AI and the Legal Business Model: Why Time is Up for the Billable Hour
If law firms fail to adequately respond to new imperatives, they not only risk losing an important opportunity to grow and scale but perhaps they even threaten their ability to survive at all in the quickly evolving legal landscape.
October 26, 2020 at 07:00 AM
5 minute read
Law firms are increasingly looking for ways to meet client expectations while also maintaining profitability themselves. When I started out as an M&A associate over 20 years ago, meeting client and business demands was all about billing over 3,000 hours a year, leaving little room for a single day off despite the firm's "unlimited" vacation policy. But the game has changed substantially for law firms today—the evolution of the legal business model is underway and artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a big role in calling time on the billable hour.
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