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Welcome to this week's edition of The Legal Wire!

First things first, to our readers: wishing you a joyful holiday and a brilliant start to the new year. Thanks for reading, sharing, and keeping us sharp all year. We’re looking forward to keeping you up to date on the legal technology space throughout 2026, what matters, what’s hype, and what actually ships.

On Monday, the power went to the pipes. SoftBank moved to buy DigitalBridge for $4B, a reminder that the real AI rush isn’t just smarter models, it’s the concrete and copper that feed them. By midweek, the conversation shifted from chatty assistants to doers: agentic AI. Vendors stopped promising vibes and started promising outcomes, systems that open files, run steps, and deliver work product, so long as your data house is finally in order. And just as the hype crested, the courts tugged on the legal loose thread again: a Pulitzer-winning journalist sued the biggest labs over training data, raising the same old question with new stakes, who pays for the knowledge inside these machines?

For law firms and in-house teams, the takeaway feels simple: invest in infrastructure (yours), keep humans on the hook for judgment, and expect 2026 to reward the teams who pair agents with governance instead of swapping one for the other.

Our feature this week follows that arc from theory to practice: BePrepared, a firm-branded digital vault turning digital-asset chaos into something billable, defensible, and, finally, useful to clients. Pull up a chair; this one is about building systems that last.

This week’s Highlights:

• Industry News and Updates

• Not Your Average Vault: How BePrepared Assists Law Firms In Locking In the Future

• AI Regulation Updates

• AI Tools to Supercharge your productivity

• Legal prompt of the week

• Latest AI Incidents & Legal Tech Map

➡️ SoftBank Agrees $4bn Deal to Buy DigitalBridge in AI Infrastructure Push | Reported by the Financial Times: SoftBank has agreed to acquire US data centre and telecoms investor DigitalBridge for about $4 billion, deepening Masayoshi Son’s aggressive bet on AI infrastructure. The deal strengthens SoftBank’s push into next-generation data centres as it ramps up investments tied to OpenAI and large-scale computing projects, despite growing investor concerns about an AI investment bubble.
^{Dec 29, 2025, Source: Financial Times}

➡️ Agentic AI Raises New Questions About Lawyers’ Critical Thinking Skills | As agentic AI becomes more autonomous, legal experts warn it may erode lawyers’ critical thinking through cognitive offloading, but only if poorly deployed. Research suggests that when AI replaces problem framing and judgment, analytical skills suffer, yet when designed to augment human reasoning, agentic AI can deepen analysis, improve discovery and contract review, and free lawyers to focus on higher-value strategic thinking.
^{Dec 29, 2025, Source: Thomson Reuters}

➡️ Industry Predicts 2026 Will Be the Breakout Year for Agentic AI | Major technology providers including AWS, Cisco, and Oracle say customer demand is shifting away from chatbots toward agentic AI systems that can autonomously execute specific tasks and deliver measurable outcomes. Executives argue that success in 2026 will hinge on data modernization and cloud infrastructure, with organizations prioritizing domain-specific, workflow-driven AI over experimental pilots.
^{Dec 29, 2025, Source: NextGov}

➡️ Pulitzer-Winning Journalist Sues OpenAI, Google, Meta, and xAI Over AI Training Data | Investigative reporter John Carreyrou has filed a federal lawsuit in California accusing major AI developers, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity, of training their models on copyrighted books without permission. The case adds fresh pressure to ongoing legal debates over whether large-scale AI training practices can be justified under U.S. copyright law.
^{Dec 23, 2025, Source: IBTimes}

Legal Technology

Not Your Average Vault: How BePrepared Assists Law Firms In Locking In the Future

If you’ve ever tried to untangle a digital footprint after someone passes away, you know it’s not just about passwords. It’s about emails, cloud storage, photos, two-factor authentication, digital subscriptions, and so much more. And yet, for years, digital assets have sat awkwardly at the edges of traditional estate planning, where they were acknowledged, but not fully integrated.

BePrepared identified this inefficiency, and they’ve set out to change it.

Founded in 2018 by Dylan O’Brien, BePrepared is a firm-branded, secure digital vault designed specifically for law firms to help clients manage and protect their digital assets. With large global traction and over 30,000 users across six countries, it’s become the go-to solution for estate planners seeking to offer modern, secure, and practical guidance on digital asset planning.

And it’s a solution lawyers clearly need. According to a recent STEP report, over 60% of estate planners are fielding digital asset questions from clients, yet few feel equipped to answer them confidently.

After watching an insightful demo by the founder, Dylan, we wanted to know more.

Click here to continue reading the full interview

The AI Regulation Tracker offers a clickable global map that gives you instant snapshots of how each country is handling AI laws, along with the most recent policy developments.

The most recent developments from the past week:

📋 27 December 2025 | China issues draft rules to regulate AI with human-like interaction: The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has released a draft of the "Interim Measures for the Management of Artificial Intelligence Human-like Interactive Services" which aim to tighten oversight of AI services designed to simulate human personalities and engage users in emotional interaction. The proposed rules would apply to AI products and services offered to the public in China that present simulated human personality traits, thinking patterns and communication styles, and interact with users emotionally through text, images, audio, video or other means. The proposed measures would: (1) require service providers to assume safety responsibilities throughout the product lifecycle and establish systems for algorithm review, data security and personal information protection; (2) target potential psychological risks by requiring providers to identify user states and assess users' emotions and their level of dependence on the service; (3) require providers to take necessary measures to intervene if users are found to exhibit extreme emotions or addictive behaviour; and (4) set content and conduct red lines, stating that services must not generate content that endangers national security, spreads rumours or promotes violence or obscenity. The measures are open to public comment by 25 January 2026.

📋 25 December 2025 | Türkiye broadens tech governance with new AI directorates: Under Presidential Decree No. 191 published in the Official Gazette, Türkiye has expanded its AI governance by renaming the Directorate General of National Technology to the Directorate General of National Technology and Artificial Intelligence, which will develop policies to enhance data center and cloud computing infrastructure, set standards for data centers, and oversee certification processes. Additionally, a Public Artificial Intelligence Directorate General has been established under the Presidency's Cybersecurity Directorate to guide AI use across government institutions, align national legislation with international frameworks, and set data governance standards for digital government and public sector AI applications.

📋 23 December 2025 | Taiwan passes AI Basic Act: It is reported that Taiwan's Legislative Yuan has passed the Artificial Intelligence Basic Act, establishing a legal framework for AI governance and designating the National Science and Technology Council as the central authority. The act defines AI systems and mandates that government promotion of AI research and applications balance social welfare, digital equity, innovation, and national competitiveness, adhering to seven core principles including sustainability, human autonomy, privacy, cybersecurity, transparency, fairness, and accountability. To prevent harm, the law prohibits AI uses that infringe on life, freedom, property, or disrupt social order, and requires clear labeling of high-risk AI products. It also mandates the creation of a national AI strategy committee, allocation of sufficient budgets, strengthening of legal frameworks, and promotion of data protection measures. Additionally, the Ministry of Digital Affairs is tasked with developing an AI risk classification framework aligned with international standards and assisting industries in formulating sector-specific guidelines.

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Why it helps: Fee-Shifting Angle Finder.

Instructions:
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The Responsible AI Collaborative is a not‑for‑profit organization working to present real‑world AI harms through its Artificial Intelligence Incident Database.

View the latest reported incidents below:

⚠️ 2025-12-02 | Purported Deepfake Impersonating Doctor Allegedly Used in $200,000 Investment Scam Targeting Florida Grandmother | View Incident

⚠️ 2025-12-18 | Anthropic Claude AI Agent Reportedly Caused Financial Losses While Operating Office Vending Machine at Wall Street Journal Headquarters | View Incident

⚠️ 2025-12-09 | ZeroEyes AI Surveillance System Reportedly Flagged Clarinet as Gun, Triggering School Lockdown in Florida | View Incident

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