- Ashurst onboards first generative AI solution for client work as it partners with Harvey, providing access to all of its 4,000 + lawyers and business services staff around the world;
- Ashurst is the first global law firm to roll-out Harvey across all offices globally from day one;
- The firm undertook one of the most extensive global trial and pilot of Harvey, involving over 525 users, drawn from across 23 offices worldwide, running over 4,000 queries in the pilot phase.
Global law firm Ashurst has officially partnered with Harvey, a leading provider of AI solutions for legal and professional services, as the firm continues to drive forward its digital transformation strategy and embrace GenAI. In a market first, this global partnership will provide all Ashurst lawyers and staff, across every practice group, business services function and office, access to Harvey from day one.
This is the latest step in Ashurst’s digital, data and technology journey and follows its VoxPopulAI report, which unveiled robust qualitative and quantitative data on Ashurst’s evaluation of the use of GenAI in the legal sector. Findings in this report were based, in part, on the positive outcome of Ashurst’s proof of concept with Harvey.
Harvey is a legal AI platform that leverages domain-specific models trained by and for lawyers and other professional service providers. Ashurst will work with Harvey to support many aspects of client work including document review, due diligence, drafting and market research.
“GenAI is here to stay, and this is another step Ashurst is proudly taking to ensure its people and clients can leverage the full potential of this new technology”, said Tara Waters, Ashurst’s Chief Digital Officer. “As a firm we are committed to not only demystify but harness the value of AI to best support our people, and our clients, and enhance our ability to deliver best-in-class service. Our partnership with Harvey is a significant step towards this, empowering our people with the digital, data and technology capabilities that will help us to achieve our 2027 Strategy.”
The partnership with Harvey follows one of the most extensive trials and pilots in the market, which involved over 525 people from across 38 practice groups and 23 offices worldwide, informing Harvey’s global rollout and helping to identify some of the most effective use cases for this new GenAI tool.
“We’re excited to be collaborating with our colleagues at Harvey and really making the most of what this tool can do”, said Ruth Ward, Global Director of Knowledge & Expertise at Ashurst. “By leveraging the unique insights gained from our GenAI trials around the digital literacy and development needs of our people, we have been able to develop a platform of tailored training materials and educational resources. This has allowed us to implement this new capability at a global level from day one. However, the work doesn’t end just because we’ve launched the partnership – there will be ongoing training, learning sessions and regular reviews. We’re ensuring our people are at the heart of all our digital advancements.”
Paul Jenkins, Ashurst’s Global CEO added: “It takes meticulous planning, testing and foresight to have the confidence to roll-out Harvey across every jurisdiction and every part of the business from day one. It goes without saying that it’s important for our business and for our clients that we leverage the best that technology can offer so that we can work efficiently. But it’s not just efficiency, it’s about effectiveness too. It opens the door to recalibrating our workflows so we can optimise our services, streamlining where we can but also widening the opportunities for us to do new things and create more value for our clients.”
Winston Weinberg, Co-Founder and CEO of Harvey, commented: “We are appreciative of Ashurst’s extensive feedback and evaluation process and are excited to now formalise our partnership across Ashurst’s 4,000 lawyers and staff in their offices around the world. This partnership underscores Ashurst’s innovative approach and our commitment to delivering AI solutions optimised for the most rigorous legal use cases, empowering Ashurst’s teams to achieve new levels of efficiency and innovation in client service.”
