Does Lexis+ Protégé Have an Agent Builder Like Harvey?

Does Lexis+ Protégé have an agent builder like Harvey?

Yes. Lexis+ with Protégé, from LexisNexis, has a no-code Custom Workflow Builder. Harvey, from Harvey AI, has Agent Builder, which was called Workflow Builder until March 2026. Both let a firm turn its own process into a reusable, shareable workflow. Each one has a different center, though.

Verdict: Lexis+ with Protégé suits research-heavy and litigation firms that want their builder grounded in Lexis primary law and Shepard's. Harvey suits larger firms building broad, firm-specific legal AI workflows across practice groups. OpenLaw for Attorneys (Lexi) suits firms whose bottleneck is operations (intake, scheduling, client follow-up), not research or drafting.

One disclosure: we build one of these tools. Lexi, the AI paralegal in OpenLaw for Attorneys, is our product. It gets one entry and one honest take, same as the rest. Lexi is not the same as getlexi.io, a different company that also uses the name Lexi.

This page is for firm owners, partners and administrators choosing between these tools. We checked features, security pages and pricing in October 2026.

How does the Lexis+ Protégé workflow builder compare to Harvey Agent Builder?

They do the same basic job. Each one lets lawyers without coding skills turn a repeatable legal process into a saved, shareable workflow. Protégé's builder runs closer to defined steps on Lexis content. Harvey's agents are designed to work out more of the steps on their own.

What Lexis+ with Protégé offers

LexisNexis released the Custom Workflow Builder in a U.S. commercial preview on January 21, 2026. In its announcement, LexisNexis said users "can choose their preferred AI model and design custom, multi-step workflows for virtually any legal task." It added that workflows "can be tested prior to publishing, saved to a personal Workflow Library, and shared across teams."

• General availability: Lexis+ with Protégé replaced Lexis+ AI in the U.S. on February 24, 2026, with more than 300 pre-built workflows at launch, according to LawSites.
• Agentic layer: In May 2026, LexisNexis added Protégé Work, an orchestration layer that drafts a plan before it runs multi-step tasks. It also added agentic drafting for contracts, motions and briefs, and a no-code builder for customers' own skills.
• Models: The platform uses models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google.
• Grounding: Research outputs and citations are checked against Shepard's Citations.

What Harvey offers

Harvey announced Agent Builder on March 9, 2026, as the successor to Workflow Builder. In Harvey's description, the agents "accomplish more with less detailed instructions" and can "infer what's needed" instead of following a fixed sequence.

• Human in the loop: Agents stop and flag critical decisions for a lawyer to make.
• Sharing and suggestions: Custom agents can be shared across teams. Harvey's Assistant suggests them when a prompt matches.
• Templates: Teams can attach templates that set the output format.
• Coming later: Harvey says scheduled background runs, such as monitoring contract expirations, are planned for the future.

The practical difference

With Protégé, you build workflows on top of a research database, and the citations come already verified. With Harvey, you build agents on top of your firm's own know-how and documents, and Lexis content is an optional input. For an overview of how these research tools are changing practice, see how AI is transforming legal research.

How much does Lexis+ Protégé cost compared to Harvey?

Neither company publishes a price list as of October 2026. Both sell through a sales team on custom quotes. Seat count, contract length and bundled content all change the number. Any figure you see online is a third-party estimate, not a rate card.

When you ask for a quote, ask three things. Is the workflow or agent builder included in the base seat or sold as an add-on? Is Lexis content in Harvey priced separately? Is there an annual price escalator? Treat any number as a starting point for negotiation. For a way to test whether a seat will pay for itself, see the ROI of AI for law firms.

Is Lexis+ Protégé or Harvey safe for confidential legal work?

Both are enterprise tools with contracts that limit how vendors use client data, and that is the line courts are now drawing. Even so, check the terms you actually sign. Don't rely on a marketing page.

• Harvey: Harvey's security page states it holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certifications. It says: "We don't use inputs, outputs, or uploaded documents to train underlying models," a commitment written into its Platform Agreement. Customers can choose the region where data is processed and set their own retention.
• Lexis+ with Protégé: LexisNexis states that it does not use customer data to train AI models, and that Lexis+ is covered by an annual SOC 2 Type 2 examination. In May 2026 it added customer-held encryption keys through AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, Google Cloud KMS or HashiCorp Vault.
• OpenLaw for Attorneys (Lexi): OpenLaw states that Lexi is SOC 2 Type II compliant, that data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and that a firm's skills and workflows stay private to that firm.

Privilege is the real test. In United States v. Heppner, No. 25 Cr. 503 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 17, 2026), Judge Jed S. Rakoff held that a defendant's exchanges with a consumer AI chatbot were not protected by privilege or work product. Two facts drove the ruling: the tool's privacy policy allowed disclosure and training, and counsel had not directed its use. ABA Formal Opinion 512 (July 29, 2024) says lawyers must understand a tool's confidentiality risks and may need client consent before entering client information. For what to demand from any vendor, read SOC 2 compliance for legal tech.

Where does each tool still win?

Each tool wins in a different place. The right pick depends on where your firm loses the most hours.

Where Lexis+ with Protégé wins

• Citation trust: Workflows run on Lexis primary law with Shepard's validation, which matters most for briefs and motions.
• Existing Lexis firms: If you already pay for Lexis+, Protégé sits where your lawyers already do research.
• Ready-made library: More than 300 pre-built workflows at launch means less building on day one.

Where Harvey still wins

• Open-ended agents: Agent Builder is designed to infer steps instead of following a fixed script, which suits complex transactional and review work.
• Firm-specific know-how: It is built to turn a firm's own precedents and processes into agents, not only research tasks.
• Scale: Harvey says customers had built more than 25,000 agentic workflows on Workflow Builder before Agent Builder arrived.

Where Lexi wins

Lexi doesn't do legal research or replace a drafting platform. It handles the operational work around the practice: intake follow-up, booking consultations, client updates and handoffs, inside tools such as Clio. See what Lexi replaces and the complete guide to AI-powered client intake.

Can firms use both Harvey and Lexis+ AI?

Yes, and the two companies have made it easier. LexisNexis and Harvey announced a strategic alliance on June 18, 2025. It lets Harvey users run Shepard's citation checks and select the LexisNexis Protégé service for answers grounded in U.S. case law and statutes, without leaving Harvey.

In practice, paying for both tends to make sense at larger firms. There, Harvey is the firm-wide AI workspace and Lexis remains the research system of record. A smaller firm should first ask whether one builder covers most of its repeat work. Lexi doesn't overlap with either one, because it runs operations, not research. How to choose the right AI tool for your law firm walks through that decision.

Should you choose Lexis+ Protégé, Harvey or Lexi?

Choose based on the work you most want a builder to repeat.

• Choose Lexis+ with Protégé if: your firm is research-first or litigation-heavy, already pays for Lexis, and wants custom workflows backed by Shepard's.
• Choose Harvey if: you are a larger firm that wants agents built around your own precedents and processes across practice groups, and you can budget for an enterprise contract.
• Choose OpenLaw for Attorneys (Lexi) if: your hours disappear into intake, scheduling and client follow-up rather than research. It runs alongside either research tool.

The short verdict: both Lexis+ with Protégé and Harvey have real builders as of October 2026. Protégé's is the safer pick for verified legal research. Harvey's is the more flexible pick for firm-wide agents.