What was your reaction when you heard that access to Harvey was being extended research assistants, project associates and trainee lawyers?
I was really pleased, because I had already been using AI tools regularly as part of my studies, at home, and even at work. However, particularly at work, the sensitive nature of the data concerned and the tools’ still somewhat restricted functionality limited their usefulness. I had also spoken to a number of our lawyers who were already using Harvey and had found it very helpful. So I was all the more excited to hear that we would be getting access to Harvey too.
What role does AI play in your own legal training and day-to-day work?
As someone at an early stage of their legal career, I’ve found that AI can be a powerful resource. It helps me make sense of complex legal issues more quickly, pinpoint the key aspects and compare different approaches to solving them. At the same time, gaining experience with AI tools early in my training is helping me develop an understanding of how to use them responsibly.
AI is also playing an increasingly important role in my day-to-day work, assisting me with initial research, analysing extensive documents more quickly, summarising content and drafting different versions of texts. I, of course, remain responsible for the legal assessment and bear ultimate responsibility. However, AI can lay much of the groundwork and help make my work processes more efficient. AI tools can also streamline some of our more repetitive administrative tasks.
I also use Harvey for simple but useful tasks such as performing final spell-checks and polishing wording. For that type of task, it is particularly helpful to be able to upload documents containing sensitive data, meaning I can use the AI without data protection concerns.
How did you find the Harvey onboarding process? Was it intuitive from the outset, or did it take time to learn how to phrase questions and prompts effectively?
I found getting started with Harvey very intuitive overall. It certainly helped that I already had experience with other AI tools. At the same time, I quickly realised that the quality of the results depends heavily on how precisely prompts are formulated – prompting is becoming an increasingly important skill in day-to-day legal work. With practice, you get a much better feel for the information a prompt needs to produce genuinely useful responses. The onboarding was especially valuable in helping me understand just how important it is to write precise prompts.
It also introduced me to a number of features and tools that were new to me, but have proved very useful in my day-to-day work – including specific workflows such as the translation workflow. Another feature I find very useful is the option to improve prompts automatically. Prompts templates also make it easier to get started and obtain good results faster. The onboarding also reinforced the point that AI is an assistant and that nothing it produces should be used without human review. While that might seem self-evident, it’s still worth keeping in mind.
“Prompting is becoming an increasingly important skill in day-to-day legal work.”
Franca Kreft, Research Assistant, Gleiss LutzHow is the use of AI changing your day-to-day legal work?
AI’s main impact has been to enable many tasks to be completed more quickly and efficiently. It can help with the preparatory stages of research and with summarising content – leaving more time for the actual legal analysis, strategic considerations and consultation with clients.
What advice would you give people in the early stages of their legal careers who have not yet explored legal tech and AI?
My advice would be: Don’t be shy – just give the tools a go. You don’t have to be a tech expert to benefit from AI. The important thing is to always scrutinise the results critically and view AI as a tool that supports – but does not replace – your own legal work.
I’d also really recommend making the most of the mandatory onboarding. It helps you get the most out of AI tools while learning how to use them responsibly and efficiently.
“You don’t have to be a tech expert to benefit from AI. The important thing is to always scrutinise the results critically and view AI as a tool that supports – but does not replace – your own legal work.”
Franca Kreft, Research Assistant, Gleiss LutzWhere do you see potential for AI in legal training and practice?
I see great potential for AI in both legal training and practice. It can help make legal work more efficient and facilitate access to knowledge.
In legal training, for example, AI could help students and future lawyers understand key legal issues more quickly, present differing legal opinions clearly and explore different lines of argument, giving them a better understanding of complex matters. AI could also make it easier to create study plans and proofread and polish academic papers. The important thing is that AI is used as an aid only, because you still have to sit exams and other written assessments yourself – and only by working through legal issues yourself can you acquire the legal skills you’ll need for your career.
