Not Legal Advice: supporting facts
Prepared October 18, 2026, from the anchors in the Not Legal Advice build brief (section 6). Each row names its source. Where a direct link was not available to the build session, the source is named by publication and date; links will be added from Ash Kalb's source documents. This file is not legal advice.
Market and funding
| Fact | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Harvey raised $550M at a $15.5B valuation. | Sept 9, 2026 | LawNext; TechCrunch |
| Harvey's gross margin moved from about +50% to about -50% by June 2026 as agent token costs rose. | Sept 21, 2026 | Bloomberg |
| Legora raised $550M at a $5.55B valuation. | March 10, 2026 | TechCrunch |
| Legora in talks at an $8.5B pre-money valuation. | Sept 22, 2026 | Bloomberg |
| Kirkland & Ellis committed $500M over four years to a proprietary AI platform. | May 29, 2026 | Global Legal Post; Bloomberg Law |
| Legal tech funding: $4.6B in 2025; about $2.2B through August 2026; Q3 2026 $1.2B across 83 deals. | 2025 to Q3 2026 | Crunchbase; Axios Pro / PitchBook |
| Sequoia: about $60B of outsourced legal work could be absorbed by "autopilots". | March 30, 2026 | Artificial Lawyer |
| Crosby $60M Series B at $400M; Manifest OS $60M at $750M (an Arizona ABS); Lawhive $60M; Eudia $105M plus ALSP acquisitions; Norm Ai $120M at $1.2B plus Norm Law. | 2026 | Company announcements as compiled in the brief |
| Atrium raised $75M and shut down. | March 2020 | TechCrunch |
Verification failures
| Fact | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The AI Hallucination Cases database lists 2,046 court decisions involving AI hallucinations. | As of Sept 21, 2026 | Damien Charlotin, AI Hallucination Cases database, https://www.damiencharlotin.com/hallucinations/ |
| N.D. Miss. (Judge Aycock) cancelled a trial after both sides cited fabricated cases. | June 11, 2026 | Legal Cheek |
Professional rules
| Fact | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ABA Model Rule 5.1 makes partners and supervising lawyers responsible for ensuring other lawyers conform to the Rules. | Current | ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 5.1, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_5_1_responsibilities_of_a_partner_or_supervisory_lawyer/ |
| ABA Model Rule 5.3 covers nonlawyer assistance; its title was changed to "Nonlawyer Assistance" in 2012. | 2012 | ABA Model Rules, Rule 5.3, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/professional_responsibility/publications/model_rules_of_professional_conduct/rule_5_3_responsibilities_regarding_nonlawyer_assistant/ |
| ABA Formal Opinion 512 addresses lawyers' use of generative AI tools. | July 29, 2024 | ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, Formal Opinion 512, https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/professional_responsibility/ethics-opinions/aba-formal-opinion-512.pdf |
How firms and clients govern AI today
| Fact | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 18% of firms track AI ROI. | 2026 | Thomson Reuters, 2026 report |
| 40% of firms receive conflicting instructions from clients about AI use. | 2026 | Thomson Reuters, 2026 report |
| Fewer than a third of legal departments know whether their outside counsel uses AI. | 2026 | Thomson Reuters, 2026 report |
| 34% of firm staff use unauthorized AI tools. | 2026 | Thomson Reuters, 2026 report |
| 20 of 1,054 outside counsel guidelines mention AI. | 2026 | Fulkerson Advisors |
Insurance and ownership
| Fact | Date | Source |
|---|---|---|
| No lawyers' professional liability carrier had filed an AI exclusion. | As of Oct 1, 2026 | legalaigovernance.com tracker |
| Counterpart launched affirmative AI coverage. | Sept 1, 2026 | legalaigovernance.com tracker |
| Arizona has approved 150 to 181 alternative business structures; Texas, California, Florida and Maryland restrict them. | April 27, 2026 | Washington Times |