Extract from Daniel Ivtsan’s article, “The Litigation AI Arms Race Has Already Started and Both Sides Are Armed.”
While the legal tech world debates who writes briefs faster, the economics of litigation are being quietly rebuilt by both sides of the v.
The conversation around legal AI follows a pretty predictable script. We talk about Big Law billable hours, the democratization of law for small firms, or whether an LLM can pass the bar. The debate stays on the front lines, focusing on the lawyers, the firms, the courtrooms. But if you only watch one side of the fence, you’re watching the wrong game. The real transformation is happening in the economic engine of civil litigation: the insurance carriers.
It’s no secret that the insurance industry has been investing aggressively in AI for years. McKinsey estimates generative AI could unlock $50–70 billion in insurance industry revenue. Bain found that 78% of P&C insurers are already using generative AI in some capacity. The insurance trade press covers it daily.
What is underappreciated, especially among practicing attorneys, is what this shift means for the adversarial dynamics of litigation itself, because plaintiff firms aren’t standing still either. Both sides are tooling up simultaneously, the data advantages that defined the last thirty years are eroding, and regulators are already intervening. The arms race is well underway, but most litigators just haven’t noticed the battlefield has moved.
