Harvey: Inside the $5bn legal AI startup taking over Big Law with chief business officer John Haddock

Harvey has become the poster child of the legal AI boom - used by over half of the top 100 US law firms and backed by more than $700 million in funding. But what does the startup actually do for lawyers day to day, and how is it turning hype into genuine impact inside Big Law firms?

In this episode, John Haddock, Harvey’s chief business officer and a former Stripe exec, takes us inside the company’s rapid scale-up. He explains how a 50-person team of ex-Big Law lawyers works directly with firms to embed AI into real workflows, turning the platform into what he calls “a port of first call” for legal teams.

Haddock also lifts the lid on Harvey’s Advanced Legal Researchers - a team of former Big Law lawyers who benchmark and fine-tune every new model release through what the company calls its Big Law Bench. He shares why data, not hype, is the biggest constraint in AI performance, and how Harvey’s partnership with LexisNexis is helping to close that gap.

We also talk about Harvey’s recent investment from European private equity firm EQT, what the company’s expansion into Europe means for the legal market, and why Haddock saw a viral Reddit thread questioning Harvey’s adoption as a positive sign. “It’s proof we’ve crossed into the mainstream,” he says.

Chapters

00:01 Introduction

01:00 Background on John

03:30 Understanding Harvey's Product and Customer Engagement

06:12 The Role of Chief Business Officer at Harvey

09:02 How Harvey Empowers Lawyers

12:11 Partnership with LexisNexis

17:54 Fine-Tuning AI Models for Legal

21:38 The Buy vs. Build Debate in Legal Tech

24:20 EQT Investment and European Market Expansion

26:37 Competition in the Legal AI Landscape

28:28 Scaling Operations and Talent Acquisition

31:39 Onboarding and Change Management in Legal AI

32:41 Contextualising Legal AI for Enhanced Productivity

36:12 The Future of Integrated Legal Workspaces

38:36 The Reddit Thread and Building Trust in AI

42:24 Challenges of Scaling and Hiring in a Growing Company

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