Center on the Legal Profession, Harvard Law School

Law as the Gateway

Why law sits at the centre of business, regulation, and governance, and why that structural position makes it the natural gateway for AI across professional services.
By Anthea Roberts and David Wilkins
Visuals and analysis created with Dragonfly Thinking
How to Read This
Law sits at the centre of a gravitational system. Inner-orbit nodes are domains where law has been structurally embedded for decades. Outer-orbit nodes are domains where the "legalisation of everything" is expanding law's reach. Click any node for detail on the gateway thesis.
Filters
Legend
Legal (Central Node)
Established Domain
Expanding Domain
Structural Connection
Growing Connection
Summary
13
Domains
$5.8B+
Investment
10x
vs Accounting AI
Select a domain
Click a node in the systems map to explore how law is structurally embedded in each domain and what the AI gateway thesis means for it.