Harvey Specter in the famous series Suits had said, “Win a no win situation by rewriting the rules.” In January 2022, Winston Weinberg started a generative artificial intelligence startup designed for the legal industry called Harvey AI. First called Counsel AI Corp, the name comes from an amalgamation of a lot of things and not just Harvey Specter but nonetheless, it’s working out quite well for them.
As per Pitchbook, the company has 197 employees and are hiring quite aggressively. Which surely makes sense after their recent funding round of $100 Million led by Alphabet Inc-backed venture capital firm GV.
But what does Harvey AI do and how does it work?
Harvey AI, a company established in 2022 by former attorney Winston Weinberg and AI researcher Gabriel Pereyra, is establishing a distinct market niche in the legal technology industry. This firm, which is powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 model, has received substantial financial assistance, including funding from Sequoia Capital and the OpenAI Startup Fund, totalling $21 million.
We raised a $5M Seed from the OpenAI Startup Fund and top angels like @JeffDean, @eladgil, and @saranormous.https://t.co/7maqhfsNPi pic.twitter.com/j37agvxSwu
— Harvey (@harvey__ai) November 16, 2023
Harvey AI advertises itself as a comprehensive tool for legal professionals, in contrast to traditional chatbots or AI assistants. The company’s primary goal is to create unique language models for each legal practice. Harvey AI is able to provide a number of services that are essential to legal work thanks to this specialised methodology, including as research, document analysis, summarisation, and initial draft writing for emails and memos.
Funnily enough being powered by Open AI is not only why they are known for but also their unique use cases which clients ask them.
- Harvey’s artificial intelligence tool has become a valuable resource for a variety of legal practice areas, with specific applications in both transactional and litigation work. Harvey is an expert in transactional law, helping lawyers create clauses and full papers in an effective manner. It also works wonders in due diligence procedures, analysing documents quickly and pointing up any hazards. Another important use for Harvey is deal management, where it helps with the organisation and planning of intricate transactional procedures.
Source: https://www.harvey.ai/blog/top-harvey-use-cases
- Harvey has similarly remarkable ability in the courtroom. Attorneys commonly use the application to prepare motions, pleadings, and other legal papers more quickly and effectively. Another excellent tool is case management, which aids litigators in keeping track of and organising the numerous data involved in intricate cases. One important use case is regulatory advice, where Harvey provides strategic insights on how laws relate to particular fact patterns by analysing voluminous legislation and case law. Additionally, the tool is effective in researching case law, which speeds up the process of locating pertinent precedents.
Source: https://www.harvey.ai/blog/top-harvey-use-cases
The partnerships formed by Harvey AI in the last years have significantly changed the legal landscape. Based on partnerships with the University of Buenos Aires, Bruchou & Funes de Rioja, the first law practice in Argentina to use Harvey AI, used the technology to improve their legal services and operational efficiency. In the meanwhile, Allen & Overy used Harvey AI to simplify its research and document draughting duties, timing this change with their merger with Shearman & Sterling. PwC also welcomed Harvey AI, granting them exclusive licensing for custom-built solutions based on their data and experience for 4000 of its attorneys. Harvey AI was integrated by Macfarlanes and the Singapore Courts to further progress their legal processes; Macfarlanes enhanced the technology’s capabilities, while the Singapore Courts strengthened the Small Claims Tribunals Act. Harvey AI was used by Stephenson Harwood LLP as part of a risky Generative AI approach to develop unique solutions and enhance service delivery. As this was going on, CMS further cemented its leadership in legal AI by teaming up with Harvey to expand its legal services to 47 nations worldwide.
The cofounders like to keep their partnerships quiet and let the work do the talking. When Harvey partnered with Microsoft Azure, its trajectory took a radical shift. Harvey looked for a partner to further its generative AI technology after a year of swift growth and hiring a top-tier staff. Now introduce Azure. Harvey discovered the ideal fit to increase the strength of its platform, making it more scalable, secure, and available to businesses globally thanks to its strong cloud capabilities.
“Harvey’s AI solutions, combined with Azure, will open new opportunities for our customers in the professional services space to use generative AI to help transform their businesses.” commented Zia Mansoor, Corporate Vice President, Data & AI at Microsoft
We’re incredibly excited to announce our partnership with Microsoft. It has been fantastic working with @judsonalthoff and the rest of the Microsoft team. We look forward to what we can accomplish together.https://t.co/UMKX4wF7bc
— Winston Weinberg (@winstonweinberg) March 19, 2024
This year, Harvey took a major leap by introducing the next version of Assistant, an AI tool that transforms how legal, tax, and finance professionals handle complex tasks. Assistant now features specialized modes for precise tasks—whether summarizing and analyzing in Assist Mode or drafting and revising in Draft Mode. It also includes iterative functionality, allowing users to refine responses through follow-up questions or revisions. With enhanced accuracy, speed, and document processing, Assistant is more powerful and reliable, making it an indispensable tool for professionals seeking efficiency and precision.
All good things apart, the company has been under a lot of speculation. While mystery breeds interest is something they believe in, not many people know how Harvey AI really works. On June 7th, 2024, Harvey disclosed that they wanted to buy vLex, a legal research company and wanted to raise 600 Million dollars. Harvey was quite smart to make this move as vLex has all the figures and influence, both of which they lack.
Source: Medium
Yes agreed the company’s playing mystery games with the public but very accurately on August 22nd, 2024, the team put out a blog showcasing their highlights and growth for the year. Harvey AI saw an impressive rise in growth and usage this year, confirming its position as a leader in the transformation of professional services. Over the course of the previous year, utilisation across all users more than doubled, rising from 33% to 69%, indicating broad incorporation into processes. The platform’s continued usefulness was demonstrated by the skyrocketing retention rates, which continuously remained above 70%. BigLaw companies in particular showed remarkable engagement; one firm’s usage increased from 19% to 97% in only one month, while another firm’s utilisation exceeded 100% by the fourth month, reaching a peak of 128%.
Source: Harvey
So much said and much unsaid, Harvey AI is on a lawyer hiring spree. Harvey is constantly recruiting people, especially attorneys, for what Weinberg refers to as “unique, interdisciplinary roles.” Harvey now has roughly 50 employment opportunities.
“We are looking for lawyers to fill multifaceted positions that encompass a variety of responsibilities, which is a departure from the norm at tech companies,” Weinberg said.
Not only that, but they now have a security board made up of top specialists from the biggest cloud and financial organisations, who will assist Harvey in creating the most reliable AI for knowledge job. Eisar Lipkovitz, CIO of Corporate & Investment Bank at JPMorgan, Andy Ozment, Chief Technology Risk Officer and EVP at Capital One, Clark Smith, CISO and Head of Engineering and Architecture Practice at Citi, and Bharat Shah, Corporate VP of Azure Cloud Security at Microsoft, are part of the security team to build the most secure legal AI platform.
The two close friends are convinced that AI won’t replace lawyers but will elevate them to more sophisticated roles, reshaping how productivity is measured. They envision Harvey’s tools enabling former Big Law associates to engage in more complex legal work earlier in their careers, transforming the traditional path of legal practice.
The company now valued at $1.5 billion might not be there with its tech but with its partnerships and the backing of OpenAI which has only strengthened, we sure hope to see their work speak!
