Reuters reported on September 25, 2026, that law firms are competing with tech companies for engineers and data scientists as they expand AI capabilities. In that reporting, Cooley’s chief innovation officer David Wang was quoted about the firm’s push to recruit technology talent, and Reuters said Cooley AI is a firm-owned AI company.
Cooley’s own AI page says Cooley AI is a firm-owned artificial intelligence company. It says the unit is looking for people to shape legal innovation and lists AI-native product, data, engineering, and service-design work. Cooley also says its AI strategy is about redesigning how work gets done and rethinking staffing and delivery.
Cooley separately announced GO Public with OpenAI on September 17, 2026. In that announcement, Cooley describes GO Public as an AI-enabled offering built by capital markets lawyers and legal engineers, and says the broader Cooley AI effort is intended to rethink how legal services are staffed, priced, and delivered.
What changed
The supplied sources show two connected developments: Reuters’ reporting that law firms are competing for technical workers as they build AI capabilities, and Cooley’s own description of a firm-owned AI unit that is hiring for technical and service-design roles. The sources do not identify the full set of roles open at Cooley, and they do not say whether those roles replace, supplement, or coexist with other hiring plans.
Who is affected
The immediate labor-market focus in the supplied reporting is on engineers and data scientists, with Cooley’s AI page also naming product, data, engineering, and service-design work. The sources do not identify the current composition of Cooley’s workforce, so they do not show how these roles change the firm’s overall staffing mix.
What Cooley says about its approach
Cooley says its AI strategy is meant to redesign how work gets done and to rethink staffing and delivery while keeping lawyers and human judgment at the center, according to the supplied materials. The sources also say Cooley’s GO Public offering was built by capital markets lawyers and legal engineers, but they do not give details on how that work is organized internally beyond that description.
What to watch next
The key question in the supplied reporting is whether other law firms make similar hiring moves as they expand AI capabilities and compete for the same technical talent. The supplied sources do not provide a timetable for Cooley’s hiring, and they do not say how many positions the firm plans to fill.
Sources
- Law Firms Vie for Tech Talent in AI Race — Reuters via Fidelity
- Law Firms Vie for Tech Talent in AI Race — Cooley
- Cooley AI | Building the Future of Legal Service Delivery — Cooley
- Cooley Launches GO Public With OpenAI — Cooley