Clio: AI adoption in UK and Ireland reshapes legal billing
AI is making big waves in the legal world, especially when it comes to billing.
Nearly 90% of legal professionals in the UK and Ireland now use AI, according to Clio.
Since AI can finish tasks that once took hours in just seconds, law firms are rethinking how they charge for their work, looking for ways to be more efficient and cost-friendly.
Billable hours could fall to 44%
With AI taking over routine jobs like document review, some firms are finding it harder to hit old-school billable hour targets.
The share of work billed by the hour could drop from 72% to just 44%.
Big Law firms are already using AI for things like regulatory filings, but tricky cases still need real people.
As Nick Rowles-Davies, founder and CEO of legal finance fund Lexolent, based in London and Dubai, told CNBC, "You can't charge 16 hours for something that takes 16 seconds."
So, lawyers will need new skills (think legal engineering) to keep up with these changes.