AI-driven DIY legal work forces law firms to rethink billing and service models
Law firms are seeing corporate clients shift legal work to in-house teams and AI tools, challenging traditional hourly billing.
According to HSBC’s annual UK Law Firm Strategy and Investment Survey, three-quarters of the 100 firms polled say increased technology use in legal delivery is unsettling the market, while 60% point to clients moving work in-house. Corporate counsel are adopting AI tools to handle matters themselves, leaving firms uncertain how to charge for specialised advice that was once billed by the hour. Helen Drayton of Pennington Manches Cooper highlighted clients arriving with AI-crafted strategies that lawyers must now critique, and David Beech of Knights warned that some general counsels are using AI solutions the firms themselves have suggested.
HSBC’s Victoria Ritchie said AI is reshaping service delivery, pricing and talent development, and 73% of firms consider effective AI integration their biggest organisational issue. Most firms have a generative-AI strategy, but they struggle with legacy systems, cost and unclear ROI. Finance director Sam Elkin of Roythornes summed up the dilemma as figuring out what a wave of transformational technology means for the traditional law-firm business model.
Why it matters
It signals a shift that could overhaul how legal services are priced and delivered across the industry.
In this story
