Robert Ambrogi Blog
Legal business software company Aderant and legal AI company Harvey today announced a partnership they are describing as “market-defining” for the way it will bridge the gap between software for the business of law and software for the practice of law.
“Together, the companies will deliver the industry’s first deeply connected ecosystem that unites AI-powered legal work with work-to-cash operations — bringing unprecedented transparency, accuracy, and productivity to both the front and back office,” the companies said in their announcement.
By integrating their software, the companies say, law firms using Aderant’s financial management and work-to-cash products will receive enriched insights into the work performed in Harvey, ranging from drafting and research to review and analysis, while Harvey gets context back from the firm’s Aderant products.
“This integration represents a significant step forward in how legal professionals manage both the practice and business of law,” Chris Cartrett, Aderant’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Harvey is redefining how lawyers work. By connecting that intelligence directly into Aderant, we’re giving firms the ability to track, manage, and measure that work with the transparency and precision law firms have always needed.”
As of now, the integration has yet to be developed, but the partnership enables the companies to begin the development of the integration, they told me.
The companies say their partnership “is the first to offer a deeply connected AI-to-business-of-law workflow that spans the full lifecycle of legal work — from initial drafting to time entry, matter context, billing insights, and profitability management.”
I suspect the folks at Clio might dispute that “first” assertion, given its announcements at ClioCon in October about how its acquisition of vLex and its Vincent AI would enable it to make obsolete the traditional division between software for the practice of law and the business of law.
“Through AI, we’re bringing together the practice of law and the business of law to create an entirely new category of solution for you today – a single context-aware platform where one AI understands how the pieces fit together,” Clio CEO Jack Newton said in his ClioCon keynote.
I asked Aderant about this, and here is its reply:
“An integration of this kind has not historically been available to size and types of firms Aderant and Harvey serve. There are a number of point solutions on the market today, many of which offer integrations, but both Aderant and Harvey address high levels of complexity that enable the world’s leading law firms to run a better business.”
‘A Unified Lifecycle’
Regardless of who was first, this announcement will undoubtedly be seen as significant for those law firms that are customers of both Aderant and Harvey (or that plan to become customers of both).
As Harvey CEO Winston Weinberg says in the announcement, “The future of legal technology is about making existing systems work together intelligently.”
Aderant and Harvey have not yet given details on how exactly the integration will work, but the potential for combining Harvey’s AI workflows with Aderant’s business-of-law products could be significant. In their announcement, the companies describe that potential this way:
- Legal practitioners will get a more fluid, informed way to work — with AI that understands the matters they support and helps them move faster with greater confidence.
- Administrative and operations teams will benefit from increased clarity, improved accuracy, and a more complete picture of the work happening across the firm.
From the description in the announcement, it seems clear that Aderant customers would benefit from pulling in the Harvey usage data, but I was less clear on whether there is a corollary value for customers on the Harvey side. So I asked the companies: “Will this integration in any way enhance the results Harvey’s AI is able to deliver?”
Their answer is that, yes, that is the goal. They want to provide:
- A unified lifecycle from client to case to matter, ensuring attorney work aligns with the firm’s financial and practice data.
- Improved attorney productivity through AI-enhanced drafting, research, and document workflows into time entry and billing.
“Our clients have made it clear that as AI reshapes legal work, the next step is connecting that work to the systems that run the firm,” said Cartrett. “This partnership is the moment where that transformation becomes tangible.”