MANAGEMENT OF AI AUGMENTED LEGAL SERVICES

 MANAGEMENT OF AI-AUGMENTED LEGAL SERVICES

Discovery document review and production will be performed by AI under the instruction and supervision of experienced lawyers, or so the client should insist. This will result in significant cost savings to clients. Likewise, memoranda and briefs will be written by AI under the instruction and supervision of experienced lawyers, which will result in substantial savings. The upshot is that young lawyers will not be needed to perform these functions. Clients no longer will permit delegation to junior lawyers except for vetted superstars with AI technical extensive experience.

Here are suggestions for how clients and law firms should approach the new era of artificial intelligence.

1. Reserve equity partnerships only with major rainmakers and reveal your plan to all employees.
2. Reduce new hires from law school and train those you hire in specialty work for at least a year. Refrain from billing them for that year.
3. Absorb the cost of AI and do not bill it as an expense. Increase hourly rate slightly to account for AI cost but point out overall savings in the pricing regime. Of course, there is no delegation to anyone in the firm without the client-informed approval.
4. Eliminate billing of any out-of-pocket expense as a direct cost. Pricing involves only labor rates. 
5. Use Lexis AI with all its features and pay for in-house intensive personnel training.
6. For litigation matters, have a budget with monthly reconciliations and not-to-exceed ceilings.
7. Train senior partners to provide AI instructions and juniors to monitor AI and facilitate carrying out directions of senior partners.
8. Senior partners continue instructing AI on searches, organization, filing, document production, memoranda, articles, or briefs.
9. Each client and each service provider should hire a law firm management expert to suggest adapting organization, management, and pricing to each engagement. Clients will now have RFPs for each matter, and law firms will submit competitive proposals.
10. Myriad fee arrangements will become the order of the day. No more straight hourly. Some hourly may be included, but the trend is toward fixed-price incentive contracting. Fixed price incentives are well known in the government contracts community. Results-oriented incentives will be commonplace. All projects must be budgeted. If your litigation lawyer has been to your war before they will happily budget litigation. Eventually, all work will be at a fixed price.