A&O Shearman Put Harvey’s Legal AI To Work
John Bowie, LawFuel publisher
Law firms take note: A&O Shearman’s groundbreaking legal AI system now handles complex work traditionally performed by senior associates and partners.
Developed with legal tech startup Harvey, the move is a long way from when the pre-merger Allen & Overy starting working with Harvey as a sophisticated chatbox, back in 2023.
Now, the technology targets high-value legal analysis in antitrust, cybersecurity, loan review, and fund formation—areas where AI previously couldn’t make meaningful contributions.
The firm isn’t just using this technology internally but commercializing it as their second major legal tech product, signaling a strategic shift in how elite firms approach both service delivery and revenue generation.
Advanced Legal AI
Legal AI is evolving beyond basic document review to tackle sophisticated analytical tasks once deemed exclusively human.
A&O Shearman’s system is a major leap forward in terms of the capability of this technology, taking it into the rhealm of the high performing partner. Unlike conventional applications focused on routine tasks, this technology addresses complex legal work requiring senior expertise.
The system operates across four practice areas where AI has previously struggled: antitrust, cybersecurity, loan review, and fund formation. This strategic focus allows the firm to target high-value work that typically consumes significant partner time.
Legal AI in Practical Application
The antitrust component demonstrates the system’s ability to handle complex work. When assessing merger regulatory requirements, the AI analyzes company financials to determine filing requirements across over 130 global jurisdictions.
It identifies information gaps and drafts targeted requests for each party. This process normally requires hours of senior lawyer time but faces pressure for competitive pricing.
“This technology is targeting a more sophisticated type of legal work that requires the time and attention of senior lawyers,” said David Wakeling, global head of AI advisory at A&O Shearman.
The technology won’t eliminate jobs but redeploy senior legal talent to higher-value activities.
How Legal AI Replicates Partner-Level Reasoning
What distinguishes this system is its underlying technology and training methodology. Winston Weinberg, CEO of Harvey, (pictured) reveals the system utilizes the latest OpenAI reasoning models.
These advanced models perform nuanced, multi-step reasoning that more closely resembles how experienced lawyers analyze problems.
“The training is teaching [the AI model] how to think and how to reason like a partner,” Weinberg told the Financial Times in a report on the developments with Harvey.
Senior A&O Shearman lawyers demonstrated their problem-solving approaches during extensive training, with the AI learning to replicate these processes under their evaluation.
Legal AI as Revenue Generator
A&O Shearman is commercializing their legal AI technology rather than limiting it to internal use. This marks their second major legal tech market entry, following their 2023 launch of ContractMatrix, a contract negotiation tool.
ContractMatrix has attracted over 40 large organizations, including investment group Prosus, Japanese energy group Jera, and Dutch wind turbine company Sif-group.
“We believe that AI will ultimately be transformative for our firm and we can actually create revenues from being part of that change,” Wakeling says. This highlights the firm’s strategy to monetize industry disruption rather than merely adapting to it.
Legal AI Adoption Trends
The legal businessw has adopted advanced AI more slowly than other industries due to data privacy concerns, client confidentiality requirements, and the complex nature of legal reasoning.
But things are changing . As we recently reported, UK firm Shoosmiths recently announced a firm-wide bonus linked to AI usage, offering a shared £1 million payout if they hit 1 million Microsoft Copilot prompts.
This represents a critical inflection point for legal AI implementation. While early applications focused on junior-level tasks, this new generation addresses analytical work long considered uniquely human.
Strategic Legal AI Implementation for Competitive Advantage
Law firm leaders should recognize that A&O Shearman’s approach goes beyond efficiency to strategic positioning. By developing proprietary legal AI technology for high-value work, the firm simultaneously improves service delivery while creating new revenue streams beyond traditional legal services.
The new tool is expected to be available for sale later this year. A&O Shearman was the first law firm to partner with Harvey, which now works with approximately 250 law firms globally.
As legal AI continues to develop at what appears to be breakneck speed, handling not just the routine tasks, but sophisticated legal analysis, law firms need to face a strategic choice to operate as consumers of the technology or as innovators in the fast-changing legal AI field.
It appears A&O Shearman have made the choice to be the latter.
