Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More. When legal research company LexisNexis created its AI assistant Protégé, it wanted to figure out the best way to leverage its expertise without deploying a large model. Protégé aims to help lawyers, associates and paralegals write and proof legal documents and ensure that anything they cite in complaints and briefs is accurate. However, LexisNexis didn’t want a general legal AI assistant; they wanted to build one that learns a firm’s workflow and is more customizable. LexisNexis saw the opportunity to bring the power of large language models (LLMs) from Anthropic and Mistral and find the best models that answer user questions the best, Jeff Riehl, CTO of LexisNexis Legal and Professional, told VentureBeat.“We use the best model for the specific use case as part of our multi-model approach. We use the model that provides the best result with the fastest response time,” Riehl said. “For some use cases, that will be a small language model like Mistral or we perform distillation to improve performance and reduce cost.”While LLMs still provide value in building AI applications, some organizations turn to using small language models (SLMs) or distilling LLMs to become small versions of the same model. Distillation, where an LLM “teaches” a smaller model, has become a popular method for many organizations. Small models often work best for apps like chatbots or simple code completion, which is what LexisNexis wanted to use for Protégé. This is not the first time LexisNexis built AI applications, even before launching its legal research hub LexisNexis + AI in July 2024.“We have used a lot of AI in the past, which was more around natural language processing, some deep learning and machine learning,” Riehl said

Harvey raised $300 million in a Series D funding round at a $3 billion valuation, led by Sequoia and including investors like Coatue, Kleiner Perkins, and OpenAI Startup Fund. The company experienced 4x ARR growth and expanded to 235 customers in 42 countries, including top US law firms. The funding will enhance the platform and expand enterprise use cases. Harvey also opened a London office as its European HQ. The previous Series C round in July 2024 raised $100 million at a $1.5 billion valuation.