relationship with the firm.
She says a common question she receives is whether ClearyX is cannibalizing some of the firm’s business.
Though, she says “it is,” she adds, “That doesn’t really matter once lawyers accept that it’s work that largely goes away anyway.”
Patrice says research indicates in-house teams plan to reduce outside counsel despite the increasing demand for legal services, which leaves in-house attorneys tackling more of the workflow on tighter budgets.
In the end, he says clients will find tools to take on expensive, yet automatable work in house.
“Trying to cling to that business over the next few years will just end in massive write-downs, frustrated clients, and damaged relationships,” says Patrice. “With ClearyX, the firm continues to profit from the natural migration of that work while doubling down on the tasks outside counsel have to perform.
“And even though ClearyX is a separate entity and not necessarily tied to Cleary’s existing client base, it offers a warmer handoff if a client using a product developed by the Cleary brand eventually needs to hire human outside counsel for higher level work.”