Macfarlanes has renewed its partnership and expanded its collaboration with Harvey, the generative AI tool designed specifically for legal work, as part of its ongoing AI strategy.

In 2023, the firm became one of the first adopters of generative AI in the legal industry and announced its roll out of Harvey, following a successful pilot. The firm also announced its three-pronged AI strategy: 

• exploration of/subscription to new tools;
• understanding how generative AI might be implemented into existing systems; and
• in-house development of new tools.

The firm continues to look closely at cutting edge, technological solutions for legal problems to offer innovative ways of tackling clients’ most complex issues, as well as developing and streamlining the firm’s existing services. Generative AI has the power to significantly enhance the efficiency of legal services. The firm is committed to exploring and supporting the development of these tools and the continued partnership and expanded collaboration with Harvey is just one part of the firm’s AI strategy which intends to complement and support the firm’s legal expertise.

Harvey, which is backed by the OpenAI Startup Fund, is built on OpenAI models as well as a combination of small language models and proprietary models that are specialised for legal analysis and designed to accomplish discrete legal tasks. It is a platform that uses natural language processing, machine learning and data analytics to automate and enhance various aspects of legal work such as reviewing, analysing and/or summarising documents. It can answer general legal questions, as well as undertake drafting, providing new and efficient solutions which would not be possible without technological innovation. All outputs continue to be carefully monitored and reviewed by Macfarlanes lawyers.

Head of lawtech and chief knowledge and innovation officer Chris Tart-Roberts said: "The renewal of our partnership with Harvey marks a significant milestone in our AI strategy as a firm. Our expanded collaboration underscores our commitment to innovation and legal technology for the benefit of our clients. We are proud to continue this transformative journey with Harvey.”

“We’re thrilled to continue to support Macfarlanes as they empower their lawyers with AI tools to improve the efficiency of their legal services.” added Winston Weinberg, co-founder and CEO, Harvey. “Firms like Macfarlanes are leading the industry in AI adoption and we are excited to push this new technology forward together.”

Learn more about Macfarlanes AI journey. Discover the complete series of articles and videos on our Generative AI hub.