How Shipman & Goodwin LLP Leverages :Harvey: to Enhance Client Service

Key Highlights

• Approximately 160 lawyers in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas.
• Evaluated roughly 10 AI tools and chose Harvey to reduce repetitive, document-heavy work
• One partner uses a custom Harvey agent created in Agent Builder to review and comment on multiple NDAs regularly
• Deposition preparation with the help of Harvey streamlined routine corporate work allowing attorneys to focus on more substantive and strategic work

About Shipman & Goodwin LLP

Shipman & Goodwin LLP is a full-service law firm of roughly 160 lawyers in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, and Texas. Mid-market by design, it handles sophisticated corporate, litigation, employment, and school law work while maintaining a level of client service proven difficult to scale at larger firms — knowing and serving each client as if it were the only one. Shipman treats technology as a way to protect that edge, not dilute it.

Opportunity

Mid-market firms are expected to deliver Big Law-caliber work without Big Law resources. “We pride ourselves on offering talented lawyers an attractive alternative to Big Law careers. With the efficiencies offered by Harvey, our attorneys now have an easy-to-use tool that enhances their day-to-day work satisfaction by reducing tedious, routine tasks.,” says Kent Nevins, Partner and Chair Emeritus of the Management Committee.

Lawyers juggle many matters at once, and the repetitive, document-heavy work that previously consumed the hours spent on a matter are now concentrated on the more sophisticated work that provides the highest value for clients.

When Shipman’s AI Committee began assessing AI platforms, Harvey stood out from the competition. “It was the first professional-grade AI tool I felt genuinely comfortable using. The quality of the output and the level of support behind the platform set it apart from everything else we reviewed,” says Dan Schwartz, Partner and chair of the firm’s Technology Committee. After testing roughly 10 tools, corporate partner Aaron Baral agreed: “Harvey was far and away the best tool we tested for what I actually do day-to-day.”

Solution

Getting up to speed in hours, not days

Schwartz points to a case in litigation for years, its deposition left half-finished. Instead of re-reading everything, he had Harvey work through the deposition outline and transcript, flag the gaps, and rebuild the outline around what the team had learned since. “What would have taken me one or two days was done in about two hours,” he says. “Then I could spend my time on substance, such as new lines of questioning, and not the manual work.” He calls the effect “turbocharging the practice.”

Delivering faster insights for clients

“Harvey takes out the wheel-spinning time — the three to four hours I’d spend trying to get to a first draft,” says Julia Camarco, a partner in the corporate group. When a client sold a company under an unusual structure, she loaded 50-plus closing documents into Harvey’s Vault to pull and analyze every restrictive covenant: “It took a two-day project and made it a two-hour project.”

From the other side of the table, Baral runs counterparties’ redlines through Harvey to surface “the three to five key aspects we should focus on” before opening a document. Baral has Harvey assist with a draft of bespoke reps and warranties where none exist. One biotech-focused partner has gone a step further, leveraging Harvey's Agent Builder to develop a customized workflow that streamlines NDA review and reduces the administrative burden of routine tasks.

Harvey has also helped the firm develop talent rather than replace it. Nevins recalls how an associate used Harvey to analyze a hundred-page development lease efficiently, enabling her to reduce time for her review before she walked the client through it herself. “This was her and AI,” he says. “It’s going to touch everything — there’s zero chance this doesn’t become 100% of what I work on. If you’re not actively building this into what you do, you’ll be relegated to the bottom of the profession.”

Consistency clients can feel

The sharpest proof came from a client. For a decade, Shipman had written discrimination position statements for the same company, but consistency was hard to maintain across the firm’s numerous clients and associates. The team had Harvey analyze years of statements to define what a winning one looked like, then built a library in Harvey’s Vault to draft against. Impressed, the client asked Shipman to present to their global employment team on how the firm uses Harvey. That reference now appears in the firm’s engagement letters. “Clients value our expertise and judgment,” says Schwartz. “AI helps us work more efficiently, but it's the human insight behind the advice that matters most.”

Impact

The return isn’t only about hours saved, though those are real too. On average, Shipman's regular Harvey users report saving 10-plus hours per week. The most significant value, however, is found in the work Shipman can take on and the clients it keeps close.

“We’re a mid-sized firm that treats every client as our only client,” says Schwartz, “and Harvey enhances our ability to hold to that service level, so they don’t feel they need to go anywhere else.”

For Michelle Doran, Shipman’s Chief Operations Officer, the payoff is what the firm does with the reclaimed time. “I’m all in on AI,” she says. “Mostly what it does is free up time for our people to develop business, bring in more clients, and shift their focus to more substantive work.” It reaches beyond the lawyers, too. “On the administrative side, I can’t take it away either,” Doran says. “Everybody from our directors, HR, marketing, and beyond has embraced it. Whether it’s memos or summarizing meeting notes, we’re finding tremendous efficiencies.”

The stakes are competitive, not cosmetic. “You're fighting with one hand tied behind your back,” says Camarco of practicing without AI. “AI allows a mid-market firm like ours to devote more attorney time to matters requiring sophisticated judgment and strategic insight, rather than routine document review.”