Are law firms seeing value from AI adoption? As ILTACON speakers have noted, firms face big challenges in quantifying this metric.
“It’s hard to come up with the return on investment for efficiency gains when you’re based on the billable hour. You almost have to go to a different model,” said Stephen Embry, a legal tech journalist and Above the Law contributor. “And I think we are now seeing firms start to question it.”
Embry’s remarks came in a recent webinar titled “Avoiding the AI Efficiency Trap: What Biglaw Needs to Get Right,” where he was joined by ATL contributor Bob Ambrogi and Litera’s Grant Hewlett.
The trio shared their takeaways from ILTACON, the massive legal tech conference last month in Nashville. In particular, they explored the business of law in an age of major disruption, along with recommended areas of focus for Biglaw today.
Avoiding the ‘Trap’
So what should firms do that they haven’t been doing already? Two suggestions from the panelists focused on technology and leadership.
On the technology side, law firms should ensure they are supporting the operations functions where ROI is more obvious: the finance, practice management, and business development teams, according to Hewlett, Litera’s VP of Product.
“I think when you start unlocking those functions to really augment the attorney experience on the business and administrative side, you start unlocking growth,” he said. “And growth will start filling in this efficiency-gained trap.”
He noted another common sentiment from ILTACON: If partners have more time because of AI, they can spend more time on business development.
While this is certainly true, Hewlett went a step further, saying that advanced data and AI tools can turn today’s service partners into tomorrow’s rainmakers.
“Let me arm them with the intel, let me arm them with the knowledge, let me arm them with the communications, the client list, the matters, all this,” he said. “Let me arm them with those things to go develop more business.”
The same goes for pricing and finance teams, he said — better law firm data helps firms provide effective alternative pricing structures.
“I think now, the way to address the efficiency trap is to start addressing the things that are actually going to be impacting and showing up in the bottom line, and that’s your operations,” Hewlett said.
For Embry, today’s technology can put more emphasis on the human element, particularly in law firm and law department leadership.
While law firms are expected to become more efficient, clients, for their part, should recognize that a law firm’s ability to provide high-quality advice depends on its ability to attract talent, he said.
If law firms cut rates to the point that they can no longer attract this talent, this has negative consequences for the clients as well as the law firms.
To ensure the best outcomes, lawyers on both sides will need to have an honest dialogue about what cuts cannot be done, and what gains can be most beneficial.
“In the years that I was practicing law, those were conversations that neither side really liked to have, because they’re kind of hard conversations,” Embry said. “But we can’t avoid that any longer. We’re going to have to sit down and have those conversations.”
Register for the on-demand webinar, “Avoiding the AI Efficiency Trap: What Biglaw Needs to Get Right,” using the form below. CLE credit is available.