2025 was the year legal tech became serious business. We saw big exits, real capital, platform consolidation and regulators moving to issuing rules.
For Irish solicitors, the signal is clear. The profession is moving into a world where your technology choices are no longer just operational. They’re client facing, audit relevant and increasingly part of professional competence.
Top 12 moments of 2025
February: The EU AI Act
From 2 February 2025 the AI Act’s first obligations began applying including AI literacy and prohibited practices.
Why it mattered: AI governance became an organisational requirement, not a tech team hobby.
April: DPC put AI training data under a microscope
The Data Protection Commission opened an inquiry into X’s use of EU personal data to train Grok.
Days later, Meta outlined plans to use public posts and AI interactions in the EU to train models (with an objection mechanism).
Why it mattered: “Where does the model’s training data come from?” became a mainstream compliance and procurement question and Irish regulation sits at the centre of that conversation.
May: Ireland produced a landmark legal tech exit
Wolters Kluwer agreed to acquire Brightflag for €425m.
Why it mattered: This was a scale marker for Irish founded legal tech and a reminder that global incumbents are buying capability fast.
May: Digital court rules made paper based habits look dated
The Circuit Court Rules (Digital) 2025 landed by statutory instrument, part of the wider shift toward digital filing/service and new attestation mechanics.
Why it mattered: Court facing digitisation moved from project to procedure.
June: The Courts Portal went live
The Courts Service announced the pilot Courts Portal for Circuit Court family law in Dublin as live, with online filing, payments, tracking, digital service and a Statement of Truth framework.
The Law Society also flagged the practical shift to managing family law cases online.
Why it mattered: Litigation operations started becoming notification driven and auditable.
July: Ireland’s ALSP market hit a new level
The Law Society Gazette reported Johnson Hana sold in a €42m deal to Eudia.
Why it mattered: The boundary between “legal services” and “legal tech + delivery” blurred further and Ireland is strongly in the mix.
July: Europe published its on ramp for general purpose AI
The EU published a voluntary GPAI Code of Practice to help providers align with the AI Act.
At the same time, pressure mounted to pause the AI Act and the Commission publicly refused to stop the clock.
Why it mattered: The compliance timetable hardened. Vendors had to prepare. Buyers (including law firms) needed to start asking better questions.
August: The AI Act’s general purpose AI rules started to apply
The Commission’s own timeline puts 2 August 2025 as the milestone when general purpose AI rules apply and governance must be in place.
Why it mattered: Even if your firm isn’t building models, your suppliers increasingly are. AI risk moved into vendor management.
October: The profession’s “how to” guidance accelerated
The CCBE issued a substantial guide on GenAI for lawyers providing a useful context for Irish and EU facing practice.
Why it mattered: 2025 was the year guidance stopped being generic and started getting operational focusing on use cases, limits, verification and risk controls.
November: The Law Society of Ireland made GenAI a professional issue
The Law Society published formal guidance for solicitors on GenAI framing it through core duties such as confidentiality, competence, supervision and judgment).
Why it mattered: Irish firms can’t credibly say “we haven’t thought about it”. The expectation is that you have a stance and you can evidence it.
November: The judiciary entered the chat
The Judicial Council published guidelines for judges on GenAI including cautions and red flags.
Why it mattered: This changes the ecosystem. AI use in court related work becomes something that may need to be explainable and verifiable.
November: Irish legal tech funding got real
TrialView announced a $4.1m growth funding round led by Elkstone Ventures.
Why it mattered: It reinforced the pattern that Irish linked legal tech is attracting growth capital, especially in disputes and workflow.
November: Platform consolidation hit mega deal territory
Clio closed its $1B acquisition of vLex and announced a $500m Series G at a $5B valuation.
Why it mattered: The market is collapsing toward fewer, broader stacks where practice management, research and AI converge.
Ireland sidebar: what changed locally in 2025
Ireland as a producer – not just a buyer
- Brightflag’s €425m acquisition proved Irish founded legal ops platforms can exit at global scale.
- Johnson Hana’s €42m sale underlined Ireland’s role in the tech + delivery model.
- TrialView’s funding showed disputes tech with Irish roots can raise and expand internationally.
Ireland as a regulatory centre of gravity
- DPC action around AI training data kept Ireland central to EU AI/data enforcement narratives.
Ireland as a digitisation testbed
- Courts Portal and Digital Rules began shifting procedure from paper workflows to system workflows.
What this means for Irish firms in 2026
Three practical conclusions:
- Your tech stack is now part of your professional posture
Clients and regulators and insurers will increasingly judge whether you can show control in policies, training, verification and vendor choices. - Platform decisions matter more than point solutions
Consolidation and AI embedding mean you’re choosing an operating system, not a tool. - Governance becomes the differentiator
Who can prove safe use, confidentiality protection, and reliable workflows.
