Harvey passes 100 law schools as firms seek AI-ready recruits

Harvey is now working with more than 100 law schools globally as it looks to prepare future lawyers for an AI-enabled profession.

Oxford University Faculty of Law, BPP Law School and The University of Law are among its UK partners, giving students access to the technology used across major law firms and in-house legal teams.

The expansion takes Harvey further into legal education at a time when firms are working out what widespread AI adoption means for their junior ranks.

Research, drafting and document-heavy work have traditionally been important parts of learning on the job, but those same tasks are increasingly being assisted by AI.

Harvey chief strategy officer Keith Enright said firms increasingly want incoming lawyers who can use AI “thoughtfully and responsibly from their first day”.

But many new lawyers still arrive at firms without significant experience using the technology. Enright said the burden of training them is therefore falling on employers, delaying how quickly they can use AI on client work.

Into the classroom

BPP has made Harvey available to hundreds of students across its masters programmes for future solicitors and SQE2 preparation courses over the past year.

“It has formed an important part of their preparation to be forward-looking, responsible and capable AI users,” BPP professor Ashley Lawson said.

Law schools are taking different approaches to balancing AI fluency with traditional legal training.

The University of Chicago Law School bans AI and personal electronic devices, including laptops and mobile phones, out of core classes for first-year law students, while providing access to Harvey in other courses.

Harvey is not alone in targeting law schools. Rival legal AI company Legora recently expanded its own training programme into the UK, partnering with King’s College London, The City Law School and BPP University Law School.

Recruiting edge

AI skills could eventually influence where firms recruit.

Enright said firms will notice if graduates from some universities consistently arrive better prepared to work with AI than others.

“Associates from one school consistently arrive ready to work confidently in an AI-enabled environment. Associates from another need months to ramp-up. The firm will notice, and its recruiting will follow,” he said.

Harvey now works with roughly 3,500 law firms and legal teams, while academic users run more than one million queries on the platform each week.

The company is betting that familiarity with legal AI will increasingly become something graduates bring with them, rather than a skill firms have to teach once they arrive.