Anthropic rewards firms with IPO roles as it eyes future legal risks
GS•Anthropic’s IPO filing disclosed that investment partnerships affiliated with counsel Wilson Sonsini own less than 0.01% of its stock, and warned of legal risks tied to its AI products. The company also disclosed receiving a civil investigative demand from the FTC this month.
1. Law firms and banks
Anthropic named Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati as counsel on its IPO, and said investment partnerships affiliated with the firm own less than 0.01% of its outstanding capital stock. Freshfields US is counsel to the underwriters; Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lead banks alongside 20 other underwriters.
2. Other legal advisers
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe advised Anthropic on executive compensation and equity matters, and on its acquisition this year of technology company Stainless. Cleary Gottlieb and Yale law professor John Morley advised the Long-Term Benefit Trust, while Cravath, Swaine & Moore is advising the co-founders on certain governance matters.
3. Legal and regulatory risks
Anthropic warned that its AI models and services could face product liability, consumer protection, negligence and failure-to-warn claims over alleged harms linked to outputs, autonomous AI agents or customer use. It said legal frameworks remain unsettled on whether AI systems should be treated as products or services, and disclosed that the FTC sought information this month on consumer protection, privacy, data protection and product safety and security.
