The Legal AI Index
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№ 08 · Tier 1 · Magic Circle and Top 10Developer

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader

Built proprietary legal tech company (ELTEMATE). Combined firm Hogan Lovells Cadwalader launched 1 July 2026 — the largest law firm merger in history ($3.6bn combined revenue, 3,100 lawyers, world's 5th largest by turnover).

Platforms in use
Proprietary
Proprietary tools and programmes
  • ELTEMATE

    Hogan Lovells' own legal tech company, headquartered in Amsterdam. Nearly 100 employees including ~20 software developers, data scientists, AI experts.

  • CRAIG

    ELTEMATE's flagship GenAI chatbot (launched Dec 2023). 4,400+ active users worldwide. 50%+ time savings on drafting, analysis, document review. Now entering agentic phase.

  • Regulatory Pilot

    ELTEMATE product automating collection and review of regulatory updates using AI. Covers automotive, finance, life sciences.

  • Breach Pilot

    Cybersecurity incident response simulator. Winning entry of DIGI2025 firmware competition. Now being developed as a product within Eltemate.

ALSP & NewLaw arm
Managed Legal Services
Managed legal services

Managed legal services for high-volume, business-as-usual work, plus a flexible lawyering pool drawn from the firm's alumni and delivered in partnership with ALSP Elevate. (ELTEMATE, listed above, is the firm's separate legal tech venture, not an ALSP.)

Visit Managed Legal Services
What is happening
  • ·Won Disruptive Technology of the Year (European Legal Innovation & Technology Awards 2025), Band 1 in three Chambers categories.
  • ·DIGI2025 firmware competition received 100+ submissions globally.
  • ·CRAIG impact: email-sorting drops ~80%; chronology engine 42% faster than human reviewer on 470-page dataset; in life sciences litigation, chronologies arriving up to 10x faster.
  • ·Part of SkillBurst Interactive AI training consortium (with Eversheds, NRF, others).
  • ·January 2026: Paul Gilford appointed global CIO (ex-DLA Piper). Mark Brennan moves to Global Managing Partner for Digitalization.
  • ·December 2025: merger with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft announced — billed as the largest law firm merger in history. Partners approved April 2026 (>95% in favour). Combined firm 'Hogan Lovells Cadwalader' launched 1 July 2026: $3.6bn combined revenue, 3,100 lawyers, 5th-largest firm globally by turnover. CEO: Miguel Zaldivar (existing Hogan Lovells CEO). Top 10 in London, one of top 25 in New York. Cadwalader will benefit from ELTEMATE technology and CRAIG chatbot.
Verdict

ELTEMATE is a genuinely distinctive model - a near-100-person legal tech company owned by the firm. CRAIG at 4,400 users with 50% time savings is a strong data point. The Cadwalader merger is the largest in legal history and creates one of the world's five largest firms by revenue.

Sources