The AI legal services industry is heating up. Anthropic is getting in on the action. | TechCrunch

"Anthropic announced Tuesday that it is launching a host of new chatbot features designed to provide automated assistance to law firms. The new features expand Claude for Legal - the law-focused offering that launched earlier this year - offering users a new set of legal plugins and MCP connectors designed for specific areas of law."

"Anthropic's new tools are designed to help law firms automate specific clerical functions - things like document search and review, case law resources, deposition prep, document drafting, and other related areas. The plugins - which represent a bundle of functions and automated tools - are designed to work across legal fields like commercial, privacy, corporate, employment, product, and AI governance, Anthropic says."

"Anthropic is also offering a number of model context protocol connectors. MCPs connect specific data sources and third-party systems to AI models, allowing the models to interact with them directly. In this case, the new MCP connectors integrate Claude into a variety of software applications that are already routinely used by law firms - applications for document management like DocuSign and file search platforms like Box. Legal research sites like Thomson Reuters (which operates Westlaw) can also be connected."

"The new connectors and plugins are being made available to all paying Claude customers, the company said. The new features also build upon other plugins designed for the legal industry that the company launched in February."

Anthropic is launching new chatbot features for law firms by expanding Claude for Legal. The update adds legal plugins and model context protocol (MCP) connectors tailored to specific areas of law. The tools aim to automate clerical tasks such as document search and review, case law resources, deposition preparation, and document drafting. Plugins are intended to work across multiple legal fields including commercial, privacy, corporate, employment, product, and AI governance. MCP connectors enable Claude to connect directly with data sources and third-party systems used by law firms, including document management platforms like DocuSign and file search tools like Box. Legal research services such as Thomson Reuters can also be connected. The features are available to all paying Claude customers and build on earlier legal plugins released in February.

Read at TechCrunch