Clients to Big Law: AI Made You Faster, So Where's My Discount?
As A.I. Makes Law Firms More Efficient, Clients Ask: 'Where's My Discount?'
Big law firms are racing to showcase their AI tools — Sullivan & Cromwell's Agreement Analyzer, Cooley's Go Public, and a Ropes & Gray diligence tool built with OpenAI. But because the industry still bills by the hour, clients are asking whether all that new efficiency will ever show up as a smaller bill. Ropes & Gray vice chairman Neill Jakobe says the pressure is real, yet firms aren't ready to abandon their trusted business model.
You're getting to the point where clients are saying, 'That's great that you're using A.I. and it's making you faster, it's making you more efficient.' But they want to know, 'What does that mean for us?'