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The Next Wave of AI: What’s Really Coming in 2025

By Pete Hanlon |
January 29, 2025

The Next Wave of AI: What’s Really Coming in 2025

The following post was contributed by Pete Hanlon, Chief Technology Officer of Moneypenny.

As CTO of Moneypenny, the leading outsourced communications company, Pete Hanlon brings a unique perspective to the transformative technology trends set to shape 2025 for lawyers. From advancements in AI to the realities of integration and regulation, he foresees pivotal changes that could redefine the legal profession and beyond.

Here’s a deep dive into what lies ahead—not just the obvious shifts, but the deeper changes that could impact how lawyers work,.

Open Source Is Coming for the Crown

The most exciting battle in AI isn’t unfolding in corporate labs, it’s happening in the open source community. They’re catching up fast, and were starting to see open source models going head to head with industry leaders such as OpenAI o1 and Claud-Sonnet-3.5. This isn’t just about matching performance metrics. It’s about making AI accessible to both large and small law firms that have been held back by data privacy concerns, opening doors for firms that have struggled to leverage this technology. The result? A new era where AI is democratized, accessible to all, and no longer controlled by closed source businesses.

Forget AI Replacing Lawyers – Think AI as Your Digital Colleague

Remember when everyone thought AI would replace many law firm jobs overnight? That’s not how it’s playing out. Instead, we’re witnessing the emergence of hybrid teams where AI takes on the repetitive tasks, leaving people free to handle more complex challenges. It’s less about replacing jobs and more about using AI to super power people and using data to enable smarter decision making. Moneypenny, for example, delivers outsourced communication solutions that blend the efficiency of AI with the personal touch of real people. This balanced approach boosts productivity and enhances customer satisfaction. 

Integration: The Real Challenge Nobody’s Talking About

Here’s where things get interesting and complicated. The next phase isn’t about building brand new AI systems, for lawyers it’s about weaving them seamlessly into existing business processes, work flows and infrastructure. Picture CRM systems that can predict what customers need, knowledge bases that update themselves, conversations that flow naturally between voice and text, and customer support that breaks language barriers. We understand the importance of seamless integration, and at Moneypenny, we’re fully embracing it helping legal teams embed AI powered systems into their infrastructure seamlessly . 

Industry Specific Models: Tailored AI for Specialized Needs

We’re entering an era of industry specific LLMs tailored for the legal field. These models will come pre loaded with domain-specific knowledge, enabling firms to deploy AI that understands their unique requirements, language, and regulatory needs. In finance, LLMs could support compliance and offer investment insights. In law, they could streamline contract review and case law analysis. These specialized models will allow companies to quickly implement AI that’s relevant, compliant, and impactful in their field.

The Reality Check Is Coming

Some firms may soon realize they’ve taken on more than they can handle with AI adoption, facing a range of unexpected challenges. Many will struggle with complex integration issues as they attempt to launch AI initiatives within existing systems. Additionally, there may be difficulties in managing the high expectations around AI’s capabilities, as reality often falls short of the hype surrounding its potential. 

Regulation: The Elephant in the Room

Law firms should prepare for the growing impact of AI regulations, particularly in customer facing applications. Forward thinking organizations are already taking steps to build transparency into their AI systems, overhauling data governance practices to ensure accountability. They are creating detailed audit trails to track AI decision making and making sure that their systems are both fair and accessible. These proactive measures not only help them stay compliant but also foster trust with their customers.

What This Means for lawyers

The next year won’t just be about AI getting better – it’ll be about AI getting smarter about how it fits into our existing world. Success won’t come from blindly adopting every new AI tool. It’ll come from carefully choosing where AI can genuinely improve how lawyers work.

The winners won’t be the companies with the most advanced AI. They’ll be the ones who figure out how to blend AI and human capabilities in ways that make sense for their business and their customers. Yes, we’ll see AI continuing to be more accessible and capable. But the real story will be about how lawyers learn to use it wisely. After all, technology is just a tool – it’s how the legal profession use it that matters.

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Pete Hanlon

Pete Hanlon

Commercial

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Commercial Regulatory Issues

Ciarb Finalizes Third-Party Funding Guideline for Arbitration

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Ciarb) has finalized a guideline intended to bring greater clarity and consistency to the use of third-party funding (TPF) in international arbitration. The document addresses practical touchpoints that routinely surface in funded cases, including disclosure expectations, funder–party control, conflicts management, security-for-costs, and termination provisions.

An article in Global Arbitration Review reports that Ciarb’s move follows a multi-year effort to codify best practices as funding becomes a normalized feature of international disputes.

The guideline frames TPF as non-recourse finance that can enhance access to justice, while underscoring the need for transparent guardrails around influence and information-sharing. It also emphasizes tribunal discretion: disclosure should be targeted to the issues actually before the tribunal, with the goal of mitigating conflicts and addressing cost-allocation (including security) without converting funding agreements into mini-trials.

In parallel materials, Ciarb stresses that funded parties need not be impecunious and that funding may extend beyond fees to case-critical costs such as experts and enforcement.

For funders and users alike, the practical effect could be fewer procedural detours and more consistent outcomes on recurring questions (what to disclose, when to disclose it, and how to handle costs). If widely adopted in practice — by counsel in drafting and by tribunals in procedural orders — the guideline may reduce uncertainty premiums in term sheets and, in turn, lower the effective cost of capital for meritorious claims. It also sets a useful marker as regulators and courts continue to revisit TPF norms across key jurisdictions.

Commercial

Loopa Finance Joins ELFA Amid European Expansion Push

By John Freund |

Litigation funder Loopa Finance has officially joined the European Litigation Funders Association (ELFA), marking a significant step in its ongoing expansion across continental Europe. Founded in Latin America and recently rebranded from Qanlex, Loopa offers a suite of funding models—from full legal cost coverage to hybrid arrangements—designed to help corporates and law firms unlock capital, manage litigation risk, and accelerate cash flow.

The announcement on Loopa Finance's website underscores the company's commitment to transparency and ethical funding practices. Loopa will be represented within ELFA by Ignacio Delgado Larena-Avellaneda, an investment manager at Loopa and part of its European leadership team.

In a statement, General Counsel Europe Ignacio Delgado emphasized the firm’s belief that “justice should not depend on available capital,” describing the ELFA membership as a reflection of Loopa’s approach to combining legal acumen, financial rigor, and technology.

Founded in 2022, ELFA has rapidly positioned itself as the primary self-regulatory body for commercial litigation funding in Europe. With a Code of Conduct and increasing engagement with regulators, ELFA provides a platform for collaboration among leading funders committed to professional standards. Charles Demoulin, ELFA Director and CIO at Deminor, welcomed Loopa’s addition as bringing “a valuable intercontinental dimension” and praised the firm’s technological innovation and cross-border strategy.

Loopa’s move comes amid growing connectivity between the Latin American and European legal funding markets. For industry watchers, the announcement signals both Loopa’s rising profile and the growing importance of regulatory alignment and cross-border credibility for funders operating in multiple jurisdictions.

Commercial

Burford Covers Antitrust in Legal Funding

By John Freund |

Burford Capital has contributed a chapter to Concurrences Competition Law Review focused on how legal finance is accelerating corporate opt-out antitrust claims.

The piece—authored by Charles Griffin and Alyx Pattison—frames the cost and complexity of high-stakes competition litigation as a persistent deterrent for in-house teams, then walks through financing structures (fees & expenses financing, monetizations) that convert legal assets into budgetable corporate tools. Burford also cites fresh survey work from 2025 indicating that cost, risk and timing remain the chief barriers for corporates contemplating affirmative recoveries.

The chapter’s themes include: the rise of corporate opt-outs, the appeal of portfolio approaches, and case studies on unlocking capital from pending claims to support broader corporate objectives. While the article is thought-leadership rather than a deal announcement, it lands amid a surge in private enforcement activity and a more sophisticated debate over governance around funder influence, disclosure and control rights.

The upshot for the market: if corporate opt-outs continue to professionalize—and if boards start treating claims more like assets—expect a deeper bench of financing structures (including hybrid monetizations) and more direct engagement between funders and CFOs. That could widen the funnel of antitrust recoveries in both the U.S. and EU, even as regulators and courts refine the rules of the road.