Agents in the Wild

Freshfields gave Claude to 5,700 staff and reports a 500% usage rise in six weeks

Law firm Freshfields made Claude available to 5,700 employees through its own AI platform and reports about a 500% rise in usage in six weeks. It is co-building agentic legal workflows with Anthropic.

Organization
Freshfields
Industry
Legal
When
Apr 2026
Evidence
Company reported
Agents and tools
ClaudeFreshfields Lab platformCoCounsel Legal

Reported outcome

Freshfields reports Claude is available to 5,700 employees and that adoption and usage rose about 500% within the first six weeks.

  • 5,700 (company)
    Employees with access
  • about 500% in six weeks (company)
    Usage growth
  • 33 (company)
    Offices in planned rollout

Caveats

Stated by the company that uses the agent (blog, earnings call, interview). Not independently audited.

  • Usage growth is not a result. The firm gives no time saved, quality or client outcome.
  • The agentic workflows (multi-step legal tasks) are planned and being co-built, not yet reported as live.
  • This is a joint announcement with Anthropic. Both gain from it.
  • The release does not mention how lawyers review AI output.

What the deployment does

Freshfields made Claude available to 5,700 employees through the firm's own general AI platform, built by Freshfields Lab, which connects Claude to the firm's knowledge. Named uses include legal and market research, contract review, document drafting, due diligence and business services automation. The firm also tests Thomson Reuters' CoCounsel Legal, which is built on Anthropic technology.

What happened

The firm reports adoption and usage rose about 500% in the first six weeks. It announced a multi-year deal with Anthropic to co-build agentic workflows for multi-step legal tasks, to define new workflows over the next 12 months, and to expand to all 33 offices. These parts are plans.

What to copy

  • Put the model inside your own platform, connected to your own knowledge.
  • Track adoption first, then pick a few tasks and measure time and quality.
  • Be clear in public about what is live and what is planned.

Starter prompt

Written by us, not by Freshfields. A lawyer must check every output.

Contract: {contract_text}
Our standard positions: {playbook}

List each clause that differs from our standard position.
For each: quote the clause, state our position, rate the risk (low / medium / high), and suggest a fallback.
Do not give legal conclusions. Mark anything unclear for lawyer review.

Sources

  1. Freshfields and Anthropic team up to co-build AI legal workflows, deploying Claude across the firm globally — Freshfields, Apr 23, 2026

Added Nov 2, 2026 · Sources last checked Nov 2, 2026. Spotted an error? Send a correction.

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