A two-year-old startup called Crosby, whose lawyers use artificial intelligence to speed up contract review and other legal work, has submitted an offer to acquire some assets of prominent law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges after the firm abruptly announced it was shutting down and liquidating, according to people familiar with the bidding.
Crosby filed a letter of intent on Thursday to purchase certain Weil assets, including internal business data, trademarks and branding, the people said. The terms of the bid were not disclosed. The company also hopes to bring on board some of Weil's 1,200 lawyers. It is not yet clear whether other investors have emerged to bid for Weil's assets.
These days, data from failed or acquired companies 鈥?even seemingly ordinary emails and IT tickets 鈥?is highly valuable to AI companies, which can use such material to train or fine-tune AI models. In recent months, companies including Google have taken part in bidding for the internal business data and software code of bankrupt budget carrier Spirit Airlines. It is not yet known how Crosby plans to use Weil's data to strengthen its own business.
Law firms like Weil hold large amounts of potentially valuable non-client-specific data, such as M&A agreement templates and various contract samples from different stages of negotiations. Startups like Crosby can use such data to customize and fine-tune their AI systems. The company's AI agents run on underlying large models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
The bid by Crosby comes after the storied Wall Street law firm, which once served major corporations in significant M&A, bankruptcy restructuring and litigation matters, collapsed. Weil had remained profitable and had handled the 2008 Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, Microsoft's 2023 antitrust defense of its Activision Blizzard acquisition, and represented Apple in its lawsuit accusing OpenAI of misappropriating trade secrets. But a wave of partner departures, capped by the September move of dealmaking cornerstone Michael Aiello and his team to Cravath, Swaine & Moore, proved the final straw for the nearly century-old firm. Weil has hired Davis Polk to advise on the restructuring.
Crosby was named last year to The Information's list of 50 standout startups. Its founder has a lawyer background and also served as an engineering manager at Ramp. The company has raised more than $80 million in total funding from investors including Lux Capital, Index Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital Ventures, and was last valued at $400 million. It currently has more than 50 practicing lawyers responsible for reviewing AI output, leading negotiations and maintaining client relationships.
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