LexisNexis + Harvey Announce Alliance – Will Share Legal Data – Artificial Lawyer

In what is possibly the most important legal tech move in a decade, LexisNexis – one of the largest legal data providers in the world – is forming a ‘strategic alliance’ with genAI pioneer Harvey. Fundamentally, Lexis will share its legal data with Harvey. They will also build products together. One could go as far as saying this is really the beginning of a new chapter in legal tech history. After this, everything will be different, (see AL Analysis below).

The move comes not long after LexisNexis’s venture arm joined a funding round into Harvey, but – as yet – does not guarantee an M&A deal between the two. That said, Lexis’ parent, RELX, could potentially afford to buy Harvey – even at the massive valuations it is now attaining – if such a deal were given the greenlight by all involved in the future.

However, even without a full integration this is still a massive move that will potentially reshape the legal tech market and drive peers to respond as they seek to match this combination of data, legal AI tech expertise, market reach, brand recognition and human talent.

Artificial Lawyer spoke to Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO, LexisNexis North America, UK, and Ireland, about the deal. The first question was: will this lead to an M&A deal? Fitzpatrick said: ‘We are focused on the collaboration and we don’t discuss potential acquisitions.’

And one would expect this answer – albeit it was not a total no.

Then, why do this? The answer: the customers brought this to Lexis.

‘Our customers brought it to us. They work with us and work with Harvey, which has over 300 customers worldwide. The customers said we have complementary assets and if we brought them together it could be really great.’

‘So we did a pilot with a large law firm and got great results,’ he added. ‘Customers want efficiency, but also want accuracy and so need authoritative content.’

Fitzpatrick said that the deal had not been triggered by the earlier Lexis-connected venture arm investment into Harvey, and that no board roles would change as a result. Also, the tech teams – while collaborating – would not be integrating as such either.

AL then asked Fitzpatrick how big a deal this was. He replied that eventually all lawyers will have their own AI assistant – (and obviously Lexis hopes it will be their one). So, it would seem that combining Harvey with Lexis like this gets them closer to that goal.

For now the deal is focused on US law and the products they’re co-developing, then if it all goes well there is room for more expansion.

And in terms of the pricing of this, that will be set by Harvey, as for now the direction of travel is from Harvey into Lexis data, and then with ability to use Lexis’ AI tools (if they are already a Lexis customer).

As to the future, Fitzpatrick concluded: ‘Who knows where this will go?’

And that’s a great question – see AL Analysis below.

One last question AL had was: will this not create competing products around productivity, such as doc review and drafting? Fitzpatrick said: ‘They are complementary products and nearly all Harvey customers are also Lexis customers.’

OK, we’ll come back to why this is such a big deal shortly, but first some more on what the deal involves.

Harvey customers will benefit from LexisNexis generative AI technology and exclusive legal content including US case law, statutes, and Shepard’s Citations and jointly developed legal workflows, they said.

Within Harvey, customers will also be able to ask LexisNexis Protégé – the company’s flagship AI assistant – to receive comprehensive, trusted AI answers grounded in the LexisNexis data collection.

Let’s repeat that bit. Users of Harvey will be able to directly tap Lexis data – an enormous library of millions of cases and more. Something like this has always been the missing piece for Harvey.

Also, Harvey and LexisNexis will ‘develop sophisticated legal workflows built on the latest generative AI technology. These co-developed workflows will initially include:

‘Motion to Dismiss Workflow: Generates high-quality Motion to Dismiss arguments and related client communications with legal research content from LexisNexis

Motion for Summary Judgment Workflow: Automates key steps in drafting a Motion for Summary Judgment with supporting legal research content from LexisNexis.’

And the key part here is that they are working together on products. The new features themselves don’t at present look world-changing, but this is Day One of the alliance. There will be much more to come.

The key point is that they are jointly building features that customers will use, thereby tying the two businesses ever-closer and also their customers with this new alliance.

Winston Weinberg, CEO of Harvey, said: ‘Our customers trust LexisNexis for authoritative legal content, and we’re excited that they will benefit from LexisNexis capabilities within the Harvey experience. Together, we’re delivering seamless access to reliable, citation-backed answers and custom workflows, making legal work faster and easier than ever.’

And also in a prepared statement, Fitzpatrick, CEO, LexisNexis North America, UK, and Ireland, added, ‘Our strategic alliance with Harvey reflects our commitment to use the best available AI technology to deliver the highest-quality answers and make legal work easier and more efficient. ‘We’re delighted to co-develop workflows with Harvey and bring the power of LexisNexis AI technology and authoritative legal content directly to Harvey customers.’

LexisNexis legal technology and content will be integrated in Harvey later this year. The development of collaborative Motion to Dismiss and Motion for Summary Judgments workflows will begin immediately, they added.

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AL Analysis: What Does This Mean For The Legal Tech Market?

This is massive. In fact, even without a merger this is already a move that likely will change the business strategies of many companies in this sector – and the buying decisions of hundreds of law firms and inhouse teams. One could go as far as saying this is really the beginning of a new chapter in legal tech history. After this, everything will be different whether there is a merger or not at some point.  

However, given what we know already, here are some key AL observations:

Harvey, funded like no other legal tech start-up ever before, has grown and grown in just over two and a half years into a global brand and scooped up clients across Big Law, Small Law and inhouse, at an incredible pace. What they offer is a very broad platform that provides features across most areas of commercial law. What they have missed off their offering however is a huge, curated and high quality library of legal data and case law. Now they will have that. The benefits of this should not be underestimated.

Harvey was rumoured to have approached vLex some months ago – another huge legal data provider, which also has a growing range of pioneering AI tools – in order to acquire this much needed legal data. However, the market grapevine said that the deal was rejected.

Thomson Reuters may have bought Casetext – which was absorbed and then in part retired – but this is on a whole other level. Casetext was pioneering, but a small company with far lower global brand recognition than Harvey, also it didn’t have OpenAI and Sequoia as investors. TR will now have to respond.

A logical move for TR would be to try and buy Harvey’s rival Legora. However, Max Junestrand, CEO of Legora, said on stage at Legal Innovators California last week that he wished ‘the M&A people at Thomson Reuters would f*** off!’. This suggests that TR has already made serious approaches to Legora – and perhaps they did the same with Harvey at an earlier date? TR has not commented on such potential efforts. But, one thing is clear – Lexis + Harvey looks like a very powerful proposition and TR will be seriously concerned about losing market share. Their position as a legal data store, i.e. via Westlaw and PLC will remain intact – but what they could lose out on is marketshare where AI is used for drafting, review, and more higher value aspects of legal research.

This will also impact the rest of the market. vLex will now face not just TR and Lexis as usual, but a data-backed Harvey. Other players in the market may also feel at a disadvantage, especially if Harvey and Lexis co-develop more tools and expand their alliance. And if they move to a full merger, then wow….

Overall, many assumed that the market would stay as it was for at least another year or two before consolidating at the top like this. Now, this is not an M&A deal. But, in effect Harvey and Lexis ‘are one’ when it comes to US legal data and genAI productivity tools.

So, follow on points are:

When will Lexis buy Harvey outrigh, given than most companies don’t usually sustain alliances like this without either breaking apart again or moving to a total deal?

What will TR do next, given that Lexis has outflanked them? I.e. will they move to buy a pioneering legal AI platform as well?

What will vLex do, now that they face TR and a now emboldened Lexis and Harvey?

What will smaller companies that seek to play in the same field do? How can they win market share against such competitors? How will they have to respond with increased client outreach, product development and marketing efforts?

Will this trigger more consolidation in the market, as smaller companies seek to build in size?

And of course, what will the potential customers make of this? For those already using both it’s a win-win. For those who are not, it’s an interesting proposition. And as Lexis’ boss said, we will have to wait and see how the market reacts.

There will be more to follow. But, either way, congrats to Harvey and LexisNexis, this is a bold and ambitious step that moves the market.

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And if this was intriguing and you’d like to stay ahead of the curve….then come along to Legal Innovators New York, Nov 19 + 20, where the brightest minds will be sharing their insights on where we are now and where we are heading.

And also, Legal Innovators UK – Nov 4 + 5 + 6

Both events, as always, are organised by the awesome Cosmonauts team! 

Please get in contact with them if you’d like to take part.