Global legal intelligence and advisory company RSGI has today (19 November) released first of its kind in-depth research into the performance and adoption of generative AI tool Harvey, following anonymised conversations with 40 of its customers. The report, which was commissioned by Harvey but conducted independently, assesses the value that customers are realising from Harvey’s product.
The interviews were with 29 law firms and 11 corporate legal teams. Study participants were drawn from North America, Europe, UK, APAC and Latin America. They represented a broad cross-section of users, big and small organisations, mature and newer users, full enterprise licenses to firms with fewer licenses.
Law firm participants included: A&O Shearman, ArentFox Schiff, Ashurst, Cuatrecasas, Gilbert + Tobin, Honigman LLP, Jackson Walker, King & Wood Mallesons, Lewis Silkin LLP, Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann LLP, Machado Meyer, Mayer Brown LLP, Mori Hamada, Orrick, Paul Weiss, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP.
In-House participants included: ArcelorMittal, AT&T, Centros Comerciales Carrefour S.A., National Grid, Repsol, Syngenta Group, Talanx.
The results include (from the press release, we will bring you our own analysis shortly):
- 100 per cent of law firms agreed or strongly agreed that their lawyers would be upset or disappointed if their Harvey licenses were taken away. Almost all (90 per cent) said Harvey had improved workplace fulfilment.
- Firms were unequivocal that Harvey enabled them to spend less time on non-billable work (93 per cent), have better client relationships (83 per cent) and deliver work faster to them (80 per cent).
- In-house legal teams were more inclined to see the benefits in terms of time saved. All participants said that they could get work faster to their internal business colleagues and most (90 per cent) agreed that in-house capacity had increased because of using Harvey.
- Participants identified ‘Power Users’ as their secret weapons in adoption, usage and proving value. These ‘Power Users’ typically made up 20-30 per cent of all users at law firms.
- Most participants actively tracked usage and adoption, and these two indicators were most often used as a proxy for value, particularly in law firms. Harvey licences are being used: participants reported that 92 per cent were used monthly. A majority (68 per cent) of participants said they realised value within three months of using Harvey. A third of them said they had seen measurable benefits within a month.
- While study participants tracked time savings, they also said these were difficult to measure definitively although most could share detailed estimates. They reported that on average, power users saved 34.1 hours per month, over double that of standard users (14.5 per month).
- Study participants were clear that the most impact being felt was on the lawyers themselves, who were realising the value of using generative AI, through swapping drudgery for time spent on higher-value, strategic work for clients. “Our associates and trainees literally cheered when they heard the news that we were opening up Harvey access to their levels,” reported one participant. The length of time a firm subscribed to Harvey was also directly correlated to higher workplace fulfilment. Just over half (55 per cent) of participants reported that their lawyers performed better with Harvey than those who were not users, with many of the others saying it was too early to make this observation definitively.
- Study participants said Harvey had been a door-opener to more face time with clients, enabling them to have conversations about different fee models, new products and strategic collaborations. While law firm study participants were more equivocal about Harvey’s ability to drive cost savings (52 per cent) and develop revenue-generating products (48 per cent) than other benefits, many of the neutral or disagreeing participants did say they were on the cusp of change, and that Harvey was an integral plank of getting them ready for the future.
“I was surprised at how quickly Harvey has become part of a lawyer’s everyday working life and the emotive responses we received about how much they value its ability to enable them to do higher value work. I did not expect this impact to evince itself so quickly,” says Reena SenGupta, RSGI’s executive director.
“The report shows how legal AI adoption has moved well beyond the pilot phase and is embedded in daily workflows,” says K-Ming Lee, head of customer engagement at Harvey. “We wanted to provide evidence-based insight into Harvey’s measurable impact and the report highlights how our customers are shaping the future of the legal industry.”
Fieldwork was carried out in October 2025 by RSGI, via hour-long interviews with Harvey customers that were conducted on an anonymous basis. Results were analysed using both human and machine intelligence, but the final report was written by RSGI humans. The questionnaire contained both qualitative and quantitative questions, allowing participants to express nuance in their views.
For a full copy of the report click here
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