International intelligence and advisory firm RSGI today (17 June) releases its second report into how Harvey’s customers are using and realising value from legal AI.
“The Accelerating Impact of Legal AI: Harvey as Foundational” draws on research conducted between April and June 2026, comprising 87 unique respondents across 60 firms and 27 in-house teams.
The research builds on RSGI’s first Harvey report, published in November 2025. Both were commissioned by Harvey, but carried out on an independent basis by RSGI. The latest report reveals what has changed in just six months, and its key findings are as follows:
• 68% of law firms and in-house teams are already deploying Harvey-based AI agents, with over a fifth (21%) of law firms running more than 50 agents in production. Integration with document management systems, Microsoft 365 and MCP/API are described as “gamechangers.”
• 89% of law firms say they can take on more work because of Harvey. Power users at law firms now save an average of 11 hours per week, up from 8.5 hours six months ago. Among firms able to track changes, 59% report increased lawyer utilisation, 44% increased revenue, and 53% increased profitability in lawyers that use Harvey.
• Value is now measured in better legal and commercial outcomes, a significant leap from six months ago. Most law firms (77%) cite better outcomes as how they justify their Harvey licence spend, and 68% of in-house legal teams point to the ability to focus on higher-value work as their key measure of value.
• The proportion of organisations with 30% or more power users has risen from a third (34%) to half (50%) in six months. Fluency is achievable quickly: 57% of law firms and 70% of in-house teams say a lawyer can become a power user in under three months.
• Over half of all respondents have moved from using Harvey as a tool to describing it as a foundational technology on which their legal services delivery is built – 55% of law firms and 48% of in-house legal teams.
• 61% of law firms say they have proactively discussed Harvey efficiencies with clients. Only 4% of in-house teams say their law firms have approached them about this. Almost half (48%) of in-house teams have mandated their law firms to use AI, yet only one reported receiving cost savings as a result.
• Almost all law firms (82%) and in-house legal teams (94%) are changing hiring criteria to prioritise AI skills. 23% of law firms have introduced AI competency into formal partner appraisals, rising to 33% for associates.
• Most in-house teams (68%) expect headcount to remain flat, and 69% of law firms are not planning to reduce graduate intake over the next two years. The Jevons Paradox may be at work: increased efficiency is enabling more work to be done, not fewer lawyers to be employed.
To compare and contrast last year’s report, see here
RSGI’s founder and executive director Reena SenGupta said: “The speed and depth of change we are documenting, in just six months, is extraordinary. Harvey is becoming the infrastructure on which legal work is built. Firms and legal teams are showing real signs of AI enablement.”
K-Ming Lee, head of customer engagement at Harvey, added: “The findings show an industry evolving at remarkable speed. Legal professionals are rapidly moving from using AI as a productivity tool to relying on it as a foundational part of how legal work gets done. The organization seeing the greatest impact are those investing in adoption, integration and capability-building, demonstrating that AI enablement is becoming a core competitive advantage across the legal sector.”
The research was conducted between April and June 2026 and comprised two streams: a quantitative survey of 82 respondents (57 law firms and 25 in-house legal teams) and 54 long-form qualitative interviews of 45–75 minutes each. Law firms ranged from boutiques to global elite firms across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the UK and Latin America. In-house teams spanned Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies across financial services, energy, retail, technology and media.
