Harvey, Clio, and Cohere signal that organizational solutions will lead the next wave of change
The public conversation about artificial intelligence is dominated by the spectacular and the controversial: deepfake videos, AI-induced psychosis, and the privacy risks posed by consumer-facing chatbots like ChatGPT. But while these stories grab headlines, a quieter – and arguably more transformative – revolution is underway in enterprise software. In legal technology, in particular, AI is rapidly reshaping how law firms and legal departments operate and compete. This shift is just one example of how enterprise AI, not just consumer AI, is where real action is happening.
Legal tech’s AI arms race: Harvey and Clio
Legal technology is moving at breakneck speed. Companies like Harvey and Clio are not simply adding AI features – they are fundamentally changing how legal professionals work.
Harvey, for instance, has quickly become a major player in legal tech, boasting a $5 billion valuation and backing from OpenAI. Co-founder Gabe Pereyra recently told me that it has opened a new Toronto office as more than a sales outpost; it’s a hub for technical development and client support, designed to tap into Canada’s deep pool of legal and technical talent. Harvey’s approach is to embed generative AI at the core of legal workflows, partnering with established platforms like LexisNexis, iManage, and NetDocs. The goal is not to replace lawyers, but to supercharge their capabilities – letting them manage litigation, contracts, and discovery in a unified, AI-powered environment. “We see a lot of the work moving towards what senior associates and partners are doing,” Pereyra says. The result is a platform that adapts to elite law firms' specialized needs while expanding into in-house legal teams and corporate clients.
Clio, meanwhile, has long been a leader in serving small and mid-sized law firms with cloud-based practice management software. However, the company is now making a significant push into AI, which is highlighted by its recent acquisition of vLex and its billion-document legal database. At its recent ClioCon event, CEO Jack Newton emphasized that the key to trustworthy AI in law is technical prowess and the underlying data quality. “All of the foundational large language models… are powerful, but they’re general purpose, they’re generic, they’re trained on the open web, not on real legal data,” Newton said. By integrating vLex’s Vincent AI assistant, Clio is positioning itself to offer AI tools grounded in real legal knowledge, not just internet text.
Both Harvey and Clio illustrate a crucial point: the future of legal tech is not about disruption for its own sake, but partnership and integration. Harvey’s collaborations with LexisNexis and others are about creating a cohesive experience for law firms, not rendering them obsolete. As Pereira put it, “We don’t see it so much as disruption. Law firms actually already do this… We see it as ‘how do we help you build infrastructure that supercharges this?’”
Enterprise AI: the broader trend
The rapid evolution in legal tech is just one example of a broader trend: the real action in AI is happening in enterprise software, not just in consumer-facing products. While ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini dominate the headlines, companies like Cohere are quietly transforming how organizations across industries leverage AI.
Cohere is Canada’s leading foundational AI company – not a legal tech product, but an enterprise platform designed for any organization seeking to automate workflows and embed advanced AI models into their products. Cohere focuses squarely on business-to-business solutions, helping enterprises and governments address legal, regulatory, and data sovereignty concerns. As general counsel Kosta Starostin recently told me, Cohere offers deployment models that keep customer data isolated – using virtual private clouds or on-premise services – so sensitive data never leaves the organization’s control. This approach has made Cohere a trusted partner for Canadian institutions and governments that require strong data privacy and national sovereignty.
Cohere’s story highlights another key point: traditional companies and institutions are not irrelevant in the AI era. In fact, AI companies are eager to partner with established players – whether it’s Harvey integrating with LexisNexis, Clio acquiring vLex, or Cohere building infrastructure for governments and large enterprises. The future belongs to those who can bridge the gap between innovation and tradition, integrating new technologies into the fabric of established industries.
The quiet revolution
The lesson from legal tech’s AI revolution – and from enterprise AI more broadly – is clear: the future will be shaped by those who combine cutting-edge technology with deep domain expertise and strategic partnerships. AI will not replace professionals or institutions but amplify their impact, enabling them to tackle greater complexity and deliver better outcomes.
As enterprise AI continues to evolve, the most successful companies will be those that can integrate new technologies into established workflows, creating value through both disruption and collaboration. In legal tech and beyond, the real action is happening where you might least expect it: not in the headlines, but in the boardrooms, server rooms, and office buildings where the future of business is being quietly, but decisively, rewritten.
