There’s
been
some
big
news in
legal
tech
circles
recently. Harvey,
a
broad-based
AI
provider
to
law
firms across
practice
areas
and
workflows,
and
LexisNexis announced a
strategic
alliance that will enable Harvey
users to now
have
access
to and integrate with the
LexisNexis
database.
This
is
huge
since
firms
using
Harvey
to
leverage
internal
data
will
now
be
able
to
leverage
the
LexisNexis
database
for public legal materials within
the
Harvey
platform. I
have written before that
this
is
akin
to
the
holy
grail
since
it
means
a
one
stop
location
for
AI
needs.
Here’s
why
it
matters: it
means
that Harvey customers
can
use the
tool
to respond
to
natural
language
queries
based
not
only
on internal documents
but
also
on case
law
in
the LexisNexis
extensive database. It
means
Harvey
users
no
longer
need
to
toggle
between
internal
knowledge
bases
and
external
research
tools.
Everything can happen
in
one
place,
accelerating
workflows
and
reducing
cognitive
friction.
For
firms
evaluating
AI
tools,
that
kind
of
seamless
integration
is a
real
benefit
and incentive.
How
Did
Harvey
Do
It?
What
is interesting though
is
how
Harvey became
such
a
big
player
in
legal
AI
so
quickly.
The typical game
plan
for
vendors
in
the
legal
tech
and
AI
field
is
to
make
a
big announcement.
Offer
a
lot
of
press
releases to
the
media about
what
they
are
doing.
Invite
media
and
potential
customers
for product demos
of
anything
and
everything.
Show
up
at
legal
tech
shows
like LegalWeek and
host big and
elaborate parties.
Harvey
did
little
of
this.
Harvey representatives only
recently
began
showing
up
at
the
big
shows.
They have provided little
information
to
media representatives about
their
products.
Most
of
us
reporting
on
legal
tech
have
had
no
demos
of
the
Harvey
product
and
only
get
word-of-mouth
information
from
users
about
the
product,
what
it
does,
and
how
well
it
performs.
Harvey representatives don’t
regularly
appear
on
legal
tech
podcasts.
How
did it get
to
the
point
that
Zach
Abramowitz,
a well-known
legal
tech
commentator, last week
proclaimed that
the
legal
AI competition was
over
and
Harvey
won?
I
have
to
admit
I laughed a
little
when
I
first
saw Abramowitz’s
post since I
wasn’t sure if
he
was
serious
or
writing tongue in
cheek. I’m
not laughing
now.
The
Right
Question
So what did
Harvey
do? Harvey was
founded
in
2022 by Winston
Weinberg,
a
former
O’Melveny
&
Meyers litigator, and
Gabriel
Pereyra, a
former
DeepMind researcher. A
scant
three
years
ago.
It
built
its
product
on
ChatGPT
and fine
tuned it for
legal.
Okay.
So
have
a
lot
of
others.
What
was
different?
Harvey
understood
something
that
I
knew
but
forgot.
The
single
most-asked
question
by
law
firm representatives when confronted with
a
product
sales
pitch, particularly when
it
comes
to new technology like AI
and
tech
in general is:
What
other
firms
are
using
this
product?
To
busy
lawyers
and
legal
professionals, use
by
others
is the
talisman
of
a
good
product.
Of
a
reliable
product.
Of
a
mainstream
product.
Not
demos,
although
that
may
come
later.
Not
what
will
it
do,
although
that’s
later
as
well. The
fact
that
other
firms
are using
it is
THE
validation
question.
Being
able
to
answer
that
question
in
a
way
that
resonates
gets
you
in
the
door. It
provides
credibility. It
gets
you
to
the
next
level.
Yes,
you have
to have
a
good
product.
But
that’s
table
stakes.
What
set
Harvey
apart? It
started
by
recruiting former Biglaw
partners
to
join
their
team who
understood
how Biglaw works,
what it’s interested
in,
and
how
it makes technology decisions.
Harvey
then
went
to
the Biglaw firm
Allen
&
Overy
with its
some 3,500 lawyers
and
talked
it
into
doing
an
extensive
trial.
That
was
the
first
major
hurdle.
The
second
major
hurdle: securing the
Allen
&
Overy
adoption
in
early
2023.
That
led
to
Harvey
securing
a
trial
and
adoption at the Biglaw firm Paul
Weiss. Then
Harvey secured
a
strategic parentship with
the
Big
Four accounting
firm
PwC.
The
Right
Answer
Now
Harvey could
give
a good
answer to the
fundamental and
first
question law
firms
ask.
It
had commitments
from well-known firms and
it
was
off
to
the
races. It
went
from
a stealth
startup
to
a
$5
billion valuation by
following
its
own
playbook
and
understanding its
customers’ most fundamental concern.
Instead
of
trying
to
dazzle
with
early
demos
or
influencer
endorsements,
it
focused
quietly
on refining
and testing
the model and building
relationships
with
the
right
people
inside
the
right
firms. And
understanding
its
potential
customers.
Stephen
Embry
is
a
lawyer,
speaker,
blogger
and
writer.
He
publishes TechLaw
Crossroads,
a
blog
devoted
to
the
examination
of
the
tension
between
technology,
the
law,
and
the
practice
of
law.