One year later: Harvey has Gabriel Macht. Legora has Jude Law.
Different actors. Same question for lawyers: are you buying a better tool, or building a dependency you will struggle to escape?
I am not worried that lawyers will use AI. They should. I am worried about a profession moving its research, drafting, templates and working methods into a handful of platforms, then calling that independence because the logo on the letterhead hasn’t changed.
A firm’s know-how is more than its documents. It is how its lawyers frame a problem, challenge an assumption and decide what matters. If a platform becomes the place where that knowledge is organised and put to work, the firm may still own the files while losing practical control over how it works. That is concentration of operational power. It does not require stolen data or model training.
Harvey and Legora publish no-training commitments for protected customer information. Those matter. But even a perfectly honoured promise does not answer a different question: can you leave without rebuilding your practice or legal ops setup?
Price makes that question sharper. I have heard of European Harvey deals above €3,000 per user per month. I have not verified the quotes or what they include; this is not a claim about standard pricing. But your bargaining position matters once leaving becomes painful.
And what happens to individual judgment if the default workflow becomes the default way of thinking? Same tool does not mean same answer. Lawyers still make choices. But shared defaults can narrow the choices people notice. Test that risk before convenience hardens into conformity.
For young lawyers, the ambition cannot be to become the fastest operator of somebody else’s system. Learn to question the answer. Develop judgment the platform cannot supply for you.
For firm leaders: run the exit test. Can you move your knowledge, preserve your working methods and keep serving clients if the vendor changes the price, product or terms?
If you cannot answer that, you haven’t finished evaluating the tool.
Use Harvey. Use Legora. At least for a while. Use alternatives. Build where it makes sense. But keep the ability to choose, challenge and leave.
👉 Buy productivity. Don’t rent your professional identity.
