Written for my Oxford elective: Strategy, Firms and Markets
A constrained verticalisation argument for how Anthropic should enter one of the highest-stakes AI application markets.
Enterprise legal AI is one of the fastest-growing software categories in the US, but the market is currently dominated by compliance-focused incumbents that have not confronted a model-native entrant. This paper argues that Anthropic should enter through a constrained verticalisation strategy: a narrow initial position in contract review, executed as a safety-forward product that leverages Constitutional AI as a product moat rather than a marketing claim. The argument runs through market structure, Anthropic's specific advantages, the risks of broader entry, and a staged recommendation.