Claude for Legal, Freshfields, and a 500% Adoption Spike: What Native AI in Law Means for Mid-Market Firms

Anthropic launched Claude for Legal in 2026, partnered with Freshfields across 33 offices, and saw 500% usage growth in six weeks. The real story isn't that BigLaw is adopting AI - it's that the architectural pattern of native AI (not bolted-on tools) is now the dominant model, and mid-market firms can deploy it too.