02/11/2025
The Battle of Legal AI Tools
This week’s key terms/concepts:
• Harvey: An AI legal assistant offering broad, scalable research, contract review drafting capabilities.
• Legora: An AI legal tool offering research, contract review, and drafting capabilities, emphasising tailored integration.
• In-house GenAI: The custom generative AI platforms developed within law firms or corporate legal departments, designed to be tailored to internal processes and firm-specific needs.
As the adoption of AI tools accelerates, Harvey and Legora have emerged as the two leading contenders, competing for dominance in an increasingly vital market. Harvey’s client roster includes a variety of top law firms, such as A&O Shearman and Latham & Watkins, as well as major corporates across sectors, from PwC in consulting to Bayer in pharmaceuticals and National Grid in energy. Legora, Harvey’s closest competitor, has received $600M less in funding, but is still gaining significant momentum, recently surpassing 50 law firm clients such as Bird & Bird and Taylor Wessing.
Why is this important?
The rapid rise of legal AI reflects a significant shift in how work is delivered. Law firms face growing client pressure to provide faster, more cost-effective services, and with tools like Harvey and Legora automating time-consuming administrative tasks, it allows lawyers to devote more time to high-value matters.
Both Harvey and Legora perform similar functions such as making research, contract review and drafting more efficient, but they differ in approach. Harvey focuses on scale and broad, generalised capabilities, while Legora focuses on tailored integration with firms’ internal systems. However, with the adoption of AI in the legal sector becoming a marker of competition between firms, some law firms are pushing to create their own in-house GenAI tools, such as Linklaters’ Laila. There has also been a move towards investing in AI-focused training, demonstrated by BCLP’s dedicated ‘innovation’ seat for trainees as firms understand they must lead in innovation.
What does this mean for law firms?
AI tools are reshaping the traditional law firm model. As routine tasks become automated, the general demand for admin work may see a sharp decline, while new roles in firms’ dedicated innovation hubs, such as data governance, will expand. In the long-term, firms that show dedication to integrating AI may be expected to operate with leaner teams, expecting GenAI to fill in the gap with improved productivity and increased profitability.
Legal AI could also significantly shift the trainee experience by automating much of the repetitive administrative work that has traditionally occupied junior lawyers. At firms where trainees currently handle low-responsibility tasks, this change may limit learning opportunities or reduce demand for trainees altogether, unless firms intentionally redesign roles to emphasize strategic, judgment-based, and client-oriented work, enabling junior lawyers to take on more meaningful responsibilities.
Lex Weekly 