Anthropic introduced a range of new chatbot features on Tuesday, aimed at providing automated support to law firms. These enhancements build on Claude for Legal—a law-specific offering launched earlier this year—by delivering a fresh set of legal plugins and MCP connectors tailored to various practice areas. The rollout comes as competition intensifies in the legal AI sector. In March, Harvey, an AI legal startup that uses agentic technology to streamline legal workflows, secured $200 million in funding at an $11 billion valuation. Last month, rival firm Legora raised $600 million in a Series D round and launched a high-profile ad campaign starring Jude Law. Legora provides services similar to Harvey’s, offering automated solutions to simplify the intricate legal processes that have traditionally required large human teams.

Anthropic’s new tools are designed to help law firms automate specific clerical tasks, such as document search and review, case law research, deposition preparation, document drafting, and related functions. According to Anthropic, the plugins—which bundle various automated tools—are intended to work across legal domains including commercial, privacy, corporate, employment, product, and AI governance. The company is also introducing several model context protocol connectors. MCPs link specific data sources and third-party systems to AI models, enabling direct interaction. In this case, the new MCP connectors integrate Claude into software applications already widely used by law firms, such as DocuSign for document management and Box for file search. Legal research platforms like Thomson Reuters, which operates Westlaw, can also be connected. Anthropic stated that the new connectors and plugins are available to all paying Claude customers.

These features build on earlier legal industry plugins launched in February. “The legal sector is facing mounting pressure to adopt AI, and the firms and in-house teams that move are pulling ahead fast,” a company spokesperson said. “Claude is making a deeper push into knowledge work, with the legal sector emerging as one of its most significant and fastest-growing industries.”

As AI companies vie for law firm clients, AI-related mishaps have caused real problems in court. Dozens of lawyers have been caught using AI to generate error-filled legal documents, including at least one major law firm. Last year, California imposed a first-of-its-kind fine on an attorney who used ChatGPT to draft an appeal riddled with fabricated quotes. Federal judges have also been found using AI to write rulings, a trend that drew scrutiny from congressional leaders last year. Meanwhile, AI-generated lawsuits are reportedly overwhelming courts with a flood of bizarrely argued legal “slop,” clogging the justice system.