According to Business Insider, legal tech companies are flooding into New York City with Legora signing a two-floor lease at 838 Broadway covering 27,238 square feet for five years and Harvey securing a 10-year lease at One Madison Avenue that triples its footprint to 97,000 square feet. Vancouver giant Clio is searching for New York office space after a $500 million funding round, while startups like Spellbook and Covenant are also establishing NYC bases. The migration comes as the American Bar Association counted 187,656 lawyers in New York state in 2024, the most of any state, with seven of the 20 largest US law firms headquartered in NYC. Legal tech skyrocketed this year as corporate clients pushed law firms to adopt cost-saving tools, creating a hiring boom that’s giving junior lawyers unprecedented opportunities to leave traditional firms for startups offering stock options and better benefits.
Why everyone’s rushing to New York
Here’s the thing about legal tech – it’s not like building the next social media app. You can’t just hire a bunch of engineers in Silicon Valley and call it a day. These companies need to be physically close to their customers, and their customers are Big Law firms and corporate legal departments. Legora’s senior VP put it perfectly: “If you want to win this market, you have to win this city.”
And the numbers don’t lie. When you’ve got nearly 188,000 lawyers in one state and all the major law firms maintaining significant NYC offices, being able to ride a Citi Bike to pitch meetings becomes a competitive advantage. It’s about proximity driving faster decision-making and quicker feedback loops. Basically, you need to speak the language of lawyers, and that language is best learned in the corridors of Manhattan office towers.
The talent wars are getting real
Now here’s where it gets interesting for lawyers themselves. Junior associates who’ve been grinding billable hours suddenly have options. We’re talking stock options, free daily lunch, wellness benefits, even four-week paid sabbaticals after four years at companies like Harvey. That’s a pretty compelling alternative to the traditional partner track.
But it’s not just about perks. Founders are getting creative with recruitment too. While some companies splash cash on billboards and conference booths, Norm Ai is hosting networking events at New York bars to lure Big Law talent. It’s a smart move – these lawyers already know the pain points because they’ve lived them. Who better to build legal tech than people who actually understand legal work?
Not everyone’s playing the same game
What’s fascinating is how different companies are approaching this boom. Covenant, for example, isn’t building its own AI models – they’re using existing ones from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, but layering legal expertise on top. Their founder Jen Berrent put it well: “If you believe that the way you’re going to win in a vertical is with the expertise, then the expertise is here.”
Meanwhile, Hebbia’s CEO says launching from New York was “the only option” for their investor-focused legal tools. And Legora requires employees in the office five days a week because, let’s face it, when your customers are down the street, remote work doesn’t cut it. The common thread? They all recognize that in legal tech, domain expertise trumps everything else.
Where does this all lead?
So is this just a temporary boom or the new normal? The massive office leases suggest companies are betting big on sustained growth. When you sign a 10-year lease like Harvey did, you’re not just thinking about next quarter’s numbers.
The real question is whether this concentration in New York will create the kind of innovation ecosystem we’ve seen in other tech hubs. With so much talent, capital, and customer density in one place, we could be looking at the beginning of legal tech’s golden age. And for the lawyers watching from the sidelines? The message seems clear: the future of legal work is being built right now, and it’s happening in New York.
