AI tools are significantly reducing the time needed for certain tasks such as legal research, tax strategy, and document review, but those efficiencies are beginning to impact revenue generation and challenge traditional revenue models.
McCarter & English partner Peter Zarella told the Hartford Business Journal that the legal industry cannot ignore the inevitable challenges that AI may pose to those models. He noted that “as clients become more educated on the tools and what they’re capable of and how reliable they are, I think they’ll set their expectations accordingly, and some have started to do that.”
As clients increasingly adopt AI in their own businesses, they now expect law firms to use the technology where appropriate and pass along at least some of the resulting efficiencies. At the same time, the industry as a whole is focusing on elevating the role of human judgement, which still remains critical, Peter added.