{"slug": "the-law-firm-of-the-future-may-look-less-like-a-pyramid-and-more-like-an-obelisk", "title": "The law firm of the future may look less like a pyramid — and more like an obelisk", "summary": "Christopher Kercher, a former Quinn Emanuel partner, launched Kercher Law as an AI-native litigation firm that plans to handle high-stakes corporate disputes with fewer than 20 attorneys, betting that artificial intelligence can replace layers of junior lawyers. Kercher, the firm's sole trial lawyer at launch, uses ChatGPT and Claude to manage documents and simulate opposing counsel, aiming to reduce the 'coordination tax' of large legal teams. The move reflects a growing trend of lawyers leaving Big Law to build boutique firms that adopt AI tools faster.", "body_md": "After 17 years at [Quinn Emanuel](https://www.businessinsider.com/shake-up-at-quinn-emanuel-worlds-most-feared-law-firm-2023-3), Christopher Kercher began building his new law firm from the line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World.\n\nWith Claude on his phone, he cruised through some of the chores that come with starting a firm. Five years ago, Kercher said, the sheer hassle might have persuaded him to give up. Artificial intelligence removed enough of the friction to make striking out on his own feel possible.\n\nNow, Kercher is betting the technology can do something more ambitious: change the shape of the law firm itself.\n\nAt Kercher Law, he plans to take on the high-stakes corporate disputes that defined his practice at Quinn Emanuel, one of the world's largest litigation firms. He expects to do the work with far fewer lawyers.\n\nFor generations, large law firms have been structured like pyramids. At the bottom, junior lawyers sift through documents, research the law, and write first drafts. Their work travels through progressively smaller layers of senior associates before reaching the lead partner, who makes the important calls.\n\nEach handoff adds judgment. It also adds time — and another line to the bill.\n\nKercher is building a law firm around the idea that artificial intelligence can shrink some of those layers. He expects to employ no more than \"low double digits\" of [attorneys](https://www.businessinsider.com/young-lawyers-choosing-work-startups-instead-big-law-2025-4). At launch, he is the firm's sole trial lawyer, supported by a small team handling technology and operations.\n\n\"I am not going to rebuild the pyramid,\" Kercher said.\n\nInstead, he expects the firm to look more like an obelisk (think the Washington Monument). It would stand lean from bottom to top, with experienced lawyers working more directly with the software systems that gather facts and crank out drafts.\n\nKercher is part of a small but growing group of [lawyers walking away from Big Law](https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-law-firm-moritz-seed-round-pitch-deck-y-combinator-2026-5) to build \"AI-native\" firms. They are betting that boutiques can adopt new tools faster than large firms, where software can spend months winding through red tape.\n\nThe experiment comes with regulatory and ethical questions, however. These firms must show they can try new ways of practicing law without cutting corners on the rules of the profession.\n\nFor clients, Kercher argues, a small firm's edge goes beyond a [smaller bill](https://www.businessinsider.com/vector-legal-seed-funding-mitch-duncombe-y-combinator-2026-7). Large teams impose what he calls a \"coordination tax.\" Lawyers spend time bringing one another up to speed, while facts and nuance can get lost as work moves from associates to partners.\n\nThe model also lets Kercher offer clients different ways to get legal help. He has begun holding standing monthly meetings for a flat fee, using the conversations to learn the business. When a dispute comes up, Kercher said he can reach a view faster about whether the claim is worth fighting, settling, or heading off entirely.\n\nThat speed depends on giving bots more of the work that once flowed through associates. Kercher relies on broad-use AI tools ChatGPT and Claude rather than software specifically built for lawyers. He uses them to turn sprawling sets of emails, contracts, and other records into timelines and to organize his thinking about how the facts and characters fit together.\n\nHe has also built a Claude skill that plays opposing counsel, probing his arguments for weaknesses before the other side gets the chance.\n\nThat digital adversary is part of a broader experiment. How much can one litigator accomplish with an army of digital coworkers?\n\nKercher did not bring any Quinn Emanuel partners with him. He said the solo launch was deliberate. Before building out the firm's human ranks, he wants to see how far technology can extend his reach — and where another lawyer can add something Claude cannot.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-law-firm-of-the-future-may-look-less-like-a-pyramid-and-more-like-an-obelisk", "canonical_source": "https://www.businessinsider.com/chris-kercher-quinn-emanuel-ai-native-law-firm-pyramid-obelisk-2026-8", "published_at": "2026-08-05 09:00:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-05 09:30:15.160835+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "ai-tools", "ai-startups"], "entities": ["Christopher Kercher", "Kercher Law", "Quinn Emanuel", "Claude", "ChatGPT", "Disney World", "Washington Monument"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-law-firm-of-the-future-may-look-less-like-a-pyramid-and-more-like-an-obelisk", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-law-firm-of-the-future-may-look-less-like-a-pyramid-and-more-like-an-obelisk.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-law-firm-of-the-future-may-look-less-like-a-pyramid-and-more-like-an-obelisk.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/the-law-firm-of-the-future-may-look-less-like-a-pyramid-and-more-like-an-obelisk.jsonld"}}