The Brief:
Harvey II is here, headlined by Memory, which learns how individual lawyers like their work done and carries it across the platform.
Mallesons was a design partner, and Harvey’s Anique Drumright told Point Blank that auditability of memory was non-negotiable for firms.
Harvey has launched Harvey II, a new generation of the platform built around how legal work actually happens.
Point Blank sat down with Chief Product Officer Anique Drumright at the Harvey Forum in Sydney to unpack what it actually means in practice for lawyers using Harvey.
Memory
At its core, Memory is Harvey learning how an individual lawyer works and holding onto it — drafting style, citation habits, risk appetite — so the lawyer isn’t rebuilding the same preferences from scratch with every prompt.
This first phase, Personal Memory, is preferences only. Nothing client- or matter-specific gets stored. Drumright told Point Blank: “So how do you like a document formatted? What type of logic do you want reflected? What’s your risk tolerance? Do you like surgical red lines? All of that is part of this initial launch of memory.”
Mallesons was one of the global design partners that shaped how Memory works. Chief Innovation Officer Michelle Mahoney said the appeal was personalisation at scale: “One of the most powerful unlocks is in its ability to understand how we each work, not just respond to what we ask.”
Drumright said auditability of memory was non-negotiable for Harvey’s design partners. “You can personally audit every single memory, delete the memories, and update the memories.”
Nothing saves without sign-off either. “Harvey will never proactively remember something without you basically approving it and being notified. That’s a huge component of tailoring this technology for the legal use case.”
Two more phases are coming: Matter- and Space-level Memory, then Organisation-level Memory, letting firms bake in house style while keeping ethical walls between teams, matters and clients intact.
We asked about what happens when firm standards clash with individual partner quirks. Drumright says Harvey doesn’t force a hierarchy. “It’s very much on an ad hoc basis… Let’s leverage the templates and guidelines first, then merge them with your personal preferences.”
Spaces
Where Memory handles how a lawyer works, Spaces handle the matter itself. Drumright described Spaces as a “flexible container” — they’re built around a specific matter or project, with the documents, tasks, permissions and history of that work all sitting in one place for an agent to draw on. It’s also where the work happens — tasks can be assigned to a lawyer or an agent.
Spaces can include the client too, not just the firm. Drumright says this was a deliberate move away from the traditional “waterfall” of legal work. Often, a piece of work is prepared by a lawyer, reviewed by a senior associate, then settled by a partner before it’s client-ready. Spaces can make that process more iterative, letting the firm and client work inside the same environment.
It’s a similar bet to the one Legora is making with its aOS. AI stops being a tool that sits next to legal work and starts being the system the work actually runs on.
Source: Harvey