Addleshaw Goddard becomes latest firm to co-develop Harvey tools

Addleshaw Goddard is the latest major law firm to work directly with Harvey on developing new AI capabilities, as firms increasingly seek a say in how the technology they use is built.

The firm will also roll out Harvey to more than 3,400 lawyers and global business services professionals. In another significant investment in its technology capabilities last year, the firm hired former Macfarlanes innovation head Chris Tart-Roberts to help lead its tech-enabled services offering for financial institutions.

AG managing partner Andrew Johnston said the partnership “goes well beyond a firmwide deployment as we will work with Harvey to shape legal AI around the demands of complex legal work and the needs of our clients”.

The two organisations will also hold quarterly sessions with selected clients to identify challenges and explore how AI could improve the delivery of legal services.

Kerry Westland, AG's head of innovation, said the collaboration would bring together the firm's lawyers, technologists and clients with Harvey's engineers so “we can shape practical solutions around real legal work.”

A growing trend

Other major firms are pursuing similar arrangements. Latham announced a collaboration with Harvey last month to develop AI capabilities for fund formation, while Squire Patton Boggs has signed on as a design partner to help develop specialist tools for public policy work.

Freshfields has partnered with Anthropic to jointly develop AI applications and legal workflows, while Pinsent Masons is working with Legora on new AI capabilities.

Hogan Lovells Cadwalader, which recently adopted both Harvey and Legora, is also helping develop Legora's legal research and regulatory monitoring tools.

A&O Shearman has committed $1.1 billion to AI over five years, including developing specialist tools across its practices. Kirkland, meanwhile, is investing $500 million in building its own AI platform.

The competitive question

For technology providers, working closely with major firms offers access to specialist legal expertise and real-world feedback that can help improve products for the wider market.

Law firms, meanwhile, gain an opportunity to influence development priorities and ensure new tools are better suited to their own practices and clients.

The arrangements also raise questions about how much competitive advantage law firms can retain from helping develop new technology.

According to Bloomberg Law, Harvey plans to make the fund formation technology developed with Latham available to other firms, without sharing the resulting revenue with Latham.