Harvey Introduces Intake to Enhance Inhouse Legal Operations
Harvey has announced the launch of Intake, a new platform designed to streamline legal operations for inhouse teams. This innovative tool aims to efficiently direct contracts to the appropriate legal professionals while also conducting an initial review of incoming work through automated agents. Early access to the platform is set to begin this month.
Intake has been developed in collaboration with several prominent inhouse legal departments, including those at Carvana, GE Aerospace, and Dentsu. Harvey has reported that it currently partners with 1,600 inhouse legal teams, including five of the Fortune 10 companies, highlighting the significance of this sector for the company.
The primary function of Intake is to expand Harvey’s existing Contract Intelligence capabilities, facilitating the intake and triage of legal requests. The platform provides automated initial review outputs, allowing lawyers to engage with their work pipelines more efficiently.
Seena Ghebleh, Senior Corporate Counsel at Carvana, noted the advantages of Intake, stating that it can apply their playbook to contracts, preparing initial reviews for sign off even when legal professionals are unavailable due to meetings or after hours. This feature ensures that the product aligns with the operational realities of inhouse commercial legal teams.
John LaBarre, Chief Legal Officer at Harvey, emphasised that Intake serves as a single point of entry for legal support across the business. By routing requests to the appropriate agents and lawyers, it enables contract work to flow into the Contract Intelligence system, thereby increasing the capacity of legal teams to meet growing demands while maintaining their critical judgement.
The simultaneous launch of significant capabilities by both Harvey and Legora indicates a noteworthy trend in the legal technology sector. Both companies recognise the potential of large inhouse legal teams as a crucial market that has yet to be fully established, with opportunities for creating value through AI and automated processes.
As the legal technology landscape continues to evolve, companies like Harvey are not only focusing on triage but also on providing automated first pass reviews based on established playbooks. This approach significantly alleviates the review burden on inhouse teams, particularly for standard contracts that are frequently submitted.
Looking ahead, the trajectory for legal technology suggests an increasing emphasis on enhancing the capabilities of automated review systems. The recent launches of Intake may represent the beginning of a competitive phase in the market, as firms strive to manage contract work more effectively for corporate clients.