Ashurst is a global law firm with world-class capabilities and an international client base spanning corporates, financial institutions and governments. With 33 offices in 21 countries, Ashurst combines the reach and insight of a global firm, with deep local knowledge and understanding of markets.

In a fast-moving world, Ashurst’s ambition is to outpace change and contribute to a more-sustainable future. They are committed to anticipating the needs of their clients, and providing innovative solutions to meet both legal and business challenges.

As the pace of business accelerates, Ashurst invested in digital tools, including generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to help their clients maximize the potential of technology solutions. This ambition has led Ashurst to become the first global law firm to roll out Harvey across all of its offices and staff from day one.

This initiative followed a five-month experiment with several GenAI platforms, as detailed in a report released by Ashurst in June 2024. The report discusses key insights and lessons learned from their exploration of GenAI, particularly in the areas of Value, Accuracy, Quality, Scope, and Adoption.

These trials provided important evidence that gave Ashurst’s leadership confidence in their decision to make a significant investment in Harvey.

Upon completion of the trials, it was clear there would be benefits for Ashurst’s employees, the firm, and clients. The goal was to upskill staff, meet emerging workforce demands and improve productivity and capacity to serve our clients. The challenge was to select a best-in-class GenAI tool and to scale up its rollout across Ashurst globally, while educating staff on how to maximize its value for both the firm and their clients.

Ashurst selected Harvey because it is one of the only GenAI platforms tailored to meet the needs of the legal sector, being trained by and for lawyers and other professional service providers. Ashurst made Harvey available to both its lawyers and Business Services teams, implementing rigorous guardrails to ensure the tool’s security and quality. Extensive training, both virtual and in-person, was provided covering the fundamentals of GenAI, as well as targeted learning activities on topics such as how to write a good prompt.

Ashurst has found Harvey to be beneficial across many areas of the firm. As identified in their pilot, GenAI has helped our people overcome "blank page syndrome" to quickly produce first drafts.

Given its global presence, with staff based in many countries where English is not the first language, Ashurst has found Harvey’s impressive translation capabilities invaluable. The tool enables teams to easily translate their work into English or other languages, ensuring high-quality output.

Ashurst’s structured approach to informing clients and educating its people on how to get the best out of Harvey increased their confidence in using it, while also providing the flexibility for individuals to experiment with their own use cases. This approach, which incorporated lessons learned from the pilot phase, was supported by an invaluable network of experienced early adopters who helped guide further adoption across the firm.

These efficiencies have allowed Ashurst teams to spend more time on high-value, strategic work, further driving innovation and client satisfaction.