AI Efficiency Gains Expose Law Firms' Resistance to Price Competition
Source: NYT > Business (paywall)
Legal clients are weaponizing AI productivity—if firms deploy tools that cut work time in half, why shouldn't fees drop proportionally?—but the industry's $350+ billion annual revenue depends on billable-hour leverage. Major firms are offering modest discounts or alternative fee arrangements instead of repricing services to reflect the efficiency gain. The business model that made partners wealthy resists disruption even as technology erodes the premise that time equals value, creating an opening for upstart firms or in-house legal departments to undercut on price.